Sunday, April 5, 2015

Prescott National Forest -- Apr 5, 2015

I decided to go down to Prescott Valley, leaving the National Forest behind, a day early.  I needed food, sundries, free internet, etc.  Thinking I would write this blog at McDonald's made sense with the free wi-fi, plus I was craving some french fries!  Well, I couldn't connect to wi-fi there for some reason.  Hmmmmm...  this blog takes up a ton of data usage.  Oh well.  

So we head to WalMart for everything else, thinking that would be our overnight parking place since I could get everything needed there and it's on the way to our next stop.  Geeze! They don't allow overnight parking.  I called a Cracker Barrel I had passed just down the road...they are always good for an overnight spot.  Nope! BUT, she said its okay to park at the Sam's Club right behind them. Great! Plus....guess what?  After we got parked, I realized Sam's Club has free wi-fi out in their parking lot!  Super Great!  Now I won't have to rush through this post about our week in the Prescott National Forest.  

Prescott National Forest -- 1.25 million acres!

We headed up that "Primitive Road" I mentioned in my next to last post and got to the spot he had mentioned.  Pretty nice....here's a reminder photo....


Of course, Nikko is ready to get some fresh air....and fresh it is!  25* cooler, clean and crisp!  This was our week....


 He jumps out to survey our new yard...always on the alert.  He likes the countryside!


We could walk all around in the actual forest, but that's not a wise idea.  It's too easy to get lost. Nikko is great, but he's not Lassie!  LOL!  So, we kept our walks primarily on the "Primitive Road" by our site. 

In addition to all the trees - mostly pinion and ponderosa pines - and various forest-y bushes and shrubs - a lot of chapparal - we saw a few interesting plants.  Keep in mind the soil here is almost all sand...not rich black soil.  This shrubbery was mostly only by the roadway...I didn't see them looking back into the forest.  Its branches were a very reddish color.  I have no idea what it is, but it was interesting and stood out from the other foliage....                                                                                        

 I only saw one of these trees getting close to being in full bloom...  looks Easter-y!

We're still in Arizona....cactus aren't prevalent up here, but pop up here and there...

These puff ball mushrooms were also right next to the road....

These junipers are everywhere! The are gnarly and ill-formed trees, but the have a unique feature...
They are known as "alligator junipers" because of their interesting bark....

The sunrise was almost behind the RV, but it was pretty through the trees....

We didn't see any wild animals....just HUGE ravens and an 8" lizard that Nikko chased under the RV...and kept looking for it for an hour! 

One thing that differentiated this forest from a lot of others I've been in was the huge...I mean, GIGANTIC granite boulders all around.  Many are 20-30 feet high.  How did they get here?  And those perched on top of others is very cool!   It's rather prehistoric if you ask me!  They were all around our site and throughout the forest where I could see.

We are at about 6900' in elevation.  I immediately noticed the difference/difficulty in breathing when we went on our walks...but it subsided some after a few days.  In some of these photos, you've seen mountain vistas in the background.  From our site, walking 1/2 mile up the road, was one of the park's popular lookout sites.  (I didn't know this when I parked at our site!) 

Note the incline!

All of the following photos were taken from that area.  The road winds on down another 4 miles back into town (but it's not an RV drive).  So, here are the daytime views.... 

 

Pretty!

Once I got up here, I realized we were facing almost directly WEST....you know what that means!
Sunsets!
We walked to the top three different evenings...every sunset is different!






So, what do you think?  I think it was a great idea to stop in the Prescott National Forest!  Nikko and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  The weather was perfect (although it was 40* in the RV one morning!) and the sky was that "Arizona blue sky" every day....so blue it doesn't look real! 


Last night, our last night, was the full moon....backed up by the lovely sunset....


Of course, after every sunset is nightfall.  With a big flashlight, Nikko leads the way home...


So, there's a look at this part of Arizona...a teeny weeny part of the 1.25 million acres of the forest. But so totally different than the desert only a few hours away.  

As we sit here in the Sam's Club empty parking lot, Nikko is dead to the world!  He gets really tired, as I do, being "in the city"....all the sights, sounds, cars, bikes, motorcycles, people...it wears us out! He's been such a good RVer!  Except he buried two brand new rawhide chews around our site (I saw him in the act)... but moved them to another spot before I could retrieve them!

Time to think about dinner....which will be the Chinese pineapple chicken over rice I made yesterday, knowing today would be a busy day.  You can make anything in an RV that you can make at home!  


In this same plaza, there's a Sprouts Farmers Market...THE best grocery in the universe, I think! Eventho' I've done my grocery shopping, I might have to pop in there before we leave and get some fresh salmon to grill!  :-)  

Will report in from our next stop...not too far away.  (But I doubt there will be the handy Sam's Club wi-fi there!)  

Thanks to everyone for enjoying Prescott National Forest with us
and
thank you for shopping Amazon through my blog!
Graduation, Mother's Day, Father's Day!











4 comments:

  1. Enjoyed this trip to the forest! Such beautiful vistas every direction! Yes, each and every sunset is different with none better than the other, love sunsets. Sounds like Nikko is a great traveling companion and happy. I surely like the boulders balanced on others! Each stop is something the rest of us have never seen!
    Glad you found a good place to stop for the night! Awaiting next spot!

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  2. Beautiful views! The weather there is about the same temps we have right now. It's nice you always find a great place to stay where you can take such great pictures. Not sure I would have ventured off into those woods either! I get lost in the ones around our house, so I can only imagine being out in those!

    Thanks for posting!

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  3. As I looked at the views, I wonder if you can enjoy the space station flybys?

    http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/#.VSb0K-GofwB

    Keep the posts coming!!

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  4. I'm no expert, but the bush with the red wood looks like manzanita and the blooming tree looks like crab apple.

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