TRAVEL DAY
From: Rusty’s RV Ranch, Rodeo, NM.
To: Sunny Flat Campground, Portal, AZ.
Day 92 – As of this morning, we’ve been traveling on this trip for 3 months. Today we drove just a few miles from Rusty’s in NM, crossed the border into Arizona and entered the Coronado National Forest, and drove several more miles to our campground. As expected we had no internet and no cell phone signal anywhere in the area where we were camping.
After dumping tanks and filling with fresh water, we departed at 11 a.m. It was 46 degrees, sunny, with no wind. We arrived at our destination just 35 minutes later, and that included a stop on a pull-out to disconnect the Honda from the RV. We disconnected the Honda to give Rob more freedom to maneuver the RV on the narrow winding road. I followed him, driving behind the RV in the Honda. We’d be driving back and forth across the NM/AZ border for a couple of days before “officially” entering Arizona, so we did not take a picture of the State Line Road sign. We had not permanently left NM. As we approached the National Forest, the mountains ahead offered a beautiful panoramic view.
We’d scoped out the campgrounds in this area of the Forest previously and found the best campsite for us to be site #9 at Sunny Flat Campground. Only two small campgrounds were open on this side of the Chiricahua Mountains. About half of the sites were too small for us, and we could only fit comfortably in 3 of the remaining campsites. Here, the campgrounds did not accept reservations; it was first-come, first-served, so you take your chances. We were prepared to leave the National Forest and go to a private campground elsewhere if no campsites large enough for us were available. The site we wanted was available, so we pulled in, filled out the fee envelope, and happily unpacked. The campground did fill up. We got lucky. We paid for two nights and will probably extend our stay.
These small National Forest Service campgrounds have no fancy amenities except fresh water which is available at the restroom. Each site does have a fire pit and picnic table, plus a food locker for keeping food away from bears and mountain lions. There are no electrical hook-ups and there is no dump station or showers. What they do offer is incredible scenery surrounding campers on all sides. A little beyond this campground (the third of 3 on this narrow, paved road), the road becomes a poorly maintained dirt road. If people want to camp for free without water or anything else (boondocking), they can pull off the road in this section and stay for up to 14 days. You need a four-wheel drive vehicle, and it’s rough even in that vehicle.
There is a larger campground which takes reservations and has more amenities on the other side of the mountain range. It would be impossible for us to get there from here on the dirt road; we tried. We do want to see that side of the National Forest but will have to drive two hours north and west of here on regular paved roads, then re-enter the Forest. This other area of the Coronado National Forest is the more popular, tourist-oriented side of the mountains. The popular site – the Chiricahua National Monument – is where the larger, less primitive camping area is found. We hope to see that side of the mountain and the monument, but not camp there, possibly when we leave this campground in a few days.
Back to our day, after setting up and having lunch, we drove to the nearest gas station, back in New Mexico in a small town called Animas, 28 miles from the campground (one way). The entire drive we kept checking for cell phone/internet signals. There were none until we reached Animas, and that signal was not strong. At least we were able to get a weather forecast for the next few days.
After getting back to the RV, the sun was out (sort of) and Rob set up the tent. We sat outside and read our books using the small propane heater until it got too cold. The high today was 49 degrees. We were deep in the forest, surrounded by tall, rocky mountains, near Cave Creek. If the sun is shining, you need to get outside and take advantage of it before it moves and it’s shady again. This is an awesome campsite in a beautiful area, but we were happy to see it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow and the next day.