Continuing with our Westward trek our next stop brought us to Tucson, Arizona and Saguaro National Park. The National Park is in two sections, one East of central Tucson and the other on the West side of town. The National Park does not operate a campground at either section so for this adventure we stayed at the Gilbert Ray Campground in the Tucson Mountains County Park, near the West section of the Park. The sites had water & electric, but you had to use the dump station to empty your holding tanks. The park was very well kept and beautifully landscaped with plenty of Saguaros and other plants native to the area.
We decided to visit the East section of the park first, so we stopped at the Rincon Mountain Visitor Center to check the exhibits. We left there and drove the 8 mile long Cactus Forest Drive loop where many of the saguaros are over 150 years old. The following day we drove over to the West section and stopped at the Red Hills Visitor Center and checked out more exhibits. On this side of town there was a 9 mile Bajada Loop Drive, which we drove through while making various stops along the way to hike some trails. We strolled through the Desert Discovery Nature Trail and hiked the Valley View Overlook Trail to stunning views of the cactus studded landscapes. By the time we were done we were on "Cactus Overload!"
Our next destination was the Tonto National Forest just North of Mesa, Arizona. We stayed at a campground called Phon De Sutton. It was another parking lot campground, but it was right on the Lower Salt River with a view of the Superstition Mountains. This campground did not have water, electric or a dump station, however a few miles away at a Shell gas station, water (free) and a dump station ($5.00) were available. We needed a cheap place to stay in the Phoenix area and this was pretty reasonable at $6.00 a night.
One thing I wanted to do while we were in the Phoenix area was to visit Arizona RV Salvage and hunt for some hard to find parts for the RV. I had used them in the past and they helped me out with whatever it was that I was looking for at the time. So now I had a chance to visit in person and to see if they had what I was looking for this time around. Well, it must have been my lucky day, they had the parts.
The other thing I wanted to do was to get together with my old high school buddy, Peter Jaffe. I saw him about 10 years ago when he invited me on a fishing trip to Lee's Ferry, where we camped and fished for 4 days in the Grand Canyon just South of the Glen Canyon Dam. Unfortunately, he was kind of backlogged with his business, Southwest Cable, but he found time to have lunch with us in North Phoenix. It was good to see him again, even if it was just for lunch. I hope to see him again next time we are in the area.
FP & RG
To view photos from our travels, please use the link below to Frank's facebook page.
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