Also at Devil's Tower, WY. A step closer - no water, sewer or electric - but in a campground with other people. Still not boondocking.
My definition of "Boondocking" is parking for free in the wilderness with no one within 5 miles or more.
I've been wanting to introduce Carol to it and the best opportunity so far was the North Rim. National Parks generally do not allow it because they have campground space to rent. But many National Parks, including Grand Canyon, are surrounded by Bureau of Land Management land or National Forests.
At Arches a lady from Texas RAVED about parking in Kaibab National Forest. She said they found a spot on Forest Road 611 that was right on the rim. Sit in your lawn chair with your coffee and watch the sunrise. Later sit in your lawn chair with your glass of wine and watch the sunset. I told her that "Forest Road" sounded a lot like what we back east called "Fire Road". And that I wasn't excited about taking our 34' Airstream on one.
She assured me that the road was excellent for a dirt road. That they had a 30' rig and had lots of room so she was sure we'd be fine. I didn't ask her if her "30' rig" was a truck with a 30' trailer or was it a 30' motorhome. An oversight I will not make again.
We missed FR611 and went to the entrance of the Park. The kind lady told us it was about 4 miles back north at the intersection that said SR22. We found it easily and went on paved SR22 for about 200 yards. Then it turned to FR610 and the worst washboard road I had ever been on. At 10mph I could just imagine the rivets popping out of the Airstream's skin. About 3 miles in we started seeing big spaces between the trees and Carol started saying, "That one looks really good." But we were in deep forest with no canyon anywhere is sight. Further along we found a pull off along the road that was on the rim but somebody was parked there so we kept going.
At a fork in the road we went to the right and after another half mile or so found what appeared to be the perfect spot. It was a loop that we could pull through and out and it was level. It was not ON the rim but the rim was 20' away across the road. I pulled in and started to unhitch. Carol looked around at the trees and asked, "Can you get out of here?" "Of course, dear. and if I can't pull out, I can always back out the way we came in." "If you do that, you'll be facing the way we drove in and it doesn't look like there is any place else to turn around." "OK then, I'll pull on through."
I knew we would not enjoy our time there if all we did was worry so I decided to leave then and go back to one of the big spots.
EXCEPT a minor problem was a small tree that the driver side rear section was going to scrub against when the trailer pivoted. Carol helped with that by pulling the tree out of the way.
A not so minor problem was a very big tree on the street side that the trailer was to going to hit big time. The solution was to back up a foot (remember Carol's "little" tree) and edge left slightly so I could swing wider. Several times. Now all I had to do was swing as wide as possible and I was sure the trailer would clear. Piece of cake.
What I did not see, Carol told me later was that she had stopped holding the small tree and was jumping up and down waving her arms screaming "You're going to drive into the canyon." I didn't. Got straight on the road out and Carol joined me in the truck still showing signs of pure panic. Trying to pick between passing out and throwing up. She didn't do either, but she did tell me that we were never going to do THAT again. Women just worry too much. We went back later with just the truck and I looked at the tire tracks. The left front wheel never got within a foot of the rim.
Uneventful ride back to a big beautiful clearing among the Ponderosa pines. Bright blue sky, birds singing, NO other sound. Except Carol saying, "What if...... or what if....." And my only answer was, "You'd walk 10 miles to the highway and flag down a car to come help." That was not a solution that pleased her.
It was a great experience. The quiet and solitude were wonderful. The stars were unbelievable. And the little Honda generator worked great so we had all the comforts of home. Except contact with other people.
The lesson learned is that Carol is a City Girl. Or at least a Townie. I suggested that we would not go into the woods again until we got a satellite phone so we could get in touch with someone if one of us got hurt or critically ill. Or I drove off a cliff. That also was not a solution that pleased her.
THIS was the view from the road at our original spot.
And this.
These are the views from where we did park.
The next morning we drove into the Park to catch the early sun. As it turns out it really doesn't matter, geography wins out over photography. Any time of the day, from the NORTH rim, you are looking SOUTH. DUH.
Even so, Carol was able to get some great shots.
This is not the Grand Canyon. It is a "small" canyon the goes into the Grand Canyon.
The "Window".
Checking out another camping spot.
This is the South Rim of the Grand Canyon - WAAAAY over there.
Evening clouds again stop us from the real burst of color that sunset brings to the red sandstone.
We'll try again on the South Rim.
But a beautiful sunset anyway.
Alive and well, in spite of my best efforts. A day of travel and then we'll go to the South Rim.
PS: When we went back to the rim campsite we did determine that there was no place else to turn around. So if I had not pulled in there to begin with, I would have had about 5 miles to back up the truck and trailer on a narrow dirt road lined with trees on one side and the rim on the other. I could have done it with Carol's help. But we might not have ever spoken to each other again.
With the information I had available when I pulled into that spot it looked like a good idea.
It wasn't. I almost didn't get out.
I did have a plan B which was to unhitch the trailer and go find a tow vehicle with a much shorter wheelbase.
But it looked like I had really made a bad decision.
ONE MORE TIME. Are you getting this folks? Turns out it was the best decision. Which we made for totally wrong reasons. Again.
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