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| Car Camping | |
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| | Car Camping | | 3 Days | | |
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| no partners | | My daughter and her husband wanted to take their three kids camping over Memorial Weekend but they wanted to avoid crowded campgrounds with smelly outhouses. So I suggested one of my favorite car camping sites off of FR139C on the Mogollon Rim, Camp Grasshopper Site #3. I drove up Wednesday afternoon just to be sure I secured the campsite and to enjoy the solitude for a day before they would arrive late Thursday. They quickly accepted my offer to haul some of their gear and get camp set up with the new 8 person family tent before their arrival. The Coconino Nat. Forest Motor Vehicle Use restrictions allow dispersed camping along FR139C but no vehicles are allowed more than 30 ft from the road center. The campsite which is about 100 ft off the road was in great shape, the grass in the meadows was springtime green but the ferns were just starting to sprout and the oak trees had not leafed out yet. I spotted a young elk grazing in the road side meadow on the drive in about 1 mile from camp.
Putting up the huge tent was slow going by myself but I was in no hurry. The next morning I took a drive to the edge of the rim to text a cell phone message warning them to bring extra warm clothes for the cool nights. I then returned to camp for an hour nap (had to try out their tent), and then went for a 5.5 mile loop hike through Merritt Draw and back to camp following the ridge top between FR139C and Barbershop Canyon. The family rolled in at 6:30 pm and the grandkids were excited about the elk they had seen along FR139C. "Hunting" for elk and exploring the surrounding forest and meadows became the favored activities for the next three days. We found that the best way to see elk was to slowly cruise up and down FR139C in the early morning or at dusk in the car. Using this technique we successfully spotted elk on four out of five drives over three days.
My daughter had introduced searching for geocaches as a way to get her kids more interested in exploring the outdoors. We included a search for two nearby geocaches on one of our evening elk hunting expeditions. We were successful in finding one called "Soggy Squirrel Camp" placed by friends of AZ Wandering Bear in 2013 at the head of Merritt Draw. During mid-day we went on short 2.5 mile hikes out of camp to explore Merritt Draw and the ridge tops on each side of camp. All agreed it was a successful three night family campout. I stayed another night after they left planning on doing some more hiking. But I ended up just enjoying the solitude of this quiet and scenic camp site while reading a book in the shade of the tall pines. |
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