More Arizona Desert Dwelling

With our wheels pointed in the general direction of Joshua Tree National Park in California, we decided to make two more stops in Arizona along the way.

We split a week between two different locations near Gila Bend, a town without a grocery store. First, at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and Campground, managed by the BLM. For a “campground”, the amenities were sparse – only a vault toilet and dumpster, but with our interagency pass, it was a bargain at $4 per night. And, it’s an ancient archeological site with hundreds of petroglyphs!

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Petroglyphs (images etched on rocks) from ancient cultures are found all over the world. These particular petroglyphs are the handiwork of the ancestors of the O’odham Native American people who have called the Sonoran Desert home for centuries.

Communication? Record keeping? Sacred/ceremonial symbols? Art? There are probably many reasons that prehistoric (before written record) people made these rock etchings.

At this site, there are “Western Archaic Style” etchings – circle clusters, wavy and parallel lines, and grids. These are attributed to hunter/gatherers of this region dating from 7500 BC to AD 1!

There are also many “Gila Style” petroglyphs – images including plant, animal, and human shapes. These are attributed to the Hohokam people who lived and farmed in the area from around 300 BC to around AD 1450.

Next, we needed a campsite with potable water and a laundry facility so we moved over to the Sonoran Desert RV Park. It was a very well-managed and immaculate park that we never left because we had tons of laundry to do and also there’s not really that much to do in Gila Bend if you don’t own some sort of OHV (off-highway vehicle).

Our most memorable experience here occurred the morning we were getting ready to leave. I initially thought there was an earthquake. We both ran outside and found the culprit. Somehow, our (chocked) wheels had rolled off their leveling blocks enough for our tongue jack to fall off its leveling blocks, resulting in our camper dropping 5 inches to the ground. We don’t really know why this happened except that maybe our plastic leveling blocks and a thick layer of gravel aren’t 100% compatible if our stabilizing jacks have already been raised. Always learning.

Then, right before pulling out, we realized our water pump didn’t work. Maybe from the “earthquake”, who knows? Since we were headed to a boondocking spot with no hookups, this was a nonstarter. We decided to drive two hours out of our way to a Camping World to buy a new one.

We checked the water pump again in the parking lot before changing it out and this time it worked. Whatever. Now we’ll just carry a spare.

If that wasn’t enough, after we got settled in our new spot, we noticed that we lost the cover to our hot water heater somewhere along I10. Since we assumed the flame wouldn’t stay lit in the windy desert, that meant another 2-hour roundtrip back to the Camping World.

Thankfully, our week boondocking at Saddle Mountain near Tonopah, AZ went a lot smoother than our drive. We loved this place.

The sky entertained us in the mornings and evenings with the best sunrises and sunsets we’ve witnessed in Arizona, which was a tall order.

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We spent all our afternoons making our own hiking trails around the BLM land and up some of the smaller hills. The nice thing about randomly walking through the desert is that you can always see your camper so you can’t get lost.

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After looking at Saddle Mountain for a week, of course, we had to hike to the summit. According to the AllTrails website, this hike was rated “hard”. I’d agree.

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Last, we got to experience a new to us weather event. Because living in an RV would only be half as exciting without crazy weather. This sand storm originated on the other side of our camper, moved past us, and on towards the mountains. So much for having our house washed and waxed the week before.

On that note, let’s swap the Arizona desert for the California one!