Canyon De Chelly & New Mexico

After leaving the Gila Box area I decided to head north to check out Canyon De Chelly and the surrounding area.  Had never been to to the area and I was close so it was a go. No riding and limited hiking in the park itself as it's on the Navajo Reservation and they control it pretty tight.  The views from the north and south rim however are worth the drive.  If you want to go down in the canyon to explore you have to do so with an approved guide and it's not cheap.  There is one trail which you can take down but are not allowed to go any further once you reach the canyon floor.  The Navajo are still allowed use of the land within the park itself so they restrict where one can go if you aren't Navajo. The Navajo have quite a bit of control here and the park allows them to set up trinket sales at the overlooks and a ranger told me they have a lot of car break-ins and littering by the Navajo youth. Based on the number of disposed beer cans it's apparent that there is a major drinking problem here as well.  Certainly takes away from the beauty of the area. Signs everywhere reminding one to lock up all your valuables.  Shame, as it certainly doesn't appear to me, that they appreciate the beauty of the land they own and live on.  Pretty views but doubtful I'd go out of my way to come back here.  

En-route to the canyon went up through Clinton, Az where they have a huge copper mine operation. Had stopped to go on a tour but wasn't anything scheduled for the day.   Size of these rigs is impressive.

Some ruins in Canyon De Chelly

Worked my way over in New Mexico for a little while and explored some back roads but only stayed  for a couple of days.  I'll need to get back out this way in order to spend some more time.  Lots to explore from the little I saw.  Had a friend who was coming out to Utah for a week so decided to cut it short  and work my way up towards Moab.

Lots of petroglyphs throughout the region.  When roaming around on back roads one just needs to be on the lookout and you'll probably come across some.

Gila Box

Had met a guy while in Baja who told me about a place called The Gila Box in Arizona.  I had never heard of it before and I had lived in Arizona many years ago.  He swore it was the best kept secret in Arizona if one was into the outdoor scene.  After leaving Tombstone I headed north to the town of Safford.  The Gila Box is located just to the north of this town.  Dry camped outside of Safford for a couple of nights to explore the area prior to going to "The Box".   Range outside of Safford goes up to over 10,000 feet in elevation so I did some riding and hiking with Petey in the area.

Of course, Petey is always checking out where we are headed for the day.

Above picture was taken while on the bike at 9300 feet. 

While in the Gila Box area I saw one other couple in two days.  Great camping, riding and plenty of solitude.

Southwest Arizona

I had a hard time leaving the Sedona area.  Had planned on a couple of days and ended up spending 7 nights.  I had to force myself to get out of there.  Weather was perfect, hiking and riding is superb and I had some great campsites.  I wanted to go down to the southwest portion of Arizona as I had been told of some nice areas to explore.  Plus, I figured I'd stop in and see the college man "London" at his campus in ASU.  Spent the night in London's dorm room, ate at the campus dining hall, got a tour of the campus and went to see a bad movie (The Kingsman) with London before departing early the next morning.  Was fun stopping in to see London. I was headed to the Huchuca Mountain Range just outside of Sierra Vista.  From there I planned on doing some riding and checking out the old west towns of Bisbee and Tombstone.  First night I dry camped out on some BLM land came across the first picture. Survived the night and unloaded the bike the following morning and spent the better part of the day riding along the border and up in some canyons in the Huchuca Range.  You can literally ride along the border fence for hundreds of miles in this sector.  It's a fun road and the scenery is good.  Get tired of this and you just head north back towards the mountain range.  Border Patrol told me I shouldn't have any problems but if I see guys wearing big backpacks while in the mountains to hightail it out of there as they would be drug smugglers.

Border Patrol drag these tires along the strip and then go back to check for footprints.  All the technology we have and this is one method we're using to control the border.

Got a little rain and the desert cactus were in full bloom.

After two days and nights in the Sierra Vista area I broke camp and moved over to the old mining 

town of Bisbee, Az.  Figured I'd stay one night and just walk around town that evening.  Met this local sitting out front of his place and got a verbal tour of the town while sitting with him.

After one night in Bisbee I moved north to Tombstone.  Pretty touristy with the all the gift shops and staged gun fights but one thing they do have is $1.00 beer and it's ice cold!  No this isn't happy hour or some special it's $1.00 all the time.  I thought the day of the $1.00 beer was long gone.  This may be reason enough to move to Tombstone.

Arizona (Quartzite & Sedona)

After crossing back into Arizona and picking up the trailer/bike I hung out in Yuma for a couple of days where I did some work on the truck.  From there I started working my way north towards Sedona with stops in Quartszite and Prescott.  While in Quartzite I met some real characters.  Ran across this guy at a bookstore on the outskirts of town.  He was very knowledgeable on numerous subjects and the surrounding area.  Was interesting talking with him but I think he's been out in the desert a little too long............

Another Quartzite local...........

 Sunset from camp outside of town.  Thousands of BLM acres surrounding the area where lots of snowbirds come down for the winter to camp.  Basically just drive out in the desert and find a spot. No services just dry camping in the desert.

 Campsite for a couple of nights.

After Quartszite I headed to Sedona with a one night stop in Prescott.  Sedona is a beautiful area. Had planned on two nights and ended up staying a week where I did some riding, hiking and just exploring the area.  Pictures will explain why the extended stay.