Mogollon Rim Campground

041525 - 041725  Rim Campground  34.3064, -110.9071

Mogollon (MUGgy-own) Rim is a 200-mile long escarpment that marks the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. This escarpment is between 100 and 2000 feet high and is a dominant geomorphological feature of the state of Arizona.(GCZ5FD). I heard out about this location by watching the Vancaskeys on Youtube. I was intrigued with their description of the views and only 120 miles from Phoenix it is.  So I knew that the Van would make it but I didn't realize the elevation was over 7500 feet. 
The Rim Road is narrow, but well maintained with a lot of logging industry in evidence. 

At 1330 It was raining a little when I turned off to look for a place to camp. I got out and walked to the edge of the ridge to take in the beautiful views. There were only two other campers, a 5th wheel by the entrance and off in the distance I could make out a 4x4 with a teardrop trailer, By the time I got parked and set up, the rain completely stopped and the sun shown through partly cloudy skies. Taking advantage of this wonderful weather, I jumped on Jaguarundi to go geocaching. 

The first night was very peaceful and believe it or not I had good cell service, so I listen to the Padres game while I made a salad (forgot salad dressing 🙁) and heated up taco shop leftovers.  The rest of the evening I sat outside and stargazed. The next morning I got up just in time to take down the Moon Shade before the ice cold wind took it down. Question, do you normally take down the shade at night? Probably a good idea I suppose. 

The second day was filled with a combination of biking and hiking. The geocaches I found were traditional regular sized deep in the woods, the way it was ment to be.  Later on I expected the icy wind 🌬to die down like it did the day before, but it never did and the temperature kept dropping. I found myself hunkering down inside the van.  The Windy.com had the wind at 15-20 knots with gusts up to 30. Needless to say, I did not put the Moon Shade back up, and could not keep the camp stove lit outside. I had planned to make a fire, but it was just too windy. I am so glad I packed my thermal pajamas,  thanks BRH.  

The next day was like the second day, 45°F with wind chill 34°. After breakfast, I packed up to go do some road caching. After finding a couple I found myself back down the Rim road, so I just headed home.

Here's a link to all my photos  

Alamo Lake State Park

 

040925 - 041125  Campground E - Alamo Lake State Park  34.255116, -113.561410

Only about 2 1/2 hours west of Sun City, this is a popular weekend fishing spot and OHV sports. But during the week, there was very few OHV, most of the campers were there for the smallmouth bass. I took my time and arrived at about 1500. I reserved space B33 and started my setup. There was no service, but I remember reading that the reviewers showed cell coverage. I jumped on my ebike and rode around all the other camping areas. I saw wild Burros on my trip over to the C,D & E. I also discovered good 5G in Campground E, so I returned to the van, packed up and moved to E3. 

I figured I would recheck in in the morning.  

My new campsite was on the edge of the culvert where the wild Burros wandered down towards the lake shore. At night, I had an amazing view of the night sky and the full moon. In the morning, I headed out on the ebike and made my way to the office. The volunteers were very helpful, so I purchased a t-shirt and park stickers. I proceed to go after the remaining geocaches in the area, ending with a nice hike up above the lake. Did some more exploring on the bike.

The next morning I tried my luck at fishing, but I really was not into it. I kept thinking I hope I can release it if I catch one, because I really don’t want to deal with it. I ended up walking more than fishing, enjoying the cool wind off the water. After lunch, I rode around the park some more, then took a refreshing shower using the van rear faucet. 

Link to photos