Heading to High Country - Part 2

In Part 1, we camped for one night in Prescott, and we were on our way north, heading toward the Grand Canyon.

All settled in at Ten-X!

We made it to the Ten-X campground, just south of the city of Tusayan (itself, just south of the south rim of the Grand Canyon), around 2:30pm on a Thursday, and we headed around the Hermit Loop to find our home for the next two nights, spot #39.  One thing we learned this trip was that, when we're booking a site, we need to see if we can figure out which way the loops run in the campground and position ourselves so our awning opens on the better side of the site.  For example, you can see Arlene behind me in the picture up there - we ended up driving her the wrong way down this road, so we had our awning and door on the side of the site where the fire ring/picnic table were.  Ah, so many new things to learn!

The map at Ten-X - 

Site 39 is on the middle loop, the Hermit Loop

After getting all situated, we unhooked the truck and headed into Tusayan; we wanted to check with the RV park there that we could use their dump site in a few days (before we drove back home), and we needed to stop in the general store to buy firewood as well as a few other items.  It was time to get back to Ten-X and start chilling out under the pines!

Since it was a Thursday, it was pretty quiet in the campsite, so our main entertainment ended up being watching an unkindness of ravens (yes, that's really what it's called) picking apart the trash bag tied securely in a tree by our campsite neighbors.  One raven flew up to the bag, and nimbly sorted through the trash inside, picking out the good bits and dropping them on the ground for his/her compadres.

See the guy down below, looking up at the tree?
We felt a bit bad for not intervening, but if the ravens had started
picking at their tent, or car, or whathaveyou,
we would have shoo'd them off.
Also, the bathrooms had giant, laminated signs
warning of this particular problem,
so, it seemed more than fair.

As the evening went on, we busted out the new camp cooking setup, and the hamburgers and sweet potato fries Chef Christian prepared were delicious!  For my part, I hiked over to the nearby fresh water pump with my bucket to collect water for washing dishes.

Cooking on his Camp Chef BBQ in his Camp Chef t-shirt - 

corporate synergy at its best!

Just a girl and her bucket in her Ragnar shirt

After dinner, we started a fire in the fire ring and sat around, making S'Mores, chatting, star gazing, and enjoying adult beverages, until we finally crashed.

Apparently, if you text this picture to your buddy Jake,

who is sitting at home in Phoenix where it's 110 degrees at 8pm,

and he has to work the next day,

he will send you a text back that reads simply, "you butthole."

Seems fair.

The next morning, a Friday, we woke up and enjoyed our coffee in the cool morning, where the water pump I'd found the night before had an unexpected (well, for us anyway) visitor.

In case you can't tell, that's an elk drinking from the water spigot.

He was there for at least 20 minutes, 

having all of the water he wanted.

According to our campsite neighbor

(who also snuck up close for pictures),

at one point, he used his teeth to prime the handle,

so the pump would keep running.

Eventually, this guy had enough, and he strolled over to the rest of his pack of 4, and they chilled out under the trees, enjoying some nibbles and naps.

"Okay, lady, that's probably enough photos now."

After the pack relocated a bit further away, I filled my water bucket again, and we started heating up breakfast burritos we'd prepared at home.

We also did some laundry using our Scrubba wash bag

for the first time, and it came out pretty well

Noms!

After breakfast, we packed up some to go lunch items (charcuterie board type things) and headed through Tusayan to see one of the wonders of the world - the Grand Canyon!  Although we've been to the GC several times, the most recent visit was at least 7-8 years ago, and while the Canyon itself hadn't changed, a few new structures/museums/centers had been built.  After being waved through the main entrance (because the rangers still can't accept your filthy money - please donate to our parks online!), we headed off to the east, to the Pipe Creek Vista.

We strolled along the paved south rim trail for a little ways, and although the vista point itself had some folks, we found some secluded areas to ditch our masks and take pictures.

As always, pictures just can't do it justice

We also wandered out to Mather Point, which was much more crowded with tourists, although still far below the busiest we've ever seen the Canyon.

Too many folks to not wear masks over here

I like the size of the people for scale in this one

We also stopped at the geology museum at Yavapai Point, although the exhibits were all closed off; it was essentially converted into just another gift shop, as the conservancy was desperately trying to raise money (don't worry!  We didn't leave without a puzzle, a star chart for the camper, and a coffee mug).

After a few hours, we grew tired of people and masking and wandering around in the heat, so it was back to Ten-X for us.  We unpacked lunch and spread out our noshing items, keeping a close eye on the sky for ravens.

We wiled away the rest of the afternoon, alternately reading, drinking, snacking, and just enjoying the peace and quiet (we also strolled the other loops at Ten-X, taking notes on which campsites we'd want for the future...).

Not a bad day

As dusk came on, and we started to become hungry for real food, we fired up the BBQ again, this time to make steak tacos.

It also keeps the bugs away!

We spent the rest of the night very much like the one before, making S'Mores and watching the skies.  Chris grabbed an amazing shot of this latter activity:

MAGIC

I promise it actually looked more like this:

Thanks, someone on the internets!

We crashed again, sleeping well due to the cool temperatures and the 4" foam mattress topper we purchased after our Flagstaff trip, and we woke up well rested and ready to head home.  After more granola and yogurt for breakfast, we stopped by the RV park in Tusayan to dump our grossness, and it was down to Williams, across the 40, and then down the 17 toward the Valley of the Sun.

NOMS

This was the traffic heading OUT of Phoenix

toward Flagstaff around noon on Saturday.

While we were coming back into the inferno,

we did have the advantage of better traffic flow.

Like our last trip, we parked the rig out front, did a quick, sweaty cleanout of all the things we either wanted to wash or don't leave in the camper (parking it in Phoenix in the summer means anything flammable, meltable, or otherwise sensitive doesn't live in the camper full-time), and then headed to get the monsters.

We were happy to have them home with us, and for their part, they seemed pleased as well:

These two partied hard at daycare!

The next morning, we finished loading clean linens back into the camper (as well as wiping down counters, the fridge, the bathroom, and vacuuming the floors), and Chris kindly let me stay in the AC at home with the girls while he took Arlene back to the storage yard in Mesa.

Bye, Arlene!

Hope to see you soon!

Currently, we're looking at trying to get away for a weekend in September to head down to the Sonoita/Willcox wineries, but as we learned with this trip, that will be 100% dependent on the weather.  We do have reservations to camp with our friends Bryan, Jen, and their two puppers in late October at a lake in the central part of the state - that will be the first time our girls go camping with us, so it should be all sorts of exciting!

Later!

Amy