Madera Canyon

With the southern Arizona temperatures cooling off a little we decided to visit Madera Canyon which is in the Santa Rita mountains.  Madera Canyon is located about halfway between Tucson and the border.  The canyon is an internationally renowned birding location, so it was a perfect place for Valerie to spend a few days and there is some great hiking in the nearby Mt Wrightson wilderness area so Dean was happy.  There is a small 13 site campground in Madera Canyon, and we were luck to get one of the three sites that will accommodate larger rigs.  The surrounding forest land and state trust land is also available for boondocking.

  Lots of Coues Deer in the Area

 

 

Also... lots of Wild Turkey

 

The hike to the Carrie Nation Mine was a challenge but it was interesting to see a 1915 copper mine.  Would have loved to seen the inside but the water was fairly deep and who knows what is inside an old mine.

The remains of an old steam engine used at the 1915 mine site. Note sure how they managed to get the boiler to the site as even today there are no roads for miles.

Trip Summary

 

After getting out of the mountains south of McCall ID we made a direct beeline for home as the temperatures were in the upper 90’s and low 100’s.  The route took us from Boise ID, to Twin Falls ID, Salt Lake UT, Jacob Lake AZ, and finally home.  We were lucky to time our drive through Salt Lake City for a Saturday, so we had less traffic but still lots of construction.  The road through Salt Lake is in a perpetual state of construction and has been for decades. 

A few status from the trip:
Miles driven: 3207
Days on the road: 27
Nights in RV parks: 0
Nights in state/city/province/territory parks: 23
Nights boondocking: 3
Lowest gas price: $2.09/gal (Riverton, WY)
Highest gas price: $2.75/gal (Hamilton, MT)
Gallons of fuel used:  352.5
Average miles/gal: 9.1
Cost per mile: $0.26

  Spotted this beautiful fox in Cascade ID

 Cedar Waxwing found near Sula MT

 

 

 

 

 

 Bridge across the Lochsa River west of Lolo MT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trip Log:

Day 24 (315 miles) – Aug. 1, 2020 – To UT State Lake, Provo UT

 Day 25 (310 miles) – Aug. 2, 2020 – To Jacob Lake AZ

Day 26 (208 miles) – Aug. 3, 2020 – To Happy Jack AZ

Day 27 (140 miles) – Aug. 4, 2020 – To Home

 

Stars in the Night

Experimenting with some star photography.  These were all taken in northeastern Utah.

 

 

Trip Log:

Day 18 (94 miles) – July 26, 2020 – To Spring Gulch Campground, Sula, MT

 

 Day 20 (118 miles) – July 28, 2020 – To Whitehouse Campground, MT

 Day 21 (215 miles) – July 29, 2020 – To McCall, MT

 Day 22 (31 miles) – July 30, 2020 – To Cascade, MT

 Day 23 (158 miles) – July 31, 2020 – To Glenn Ferry, MT

Beartooth Pass

This group of photos is from our trip up and over Beartooth Pass in Montana.  Beartooth pass is just south of Red Lodge Montana and north of Yellowstone on highway 212.  

The drive over the pass, which is at 11,000 feet, is one of the most beautiful drives in North America.  In our opinion, this drive is equal to and maybe better than the drive through Denali National Park or the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier.  This was our third trip over the pass and each time has been very different.  

In the past there was lots of snow on the pass but this year there was much less, but instead, the mountainsides were carpeted with every type of wildflower you could imagine.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trip Log:

Day 15 (211 miles) – July 23, 2020 – To Beaver Dam Campground, MT

 Day 17 (41 miles) – July 25, 2020 – To Wise River, MT