Day 2 of our west-bound road trip had us awake early to catch the sunrise at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in northwest Texas. I brewed a quick batch of coffee, then the wife and I drove up from the canyon floor to scope out a good view. We walked around a few trails along the canyon ridge, learned a bit of local history from the visitor’s center, then hopped back in the van to continue the journey.
Our next stop was set for a quick one-nighter at Jemez Springs in New Mexico, just north of Albuquerque. As I turned on the freeway, I asked Mrs. P how long this route would take. She quickly replied with, “Oh it’s near Santa Fe National Forest, and the GPS says only about four hours to there.”
Well four hours sounded great, especially since it wasn’t even 9am yet and we’d have plenty of time to explore once we arrived. So imagine my surprise when after a few hours I ask again for an ETA and she replies with a simple “Oops.”
“What do you mean ‘oops’?” I asked.
“Well…” she explained, “I originally checked the distance to the National Forest, but now I’ve plugged in the exact camp site location. Looks like it’ll be a few more hours of driving. My bad.”
Knowing that we needed to make a quick grocery stop for supplies, I cut out any long excursions from my mental day-planner and accepted that we’d have to settle with a brief visit if we wanted to stay on schedule for the week.
As we entered Albuquerque, I pulled off of I-40 and found the closest grocery store. Now, I’ll admit that growing up in the Deep South…I’ve seen some things. But, let me tell you that an Albuquerque Wal-Mart is nothing to mess around with. You could cut the tension in that place with a damn butter knife. My guess is that Walter White’s supply has begun to dry up in the area.
We grabbed the food for cooking over the next few days, and got the hell out of there. Our route took us through town, then northwest, up past Rio Rancho. As I’ve always lived around hills and thick wooded areas, it was odd to see such a vast landscape of flat desert just outside of the city’s defined edges. We could’ve been on Mars and I wouldn’t have known any different.
It was still about an hour further north through barren desert before we arrived near the campsite. The route into Jemez Springs takes you through the Pueblo of Jemez community first, which passes along beautiful red rock formations, bright foliage (in autumn while we were there), and natural hot springs.
The day we arrived, there happened to be a small community gathering for a local festival. So, we made a quick stop at the Pueblo of Jemez welcome center to partake in the celebration and browse various items the local vendors had to offer.
We purchased a few trinkets, way too much fry bread, and some local honey, then continued north up the surrounding mountains towards our campsite.
With only a couple of hours of daylight available, we decided to set up camp and begin cooking some fresh and delicious meatball subs on our collapsible Coleman grill. We sat around for the evening chatting and stoking the camp fire as the temperature began to drop significantly.
Sleeping was rough that night, as the temperature fell to the mid-teens (Fahrenheit). Of course, I’d much rather camp in the freezing cold than in the blistering heat, but the sleeping bags I packed for this trip were rated only around 30 degrees. So, a few extra layers for me and about ten extra for the wife, and we eventually got a bit of warmth.
This didn’t last long, as we were awake and tearing down camp again around 5am. We warmed a bit of leftover fry bread on the coals, brewed up some coffee, and exited the campsite.
As the sun rose over the surrounding mountains, we drove back down into the valley that held the Jemez community. The foliage this time of year was amazing, so we stopped to take a few photos on the outskirts of town (photography is prohibited in the Pueblo).
Just after leaving town, the low tire pressure indicator began flashing on our rental van. Hoping this was due to the extreme drop in temperature, I drove to closest gas station to fill up and investigate the tire issue further.
Upon checking all four tires, I found the culprit, which was the passenger rear tire sitting about halfway flat. I felt around, and of course caught my finger on the head of a nail that punctured the through the tread.
Thankfully, the Boy Scout motto was drilled into my head for years and years, so of course…I came prepared. Tucked away under the camping gear, I stowed a box of emergency items that included a tire plug kit and a small air compressor.
Within 30 minutes, I had the tire plugged and inflated, the van fueled up, and the GPS set for our next location: Humphreys Peak, Arizona.
Day 3: Humphreys Peak – Lockett Meadow Campground
This next destination was around five or six hours west, just north of Flagstaff. We drove through more open desert landscapes across 1-40, slowly bringing a bit Coconino National Forest into view.
During this visit, most of the western states were experiencing a difficult drought and fighting the accompanying wildfires. As we drew closer to Flagstaff, we began to see the smoke in the distance of small fires that local crews were fighting to contain. This gave us a slight concern about where we were heading, but thankfully our route took us further away from the smoke and flames.
With vague directions copied from a suggestion online about camping in the Lockett Meadow Campground, we took this rented mini-van up a single lane dirt/gravel road winding around the mountains. Occasionally, we’d have to pull to the side, tires hugging the edge of the cliff just beside us, in order to allow an oncoming vehicle to pass coming down the mountain.
As nerve-racking as this slow, off-highway excursion was, the sign of vehicles meant we were at least heading in the right direction…probably.
After what seemed like ages, we finally made it to the Lockett Meadow Campground and Inner Basin trailhead. We drove around the access road, past the parking area (which was quite full) and found a nice quiet campsite with no one around.
By this time, it was mid-afternoon, so we decided to leave the van packed and go hiking while we had some daylight.
The trail at this area was pretty tame, although a slight to moderate incline at all times. But the mountains themselves provided great scenery and vividly-bright-white trees lined the path.
We hiked a few miles, arriving at a service road that continued towards a pump-house and the continuing trails towards Humphreys Peak. Unfortunately, by now we were beginning to lose a bit of light, so we decided to head back down to camp.
Along the way, we passed a man and his two young sons, all carrying rifles. As public parks around Tennessee tend to be smaller than many of the western ones, and hunting being very limited and restricted, this was quite the culture-shock at first. We asked what they were after, and the father responded with “Oh heading a little further out, looking for some Elk”. It was the younger son’s first time out on an elk hunt, and they were going out into the San Francisco Peaks to try their luck.
As we made our way back into the campground, all light was nearly gone. We unloaded and set up camp, quickly building a fire in the designated pit. As we didn’t have much time to prep, tonight’s meal consisted of Shin Black spicy instant noodles, freeze dried chili mac with beef, and a freeze dried pack of rice and chicken. Exhausted from the previous days rushing across the country, along with the swift afternoon hike, this meal was absolutely amazing and we finally got a full night’s sleep.
The next morning we once again tore down camp about 30 minutes before sunrise. Sipping fresh, hot coffee we began the drive back down the mountain’s gravel access road.
About halfway down, the sun began to peak above the nearby mountains in Coconino National Forest.
We stopped for fuel just outside of Flagstaff, grabbed a couple of biscuits from Carl’s Jr (that’s Hardee’s in the south), and hopped back on I-40 West once again.
Our next stop: a (slightly) longer stay in Yosemite National Park.
Editor’s Note: Be sure to catch the rest of Cadbury’s journey in the coming weeks here at SoBros Network!! To catch up on Part 1, click here.
Cadbury Pringlebatch is the Lead Motorcycle Expert, Investment Analyst, and Travel Blogger for The SoBros Network, but knows a little bit about everything. Known for frequenting Nashville YMCA steam rooms, he’s a firm believer that winning football is produced by moving the chains, and became a SoBro after mistaking one of our podcasts for an AA meeting. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroCadbury
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