Let’s get back to where we left it in Las Vegas!
We had lots of problems with our cell coverage in past two months and finally made the decision to invest in buying starlink! So hopefully we have more regular updates from now on.
We left Las Vegas and looked for a peaceful spot to camp and work away from the civilization and found a great one with mature Jashua trees, an hour drive east from Las Vegas. The heat wasn’t bad and we managed to stay there and work for two days.
From there, we wanted to head to Arizona but weren’t sure which part of Arizona! We were hoping to have the parts that we ordered for the car ready in few days and head down to the Landcruiser mechanic close to the border with the Mexico first and then keep heading north to escape the heat in time but it didn’t go as we planned. Delivery had delays and we had to hang around in northern Arizona for 10 days and attend the Overland Expo West before heading south to Sonoita.
So After a good rest by Jashua trees we headed east toward Flagstaff, Arizona. We weren’t in a rush and needed to do some Laundry along the way and refill the water tank so after a bit of search on IOverlander, we pointed a small town called Williams on the map and headed there around lunch time. As soon as we got closer to the town, we saw all different Route 66 signs and advertisements and realized that we got to a town on route 66 which is pretty touristic and busy packed with souvenir shops but at the same time it had a very great vibe.
And just like that, a quick stop to do laundry turned out to be a great stop! We spent hours looking around the shops which most of them sell authentic native Indian arts and craft and tried local brewery.
This element of surprise and having the feeling that you found something or somewhere by accident and experience something different than what you planned for is awesome. It’s so hard to get this feeling when you visit somewhere that you read about alot and watched videos about, you somehow have expectations. Even if the place or experience delivers in terms of the expectations, it lacks the element of surprise.
After a great stop, we headed toward national forest in the mountain to find a nice and cool camp spot.
A wide gravel road soon turned into a narrow windy dirt road heading into the mountain with no opening on both side to camp. We started to get worried that all the drive uphill was for nothing and it was getting dark. Eventually we found a nice opening with a fire ring and level ground to call it home for the night.
Next morning we carried on the dirt road toward the other side of the mountain to skip USA freeways toward Flagstaff as much as we can.
The cars normally drive 130 to 140 km/h and constantly taking over. The problem are not the small cars, although there are not many small cars in this country but the trucks and the huge campervans that this nation love to drive around and tow their Jeep behind it and take over while driving at 130 km/h, it is unbelievable and nerve racking to be honest.
Normally after an hour drive on a freeway, we have enough and look for alternative tracks to take us to the next destination.
After few hours we got close to Flagstaff. We decided to stay around Sedona for a few days, a charming little town south of Flagstaff with lots of natural beauty, strange red rock formations and heaps of trails to hike and explore the area for a few days, before the Overland Expo begins.
Staying around Sedona for few days turned out to be a great decision. the location of the town is prime in between all odd looking massive red rock formations. Houses are all designed and build with the local materials and minimal designs so they blend in with the surrounding hills and mountains. There are endless tracks around the town and lots of opportunities to camp in close proximity to the town.
There are lots of galleries which have a great collection of arts from Native Indians Jewelries and potteries to the high end painting, statues, glass work and what ever you can imagine. We’ve spent hours walking around and watch what was on the show in the galleries. We’ve done two trails and for each one of them, parking was a big issue. It was actually started to be a theme when we visited famous spots and national parks in the USA but in Arizona and especially around Sedona we were lucky with park spots and managed to find one.
We’ve done West fork of Oak Creek trail which was a nice track in a deep canyon with lots of river crossing but the contrast between fresh lush green leaves of trees and wild flowers in the spring and massive red cliffs was stunning.
We also did Soldier pass via Seven sacred pools which was another great experience despite the torturing heat.
What else we’ve done? Ahh we’ve done Schnebly trail which is a famous offroad trail and it was brutal with all the sharp stones along the way but the views were out of this world.
There is an stunning chapel built inside a mountain wall with a genius design, close to Sedona that we also visited but we couldn’t get a decent photo of it but make sure to check it out here if you haven’t seen it before.
There is even a stupa in a nice park called peace park in Sedona to add to the mix. Here is a selection of photos from all these amazing places.
That was a summary of our first week in Arizona. Next time, we’ll finally heading to Overland Expo and explain what is all that about and continue south in Arizona toward Mexican border. Till then take care.
