We felt positively confident about our stop at Granite Hot Springs, since we had been to this public land the year prior. This is our second year touring the northwest US in our Honda FIT and we are feeling more confident in our use of public lands, and how to find them — we even had a few favorites along the way. Granite Hot Springs was our favorite from last year, Hollis loves waterfalls almost as much as trees and Bright Hawk loves hot springs almost as much as the wilderness. We both agreed that this place was worth more exploration and time. We dreamed about our future home on wheels as we drove past RV, Vans, and truck campers staying out on the edge of the river as we arrived. We wondered if the cows would be on the road like the year prior. With experience, we were less nervous about the cattle we encounter grazing on a lot of public lands. Honestly, we prefer seeing them grazing on wild public lands overcrowded bins on industrial cattle farms, at least this way they got to live a fair life, comparatively. We loved it when the cows visit us along the way. This day we didn’t see the cows but it was getting dark when we arrived. We had spent a couple of days in Yellowstone followed by a visit to Grand Teton. After hikes and exploration of the National Parks we were ready for a cozy night under the stars and some therapeutic waters.
This time we knew better than to camp in unmarked land, we got away with it last time but this time there were less people and the campground had plenty of open sites. This time we took a campsite a bit close to the water and the waterfall was now something in the distance. Although knowing it was there somehow inspired the soul. As we set up camp we were careful and bear aware, many signs around camp included warnings about bears. We carefully washed our dishes away from our tent and locked up all our food stuff in the car. Bright Hawk was sure to set up the tent with no scented things that might tempt a bear. We were aware that we were visiting in the fall, a rather hungry time for bears. We tucked ourselves neatly into our beds with dreams of visiting the hot springs the next day and also we needed to figure out where people where going at the end of the road. We fell asleep dreaming of exploring the space the next day in the light of day.
Campsite Set Up
Welcome Back!
Peaceful Campground
View from our Campsite
Granite Hot Springs Campground
Hollis is a fairly sound sleeper and can be caught sleeping with the loudest of music. They are rarely woken up by anything other than direct contact. This was a night that Hollis felt cozy, confident and very tired after days of hiking. Hollis found themselves woken in what could be defined as ‘the dead of night’ with no signs of the sun and not much noise. Except Hollis noticed something outside the tent, making the entire ground rumble beneath them. As Hollis’ eyes got larger and the part moon shined just enough shadow/light for Hollis to know there was a bear just outside the tent. Sniffing at the picnic table and walking around the camp looking for food. Hollis laid completely still, terrified that a bear was close enough and BIG ENOUGH to make the ground rumble. Hollis’ laid frozen beneath the sleeping bag, sweating but completely focused on what the bear was up to. Hollis hoped they didn’t have the toothbrush in the tent. Suddenly the worried mind took off with all sorts of worries like ‘can it break the windows of the car’ – ‘what if my clothes has food on it and he decides to try to get in here, what should I do’ – Soon Hollis’ storyteller had at least a dozen scenarios with only a half dozen solutions, Hollis’ heart rate increases. Hollis takes a deep breathe and says to themselves silently ‘you are still okay, in this moment everything is okay’ Hollis takes three slow full breaths, in and completely out as much as possible. Then, Hollis listened to the bear and begins to notice the bear was following a different scent, up the hill away from our campsite. Hollis exhales several sighs of relief, wondering if Bright Hawk slept through the whole thing. Hollis whispers, ‘are you awake.’ Bright Hawk says “What is it?” Hollis giggles in silence and whispers, “A bear was just outside the tent. Stay still I think it has left.”
Deep Wilderness
Misty Mountain Morning
Buffalo Road Blocks
Buffalo
We are sleeping on the ground in a truly WILD place
Now in unified listening we both validate that the bear has left our campsite and we both eventually settle back to sleep, ready for our next day. As the sun began to peak over the horizon we found ourselves packing up early so we can explore the rest of the day before we continue driving back to Colorado. As we get a quick breakfast, coffee and tea to go, and everything packed back up in the car. We noticed, while packing, that many cars are just going right by the waterfall/hotspring area. We are excited to see what is past the waterfall since we have never explored past the waterfalls and little soaking spring. We consider soaking before we head down the road because NOW it’s empty, but will it be empty after we explore down the road. We consider our choice for a moment and with the momentum of packing we keep going.
We drive past where we camped last year and the waterfall and hot spring. Here we could park, walk down the hill to the river, cross the river and soak in a little natural hot springs perfect for two people. We did this last year! From the waterfall parking area there was a hill that goes upwards. Last time we had noticed a lot of cars going up there, very carefully in a lot of cases. The road was rutted out and looked like we would need go slow in our little low lying Honda Fit. We wind around a corner and climb up a bit of a hill. As we come around the tree full area we see a building and as we approach we see signs. Signs giving instruction about parking to enter the hot springs, the prices and other various related information.
As we realize that the tiny spring from last time we visited was a teeny weeny reflection of the pools we are now looking at, large enough for 20+ people. For $10 we can soak all day if we want! We look at each other and start laughing at how we completely missed this the year before. Mostly because the road was challenging and we were grateful with what we found, a waterfall and a fun adventure across the river to a hot springs. This time though we decided to treat ourselves to a soaking for a nice long soak. It seems, that in most cases, there is more than one way to do things!
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Before we got our van we traveled to Oregon in Hollis’ car, a Honda FIT. A small gas-friendly car that was fun to drive in the mountains, especially as roads wind around in the Rocky Mountains and then the Cascades in Oregon. Even in the desert the car offered great views and excellent gas mileage although its ability to hold the both of us was often best done by applying the lessons of puzzles like Tetris. We worked hard in our travels and we love to reward ourselves with fun things to do in nature, especially Hot Springs. We noticed a sign about a Hot Springs, although at 65mph it’s hard to read the whole thing. We decided to check out the dirt road indicating the way to the hot springs, noticing it was also part of the National Forest. Hollis was learning about camping for free in the National Forest. Public lands, ‘our lands’- supposably as American citizens we have the right to be on these lands, although that freedom is certainly subjective.
We proceed down a well-traveled dirt road, going slow in our Honda FIT. Boon-dockers begin to appear on our right, placed out in the meadows with no one else around. About a half a mile apart we pass one, two, three and even FIVE campers pulled back into these beautiful spots well enough away from the road to not be bothered by our dust. With a cliff to our left, we forge forward with envy in our hearts to have a home on wheels. We notice something standing in the roadway ahead, where the flat land of the valley begins to fold into the pine forest ahead. Both of us look at each other with wonderment, anxiety, and curiosity as to what huge animal we are approaching ahead. We had just seen bison in the National Park, right up next to our vehicle and wondered if that’s what we see. We slow down a little, lean forward, squinting further down the road. Wow, they look as big as the car itself, maybe bigger. We slow down a bit more and we realize we are approaching a herd of cattle in the road ahead. As we draw closer we see that it could be hard to continue past these guys with the forest to the right and a steep uphill forest to the left. These cows were taking up the entire two-lane dirt road and moving very slowly. We are grateful they were moving slowly, some of them where bigger than the car! As we slow down we suddenly realize that we are all about the same size and we think we have been mistaken as one of them. A weird version of them, but one of them. Maybe it was Bright Hawk vocalizing towards the bovine, in their own language, that we come in peace and just want to move through. Assuring them that we are vegetarians! Slowly they part as if we are Mother Cow moving our way through the herd. As we slowly move through the herd in our car Bright Hawk begins taking pictures and we notice the BULL! Hollis is nervous as they know that bulls will sometimes decide to stampede all sorts of things. After a moment of moving past them, Hollis says, “Thank goodness this little car isn’t red!”
The love to be with Nature, too!
Slowly they part as if we are Mother Cow moving our way through the herd.
Lots of Cows on BLM land, Nationwide.
We continue on down the road looking for a campsite, maybe like the ones we had seen before. We notice a pay campsite tucked into the forest and it is completely full. The sun is setting and we need a place to sleep for the night, we need to set up camp, cook and eat our food and get tucked into a cozy bed for the night. We both knew that delaying this process often kept us up into the darkness cooking and setting up camp, which is not desirable. When you’re having to set up a tent and bed, set up a kitchen, cook, eat, clean up, pack up for bear aware and sleep – we just know it takes a while. We continue past the campsite, crossing our fingers and hoping to find something ahead.
We come around the bend and suddenly the forest opens back up to a wide open meadow. The meadow was gently littered with tall tall pine trees scattered around. At any moment you could imagine David Attenboro’s voice narrating the horizon and a huge grizzly bear emerging while the cameraman zoomed in. There where mountain peaks in the distance that reminded us of our visit to Grand Teton National Park earlier that day. Tucked back away from the road, opposite the meadow, is a huge waterfall! In all its beauty the water is flowing and as we roll down our window we can hear the water rumbling. The flow of the waterfall is unmistakable! Hollis’ absolute favorite is a waterfall!
A Spectacular Waterfall for us to sleep beside
The meadow is open and looks meant for us. We really need to set up camp and we have a nice pull in and spot to camp just close enough to the falls. With eagerness and intention, the two of us begin to set up camp, quickly as we are racing the sun. We can see and hear the waterfall from our spot and can almost feel the water droplets in the air. As we are setting up we notice that a truck parked at the circle on the edge of the waterfall has a beer on the bumper. It’s chilly outside and we wonder what could locals be doing down at a waterfall, with the chill in the air? Hot springs of course! We could hear occasional laughter coming from below and occasionally a truck would pass us from further on down the road. We decided that staying here seemed to be the best idea. As we enjoyed our camp dinner and could smell the minerals in the air, we where continuously validated that a Hot Springs was nearby. As we settled for the evening we knew it was just a matter of time till we could have the entire thing all to ourselves.
Pop-up tent + Honda = Wilderness Fun
The Falls into the River
Bright Hawk knew that Hollis would pop up with the sun, so it was easy to settle into our beds as the stars popped out of the darkness. We could look up through the top of the tent at the stars twinkling in the sky as we fell asleep in our cozy bed. As the sun peaked over the horizon Hollis was reliably out of bed, Bright Hawk rolled over and decided she would meet Hollis later. Hollis walks down to the waterfall to explore and look for the hot springs. A large deer with a full rack on his head stood at the edge of the river, on the other side, taking a break from his morning drink looks Hollis eye to eye. We stare at each other as if to say, “I see you, you see me. We can live peacefully beside each other.” Hollis projects to the deer “No problem my friend, this is your home, I come in peace and mean you no harm.” The deer returns to his morning drink and Hollis walks up the mountain a bit to the top of the waterfall. Hollis looks around from the climb upwards and sees no one, just our little yellow dome tent, and the car and Bright Hawk climbing out of the tent.
A Hike to the top of the Falls
Heading back towards the tent Hollis can hear Bright Hawk call. She had seen the deer in his morning drink and now was heading down towards the water. Hollis caught up and Bright Hawk explained “Look, see the steam coming up, smell the rotten eggs? That’s a hot spring, and we are getting closer.” Since Hollis had never done anything like this before they followed along, it was now time to follow Bright Hawk. We took turns leading because we knew we both had strengths and as a cooperative team, we are better together. Hollis began to follow Bright Hawk down to the river and we stood directly across the river from the steam billowing upwards.
Hollis Preparing to walk across
Steam from The Hot Spring
We watched the deer decide that WE could now have the river and beach to ourselves. He took off up the hill on the other side. Bright Hawk pointed across the flowing river and spoke loudly to get over the roar of the waterfall. “Right there beside the waterfall, see it? Steam!?” Hollis sees the steam and then realizes that now Bright Hawk had taken off her shoes and began to step into the river, with ice cold water flowing quickly in front of her from the waterfall. Hollis watches as Bright Hawk moves across the river with intense focus and Hollis begins to pray. “Bright Hawk will make it across the river I know, in a good way!”
View of Falls from the Top
Falls + Hot-springs = HAPPINESS
Hollis staying focused on Bright Hawk landing across the river in the hot springs having traversed this flow in a good way. Holding her phone and shoes above her head she only stumbles once. She makes it, with a sigh of relief and accomplishment Bright Hawk yells “I made it!”
Hollis Considering the Cross of the River
Hollis realizes it’s their turn and is willing to explore other options. Hollis can follow with a deep heart but Hollis knows what is good for them. Hollis takes off their boots and listens to their inner voices, ancestors, and trees inviting Hollis further downriver, just about 500ft. Hollis walks gently on the earth with bare feet and traverses the river at the sandbar where it has slowed down and is only about shin deep. Hollis smiles as they reach the other side and walk along the beach where the deer was towards the hot spring. Bright Hawk hugs Hollis as they reunite on the other side. As they both sigh in relief at their early morning adventure–a sunrise soak before they embark on their driving journey of the day.
After a beautiful and beyond our expectations visit to the Grand Canyon North Rim we had to find a place to sleep for the night. There are many campsites just outside the National Park in the National Forest but the cold temperatures overnight push us down the mountain to lesser altitude and higher temperatures. Plus, getting a little closer to Phoenix, AZ was a good idea, it was Sunday night and we needed to be outside Phoenix by Monday night. On our way out we stop into Jacobs River Inn and purchase of a few more postcards for the grandchildren and friends that love to get them. After a little cozy break in their comfy chairs next to their warm roaring fire, we carried on down the mountain to a free campsite.
Grand Canyon North Rim
While sitting beside the fire Hollis had scouted a place just a little over an hour down the mountain. Since its Fall it’s dark by 6 pm and we drove out of the park in dark. We pulled out at 7:30 in hopes to be in place by 9 pm. Sometimes Hollis just trusts, doesn’t think too much about it and in the end, they discover that their ancestors have usually guided them to something magnificent, yet at times we have found ourselves searching for a parking place much later than we want to be. Likely we learned something on those nights, but that’s a different story! Over the years we have gotten better, now in year 4, we are pretty confident. Hollis read the details the previous scout left online “This place is a real gem, the roads tough so you need good clearance and there is a broken gate at the entrance, it says to keep it closed. Be sure to visit the end campsites!”
Vermillion Cliffs – Northern Arizona – Near Page, AZ – View from Marble Canyons
This was another public land in Marble Canyons, just beside the Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona. Hollis scouted out the site online and drove for the last 75 mins. We were grateful to see the temperature come up to the 40’s as we went down in altitude. It was dark when we left the Inn. So the view was limited but after about an hour of National Forest and BLM land in the distance, Hollis could see a Motel and the navigation was showing the gate was coming up on the right. As Hollis pulled off to the side to the gate we could see the sign on the front that said, “Please Close Gate”. Hollis looks at Bright Hawk and smiles. This place looks like just another ranch but it was obviously public lands with little markings, just this little sign that was barely legible on the gate. Bright Hawk jumps out to open the gate so we can pull in and is immediately challenged by the fence. The hinges had broken and it was hard to lift and carry, but she manages the gate opens and closes it up after Hollis pulls in the van.
As we continue down the road we are slowed to 1 and 2MPH to manage the tossing around of all our stuff behind us. Slowly creeping down a road that seems barely manageable except that this van has great clearance. Hollis traverses large rocks and huge ruts in the road slowly and with great patience. Both of us taking deep breathes, to release the stress, after each challenging piece of the road. The coordinates for the actual campsite were at least 1.5 miles down this dirt road, it was late and both of us are tired. We traveled several hours today, had a several hour hikes, plus the excitement of getting to see the North Rim Grand Canyon! We hoped it was not taken by other boon-dockers and that is was the gem that was promised, but really we didn’t know, we rarely do.
Hollis was nervous about how the road actually got worse with a huge deep sand bar in the center of the road and very sandy paths for our tires. In the past, Hollis and Bright Hawk got the van caught in deep sand in Louisiana, but we did manage to get it out. With that experience, we know our van does not handle well in deep sand, so we both hold our breath as we move through sand. Hollis can feel the tires losing traction beneath them and realizes that its essential they do not touch the center at all, not even a little as it could pull us out of the path. We wonder aloud, “Are you sure this is okay?”
Driving very carefully we find ourselves returning to more huge rocks in the road and ruts along the way to be avoided. A one-lane dirt road in the desert, we cannot see any trees or much of anything in the distance. We carry on driving very slowly to avoid the tussle of the large rocks in the road. Hollis is grateful for technology telling us that we are getting closer and that it’s just a matter of time before campsites begin to pop up. Should we take the next one? A campsite on the right, fire ring and all, but the scout before us suggested taking the end campsites. We are both growing tired with this added stress of traveling such an intense road but with determination we move forward, trusting in a stranger’s comment online.
Soon the road turns and we pass a very large campsite with 2 fire rings and Hollis is aware that there is likely a body of water, nearby. It looks like this campsite might be up against running water. We carry on to see if we can get the very last campsite but as we approach we can see other boondockers. Hollis decides to drive in reverse back down the road, turn around in a small campsite and go take the other huge one, a bit of driving skill in this large Ford Transit Van. We wanted to work tomorrow and since we still had signal we may have found the perfect space. Only dropping into the 40’s overnight, we knew we would be okay. As we pulled in, set up our privacy curtains, and set up the bed for the night, Bright Hawk suggests we step out for a look at the stars.
Together we step out to see where we have landed and as we inspect the now very dark sky we see very little lights, including that Motel way off in the distance as now we were over a mile away. There were some other notable lights and as we looked up we see a clear beautiful star-filled sky. We both gasped in wonderment at the intensity of the Milky Way. As we stood beside each other we held hands staring up at the stars. Agreeing just how small we are and how the stars always remind us that we are just a speck of sand. Reminding us that we are just a tiny being on the planet earth among all the brilliance of our universe and beyond. A shooting star streaks the sky to our delight! As we hold hands and stare at the stars we are also reminded of how together makes us stronger. Reminding us that taking care of ourselves is the best we could do for the world. Our sleepy eyes take us off to bed while we dream of what our world might look like in the morning.
GOOD MORNING! Vermillion Cliffs from Marble Canyon, coffee with a view!
Hollis is up at dawn, peaking out the privacy curtains to see where we had landed. Bright Hawk steps out to catch the sun’s rise to power and we are in awe at the beauty all around us. The vermillion cliffs on one side of us in their brilliant shades of red and just next to our van were the marble canyons. Deep canyons that seemed impossible to get to the bottom, we both wondered out loud if someone had ever been down there. We decided that SOMEONE probably had. The river rushed through the center of the canyon and we heard nothing but the quiet of the wilderness and the rush of the water. We were surrounded by beauty and we realized we had the place to ourselves as the other boondockers made their very slow exit from the campsites. We set up our solar panel and set in to get a little more work done. Even in our adventures, we work hard to stay focused on sustaining our lifestyle. We are grateful to work among such beauty and we give thanks to such a beautifully preserved campsite. We could see ourselves returning here in the future as we had it to ourselves, had a great connection, and the views where marvelous. Trusting we were being guided we surrendered each time we took a deep breath along the road. Now we reaped the benefits of surrender and trusting the universe. Our gratitude grows as we manifest a life of our dreams.
We visit all kinds of communities, sometimes in nursing homes as well as spiritual and conscious communities. Often, regardless of what kind of community, they are intrigued at our travel and tend to ask where we are headed to next. Originally, we had thought after our work was done in Las Vegas, we would continue onto the south rim Grand Canyon to get some video footage and pictures for our current projects. We knew the North Rim was closed and heard it repeated several times in the community upon our announcement of our upcoming visit. We hadn’t been to the North Rim because often, in our tour, we are not in the area when it is scheduled to be open. As our time came to an end in Las Vegas, NV after some transformational experiences with the Vegas Vortex we began to investigate the weather in the Grand Canyon. Although it was within our limits we didn’t like hearing that there was a planned burn, which means smoke. Sounds like its not a good time to visit the Grand Canyon, even the South Rim. So instead we decide to visit Zion National Park and possibly stay in the area for some much-needed office work. We often work on public lands with our boon-docking office and its great if daytime temperatures are comfortable, dry, and still. We simply open all our doors, set up our solar panel on our windshield, and decide to either sit inside or outside the van. We even have a 10×10 to put up overtop our fold-out table. Often times we choose to sit on our bed with the backdoor open to a gorgeous view!
After a very grateful and fulfilling trip to Zion National Park it was time to dip down into Phoenix, AZ for a few planned programs with Nursing Homes, with LetsDanceActivities.org From where we were, we had two choices of travel, with only a 10minute difference if we decided to drive through the Grand Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs, places we had visited in the past. As Hollis scouted the drive they realized that there was an opportunity to visit or see parts of the North Rim, if it was all clear. Since we deal with National Forests, Parks, and public lands frequently, Hollis has learned a great deal about how different areas handle things.
Hurricane Cliffs, near the JEM Trail, near Zion National Park
We stop in a local town for a water refill, gas, and any food staples we might need. After errands, we begin to travel southward towards the Grand Canyon. Stopping at a rest stop at an altitude of 8500 feet for lunch, views, and a little rest break. As we carry on Hollis notices a sign for Jacob Lake and advises Bright Hawk to stop there if we can, as we are not sure if anything is open up here. Hollis looks around and sees very little snow, just a dusting on the side of the road in some areas that see less sunshine than others.
We had planned to just drive through the area and head on down to Phoenix for a much-needed soak in some hot springs. We called ahead in the morning to see if they had a campsite to go along with our visit and were waiting for a return call. Hollis realized there was no signal and hoped to get something at Jacob Lake, even just a connection to their wifi to check voicemail. Jacob Lake is just north of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon off highway 89 in Northern Arizona. We were delighted to discover that our hot spot had good, full signal and we are able to check in about our campsite. We wondered about what to do if his answer was NO, there is no room? Hollis played the voicemail, sounds like this place is super busy and they have no campsites till next week! Now we had to figure out what we were going to do, no matter what we decided we knew we had the rest of our Sunday and our full Monday before we needed to be in Phoenix for an afternoon program.
Hollis decided to step inside the lodge and see what they could find out about the North Rim, there were signs that it was simply 60 miles forward. Hollis asked a very gently spoken man behind the counter, “Hey there friend, Is the North Rim open? or do they have the gate closed.” He smiled and I already knew the answer because he was excited to say YES to me, he answered “Ohhh yeah, there is no snow or anything so they keep the gates open. There are no bathrooms and the stores and lodges are all closed, but you can see the viewpoints and all that!” Hollis smiled, bought the postcards, and Thanked the man for his direction. Hollis was excited to tell Bright Hawk! After sharing the exciting news with Bright Hawk we take off down the road that leads to the North Rim, Grand Canyon. We are very excited that it’s still early in the day, early afternoon and we had several more hours of light. With just a 55 minute scenic drive into the North Rim, Grand Canyon.
As we traveled on we drove through the Kaibab National Forest with beautiful open meadows, sprinkled with trees and bushes and covered with light brown and yellow grasses. A grassy carpet spread out before us almost expecting David Attendboro to narrate our journey forward. We would drive through noticing that every half mile or so, another sign would advise “No Driving in Meadow” and we would remember those old pictures of people visiting Grand Canyon in the early 1900’s in their old Model T style cars, out in the meadow as if their impact was nill. We laughed it off as it seemed obvious to us to simply stay on the road. We pushed on to see what was at the end. We can feel the deep wilderness and the vibration of an American National Park, signs about what not to do, and pull off notifications for slower vehicles, yet there is no one behind us. We are grateful for a quiet drive into the wilderness. As we approach the end and enter the parking lot we are delighted to be one of about ten cars in the parking lot! Everything is certainly closed for the season but the views are still accessible. We park and take off to see the view with eagerness. Hollis’ instinct as a scout sparks them to grab a picture of the map since we didn’t get one on our way in. We decide to start with Bright Angel Point and we walk all the way out, enjoying the view.
North Rim, Grand Canyon, November 2019, smoke from a controlled burn
As we stare at these beautiful massive rock formations deep in the Grand Canyon we find ourselves grateful for not listening to the nay-sayers and instead just staying in the flow. When we are guided, we are guided to where we need to be, to be guided means surrendering control, as holding onto control drowns your flow. So we enjoy a hike, mostly to ourselves, and head on out on a beautiful nature trail around the rim that ends up being a few mile hike. Neither of us had started our day thinking about hiking the North Rim, we thought we would be landing in Phoenix sometime that evening. Instead, now we walked along the North Rim staring at the glorious beings before us. When you contemplate how long they have been here and all the mysteries these ancient rock beings held within them, you can’t help but find yourself in wonderment. Both of us taking quiet time to wander alone with these massive structures and then walking together in wonderment at this spectacular place.
The Wildlife reminds us that humans have impacted the earth
We enjoy a vegetarian high protein gluten-free dinner in our van in a practically empty parking lot and a direct view of part of the canyon. Enjoying the wildlife that is visiting us and feeling blessed to have this space to ourselves. With fewer people around and everything closed up, the space felt a little like a ghost town and your imagination could easily lead you to see this place when it was first built. Both of us have watched the Ken Burn’s National Parks Documentary that outlines the history of these protected places, we can even sense the vibration through the stone walkways and lookout from the lodge area. Bright Hawk was even inspired to play some music and send some love out to all of you!
We Send LOVE & Serenity to all our readers and followers!
Living on the road has many lessons, often it’s about the story we choose to engage in. We often find ourselves on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where we can stay for a week or two, completely free, although you need to be prepared as there is no water, no electricity, and so on. You need to be prepared for primitive camping and sometimes known as boondocking. We love this kind of camping, it’s quiet and often is surrounded by our favorite views – nature! We love to have the option of hiking, camping, and hopefully a great place to capture some photos or videos. We find ourselves having to put our heads into our work and take care of everything from personal business to scheduling LetsDanceActivities.org, and managing our business growth. Recently we are making big changes and focusing deeply on what we want to see grow. Making a business work takes a lot of work and in our 3rd year in our van and 5yrs on tour we are making some adjustments to things. As we follow our deeper calling to expand what we bring to the world we find ourselves looking for more places that have a connection to the internet, great hikes, and boondocking for free.
The search for good boondocking places is real!
After wrapping up our Summer/Fall Tour 2019 we took a break to Zion National Park. We are working on video projects and always need more footage. We loved hiking in Zion National Park and since we had a little time we would love to stay in the area, get some much-needed work done, and then go visit the park again on our rest days. We find some great free campsites but most of them have intermittent or no internet connection. Also, it’s easier if we can just spread out, open the mobile office and get our work done than to travel every day to a library to get it done. We look closer to St. George, Utah where we can shop at reasonable prices and just 45mins away from Zion National Park. We find and inquire about Hurricane Cliffs, we find reviews that show other people had a signal from many providers and we punch it into our navigation. We are ready for a few days of boondocking and are filled up with water, food, and a solar panel to strap to our windshield.
Incredibly grateful for these beautiful places near Zion National park
We find the first road of free campsites and travel down a bumpy road, prepared to find the best campsite possible with internet signal so we can work online. The sign says there are 6 campsites down this road. As we travel the road we see that some campsites are simply too narrow for us and better for a car/tent type camper. A larger site shows up on the right but it’s full, yet right across is another campsite, plenty big for us, and completely empty. We quickly take the campsite as its sunset and all us boondockers are looking for campsites at ‘first come – first serve – free’ campsites. You can imagine that Thursday through Sunday this place can fill up fast, we are grateful to land on a Wednesday and have enough water to get us through till Sunday. Those few days we enjoy the space yet yearn for those campsites further apart, offering more privacy, and neither of us cares to hear people practicing with their guns. We are grateful to have a free, good, and mostly private campsite with an internet connection. Sunday arrives and we roll the dice by leaving, yet we trust, at this point, we need more water.
Zion views and the view of our campsite before we left!
When we arrive back at the free campsite area after running errands & getting more water our original campsite is taken and neighbors have shifted. The site we had been in now had someone else and the energy no longer felt attractive, like it had for the previous days. We carry on deeper down the road we had walked on prior days and hoped to take the big site at the bottom of the hill. As we proceed slowly to the end of the road through very rough spots, we are grateful for the clearance of our Ford Transit Van. We notice a Sprinter Style van behind us coming up very fast. Driven by a very worried boondocker at sunset, hoping to get a campsite riding up close to our bumper as we proceed with caution and trust. We take a deep breath and echo Pema Chodron’s advice “The driver in that van is just like me, eager to find a perfect campsite away from the vibes up the hill.” We approach the last two campsites at the end of the campsite road at Hurricane Cliffs, Utah. The campsites have neon yellow signs, looks like a special group reservation has been set and we likely shouldn’t stay here, unless we want to risk a ranger knocking on our door at early morning hours. We decide to let our eager boondocker have his own destiny and we drive back up the road inspecting the narrow campsites again, seeing how things change when new people arrive and others leave.
Gorgeous Views all around our camping choices
Back up to where we turned onto this road. There was a spot near this road, a dust bonanza every-time a speeding truck would come by. A truck drives by as we sat and contemplated in quiet. Is there something else we ask? Taking several deep breathes, both staying very calm and listening for our next step. We remember… are there other campsites? With total trust, we carry on down the dirt road towards other potential free campsites on this huge piece of land. The sun is setting fast and boondockers speed around us to get their site first. We stay steady with trust and ease, knowing we are going to be okay. We will find exactly what we need for the next few days of work.
There is a sign for more sites and we take another washboard road to investigate a potential 11 more campsites. These campsites are much further apart from each other, which is encouraging yet there is no way to tell if they are all filled. We pass one, full with a camper and truck – next one is a van and a truck – next one is another RV – Another van. We go on around another corner on this washboard rough road, slowly in our camper van as to not spill over our entire house onto the floor. Driving slowly to preserve the van’s suspension and paying close attention to what is coming up. Around another turn, we see nothing but flat land coming up and we find ourselves looking for the marker for another free campsite. Rising in our view a marker, yes finally! We examine the campsite for mostly flat grounds and deep enough for our van, we back in and in our relief for finding another campsite, we are assured with our full connection. Finally, we found our working office for the next week.
Private Free Camping, Great Hikes and marvelous views
Wait, we not only found a free campsite but we found a BETTER campsite. Now we had less traffic than the week before, everyone was spread out further, we had better internet signal and easy access to hiking trails! Our first day we saw a total of 4 people pass by and some neighbors stay, while others show just enough consistency to feel part of a little village. Each night some neighbors changing. We have deeply enjoyed our hikes in this part of Utah. Hurricane Cliffs holding beautiful views of The Navajo Cliff, Mesas abound on the horizon, and in the distance we can see the tips of the rock formations of Zion National Park. Inspiring our week of hard work we are grateful that when one thing ends often its just making room for something much better to step through!
