Travel To Patagonia Lake State Park - (Patagonia, AZ)

It was travel day.  Time to take the next step in our journey.

Since we were going to be parking without hook-ups, I made sure I was in line for Thursday morning propane to top off one of our cylinders.  The other was still full.

Linda started preparing the inside to leave.  She then went to the post office and the grocery to stock up.  Oh, and one last trip to the bead store.  :)

While she was gone I emptied our fresh water tank for travel.  We are too heavy to travel with water.

I dumped the tanks, plugged in the Pressure Pro to check tire pressures, printed out a departure checklist, and did just a couple of the things inside that Linda normallly does like stowing the satellite dish and shutting down the laptops.

Also, Bill & I checked the lug nuts on our new wheels and used his high quality torque wrench to tighten them.  According to what I've read, you should do that on new wheels a few times during the first few hundred miles.  Thanks Bill!

I was pretty much done outside by the time Linda returned.  While she was finishing up inside, I tried to track down a couple of RV-Dreamers to say "so long".  I found Ed, who had been sick, at home.  I looked for Sonia, but her truck was gone.

When I returned, Linda was finished.  I found her next door at Bill & Debbie's checking out their air mattress with the controls to set the firmness on each side.  Linda's been wanting a new mattress, so she is testing her options.  :)

More hugs & handshakes and we were ready to pull out.

Checkout was 11:00, but it was more like 11:30 by the time we left our site.  We stopped at the office to pay for our metered electric usage during our stay.  But there was a problem.  When the meter we had stopped working at Christmas, no one recorded the final reading like they told me they would.  They only had the reading on the new one.

Since I had been keeping track on a spreadsheet to monitor our usage, we had the numbers on Linda's laptop.  It took us a little bit longer to get out since we had to open the rig, get the laptop, boot it up, and finalize our bill.  It was $110 for six weeks.

It's hard to say for sure, but I think we saved between $70 and $100 by turning off the shore power and using our batteries/inverter/solar panels during daylight hours.

Finally, we were on the road around noon.  We took a right out of the park and headed south on Hwy 80 rather than go back to the interstate.  Just before Tombstone, we took a right on Hwy 82 and took it all the way through the town of Patagonia to Patagonia Lake Road between Patagonia and Nogales (which is on the Mexico border).

The roads were wide and in great shape.  It was an easy 80-mile drive today.  The last few miles on Patagonia Lake Road are up and down and curvy, but nothing too bad.  No problem for any size rig to get to the park.  It's a pretty neat descent to this lake tucked in a desert canyon.  The lake is the result of damming Sonoita Creek which runs through the canyon.

Linda took the lead.  We decided to pay for three nights and go from there.  She told the person at the gate we wanted a site in the no hook-up section at $15 per night as opposed to the electric/water loop at $22 a night.  For both sections, the Patagonia Lake State Park website says "Campsite lengths vary, but most can accomodate any size RV".  That's a bit misleading.

Yes, there are a lot of sites long enough (I don't think it is "most") for any length rig, but the trees are not well trimmed enough for any height rig or for multiple slideouts.  And there are lots of low-hanging branches on the campground road in the no hook-up loop.

The loops are a bit confusing.  Linda went through one loop with the Jeep and wasn't too sure if there were any sites for us.  I followed her and clipped a few of those low-hanging branches.  I backed into one large site without unhitching.

I joined her in the Jeep as we got our bearings and checked out the rest of the campground.  It's an older campground and didn't really strike us as having an "it" factor.  There were a few sites that would accomodate us, but they were nothing special.  We ultimately selected one that gave us the best view we could get.

With Linda's guidance, I backed in.  I re-parked it due to tree limbs that would have interfered with our living room slide.  When I got out, it was nice to feel temperatures close to 80.  :)

Before unhitching, I took the Jeep and went to the electric/water loop just to see if there were any sites that were spectacular enough to warrant the extra $7 a night.  Whereas we were alone in the section we selected, the electric loop was almost full.  The best sites were taken, and overall I'm not sure most of them were big enough for us anyway.

While I was gone, Linda remembered that we hadn't taken on water.  When we park without water hook-ups, we always seem to forget that little detail.  :)

Fortunately, she spotted a drinking water spigot that I could get to with my 125 feet of white hose we carry.  :)

I hooked up hoses and started filling the fresh water tank while she began to set up.  While the tank was filling, we unhitched and settled in.  We turned the inverter on just long enough to send up the satellite dish and get it locked onto a signal.

Finally, it was time to relax and check out the park.  I started with my usual photos of our campsite.

The campground itself isn't pretty, but the park is very nice.  We do have a limited lake and mountain view.

Across the road behind us is a cove of the lake that separates our campground from the electric campground.  There is a little trail to the edge of the lake.

There are lots of birds here, and I continued walking along the edge of the lake taking in the sights.

The above photo is a portion of the eastern end of the lake which is a no-wake zone.  We may have to get out the Sea Eagles while we're here.

Linda & I walked to the visitors center.  There it was clear just how big a birding place this is, especially in the spring.  It's an unusual set-up.  There are actually two parks in one.  We have the Patagonia Lake State Park and also the Sonoita Creek State Natural Area.

The visitors center is geared more to the Sonoita Creek State Natural Area and the programs and tours are out of that state entity.  Part of what drew me here were the volunteer opportunities of Sonoita Creek.

Rather than camphosting, cleaning bathrooms, or doing maintenance, Sonoita Creek is geared more to tours and interpretation - our specialty.  Bird walks, guided hikes, and guided pontoon boat tours are done by volunteers.

They have volunteers doing tours and staffing the visitors center from mid-October through mid-April.  But they break it up into three periods as volunteers can only stay a maximum of two months - a perfect length of time.  They have three full hook-up sites in their "volunteer village" and sometimes they use one more site in the campground.

We spoke to a ranger for awhile.  The volunteer coordinator will be in tomorrow, so we will chat with her and get more information then.

We left the visitors center and found a high-arcing foot bridge over a section of the lake.  It was starting to cloud up, but I took a couple shots from there anyway.

This shot is looking out to the western end of the lake with mountains in the distance.

I'll get a shot of the bridge itself another day.  :)

This park is out in the middle of nowhere - just like I like it.  :)  But there is a store/marina on-site for essentials.  We walked over to check it out, but it closed just before we got there.

Back at the rig, we relaxed.  But I was soon back out with the camera as the clouds broke up and the sun was setting.  That created some beautiful colors on our end of the lake.

From another angle across the swimming beach.  In the upper right, the almost full moon joined the show.

I moved down the shoreline and pointed the camera to the west.

The sun sank below the horizon and a fisherman happened to bring his boat in for this shot.

I just couldn't control my picture-taking finger.  Sorry, you have to suffer through more.  :)

I turned back to the east.

Each moment brought a new and different and wonderful scene to my soul.

I changed positions once again and walked farther west.

The pink cloud reflections on the lake looked like you could just hop across them like stepping stones into another world.

The thing about taking pictures in nature is each shot captures a unique perspective that will never be seen again.

What a privilege to have been here on this evening.  :)

I turned toward home and took one last shot of this leafless cottonwood on the shore with the moon looking over its shoulder.

I think I'm back in my element.  :)

Linda made us a salad and warmed up leftover pizza for dinner.  We held off turning on the inverter until well after dark - about 6:15.

I went to the new bathhouse for a long, hot shower.  With us, we never know how long we are going to stay anywhere.  If it was three nights for sure, I could shower in the RV.  But it might be a week and, therefore, I didn't want to use up any water of fill the gray tank too quickly.

At all bathhouses in places we stay, I survey all the showers for the best flow.  Usually, like tonight, it's in the wide handicapped shower stall.  Shhh.  Don't tell anyone, but if there is no one around, I always use the handicapped shower.  :)

Now, campground showers never give you enough room to reach in and turn on the water without getting wet.  That means you get sprayed with cold water and curse a little or do the "yikes, that's cold" dance that no one else gets to see.  :)

To fight this, I use the washcloth to cover the spray until I can get in there and regulate the temperature.  I look like I'm stalking a critter to throw a sheet over it.  Only my sheet is a tiny washcloth and the critter is the shower head.  Missing the target leads to horrible consequences.  :)

My mission was successful and I had a wonderful shower.  Fortunately, these are the type where the water stays on as opposed to those where you have to push a button every 45 seconds.  :)

I got back to the rig in time for us to walk back to the visitors center for the 7:00 ranger program:  "Bats: Demons or Darlings?"

We've seen and heard many programs and have been educated on how bats are good for the environment.  This one was put on by the park manager and he had wonderful slides and videos.  He asked lots of questions of the audience which was made up only of Linda & I and all the volunteers.

We got candy thrown at us for each correct answer, and he was pretty impressed that I knew the largest bat in the world and Linda knew the smallest.  We took home a nice little haul of sweets.  :)

After the program, we walked home in the bright moonlight with our moonshadows.  As we got closer to our rig, I saw movement.  Three deer stopped and stared at us as we walked.  Cool.

At home, Linda couldn't find anything on TV so she allowed me to watch the second half of the national championship college football game.  Congrats Florida.  :)

It wasn't long after that, we headed off to bed - sometime before 10:00.  We turned off the inverter for the night with a deficit of about 45 amp hours.  We bundled up tight and turned on the furnace.  However, we lowered the thermostat so that it would only come on if temps in the rig got down into the 50s.

This boondocking thing is a whole different mindset and we haven't done it for quite awhile.  We'll have to see how we fare over the next few days in this wonderful place.  :)

Well that wraps up a long entry on this travel day.  Until tomorrow.  :)

---

Comments

[Robbie & Alice Simons]

We have to agree with you about being "back in our element" when moving from an RV park to boondocking. The feeling of being revitalized comes to mind. :-)

Being self-sufficient is nice for the wallet too!

[Marci & Tom Gimmarro]

Howard,

The tone of this journal entry tells us that you are indeed "back in your element." You sound so peaceful, and the shower story gave me a chuckle. Back here in MI, I'm planning out our summer camping trips while waiting for the 10" of snow we're supposed to get tonight (on top of the 5" we got Wednesday night)!
Marci

[guy from Surrey]

Howard,

Beautiful photos today....just out of curiosity, did I miss the January 8 blog, or did you? Perhaps you are following the Howard and Linda Calendar, whereby you are allowed to skip days! (VBG)

Anyways, wish I were there and not here!!!

Ciao

[Jenny J]

Wonderful Photos Howard...you are definitely back in your element.

You can find me at elevenfootrv.blogspot.com/
Jenny J

[V4Vagabond]

Howard,

I loved seeing the pictures and hearing about you being back in your element. I'm an out-in-nature kind of RVer too, although I have been staying at Escapees parks as I make my way to Quartzsite. In fact, today I pulled into Saguarro so I just missed meeting you and Linda!

Your sunset/evening pictures are out of this world!

Vee

[Jack Mayer]

Looks pretty nice to me. Why no IT factor??? Wish we were there with you guys. We are in the Bushnell park. No donkeys or burrows at all, Linda :(

[Don and Stella Pippin]

Howard,
For comaprison purposes I can tell you our electric bill for 4 weeks stay at Saguaro SKP RV Park was $102. We were not particularly frugal with it but we did run the furnace some where normally we might use the heat pumps.

Quite a change from Benson to your current location. Both look great to me. Another good thing about being able to select your own view of the world. It can be tailored to your needs at the time. It is your time to be back to nature. What could be better than that.

Enjoy!
Don and Stella

[foxriverguy]

Wow. What great photos. Ansel Adams quality! At least one of them will probably be on the RV-Dreams 2010 calendar.

[Marty & Roz Hill]

Howard, your prose also reflects your being "in your element" in that it is very descriptive and seems to flow easier than when in the other more crowded settings. You seem to be more relaxed and in your comfort zone. JMHO, I could be wrong. Anyway, enjoy the peaceful serenity of your present location. Great photos, by the way. Happy Trails
Marty

[Tucson Snowbird]

Arizona...land of many faces-gotta love it!
~Judy

[Tucson Snowbird]

Needed to add, you can catch a lot of bass and bluegill in that lake. My kids used to love it. The bluegill are a blast! A kid (not mine) caught the AZ record Red Ear Sunfish there! Have fun.
~Judy

[Mike Goad]

Really nice commentary on your perceptions of the park and wonderful pictures, as well. I also like the tip on avoiding the cold water in the shower.

When we had our fifth wheel we ran into several tight situations with tree branches. In fact, I had to repair the roof where a branch had torn the rubber. We now have a 24'9" Class C, so that's not much of a problem.

I'm in the process of redoing how I do my blog. One of the things I want to do is include pages with links to valuable content. The first one that I've added is Patagonia State Park and I've included a link to this post. It's on http://hawcreekoutdoors.com/blog/places/arizona/

The way that I got to this post is that a few days ago I added RV-Dreams Journal to my feedreader along with several RV, outdoors and travel related blogs.

Looking forward to more interesting posts!

Mike Goad
(currently at home in Arkansas)