Cottonwood Arizona

May 12

After our fun little visit to Winslow, we continued southward to Cottonwood, AZ, our destination, Verde Valley RV Resort. Another Thousand Trails and I have to say one of the best so far. 

The ride there was uneventful though filled with beautiful scenery being surrounded by hills, mountains, incredible stone formations and lots of empty space. Do have to say for an Interstate Highway 17 leaves a lot to be desired in itself as is bumpy as all get out. Kept hoping nothing loosen up along the way.

Again, the campground or preserve as they are called, is large and sprawling with sites down in the valley as well as up on top of the mountain. We found one on the outside loop with great view of the valley on that side. Love outside loops as that way no one is on at least one side of you. We were there for two nights so had a whole day to explore and get some hiking in. 

Actually, rather more hiking than we were planning. Yep, one of those 3 mile hikes that turn into 6 miles when you don't have a trail map and there's no real markers. Oh but of course, a lot of fun. The campground abuts the Verde Valley River and so we decided to hike down to it. That in itself was entertaining as turned out to be a lot steeper than expected.

   In two places there were drops of four to six feet with these old rickety wooden ladders to assist you down. Oh my, are these things going to hold up?? Fortunately, yes they did the job. (how do we found these places, LOL) Once down to the bottom of the cliff had to work our way to the river itself as there wasn't any clear path just random cut-throughs. 

Was fun watching the scurrying of little lizards (looked like a type of Anole) as we walked along. The views of the river were disappointing as the vegetation was rather overgrown, but enjoyed what we could. The hike took us to the valley section of the campground so while there checked out the pool area, very well kept and perfectly clear water. Right now it is on a reservation system to help keep the social distancing rules in place. Had we had our suits with us, we may have considered jumping in, it was getting hot out.

Turn ourselves to the road back up the hill to start back. Oh, look there's a trail we can take instead of walking on the road. Always preferred by us. Away we go, up the trail that appeared to be going in the direction we wanted. Easy walking though hot as in the sun, but better than on the road, right?!? We get to almost the top of this hill and huh, why is the trail going that way? Shouldn't it be going in that direction to get back to the main road? Well, our choice is to continue on and hope for the best or turn around and go all the way back down. 

We all know what we decided, yep, continue onward. HA! Around top we go and we are headed downward, wait this can't be right we are now back at the road even further down in the valley. Oh good grief. Oh my, we are hot, tired, thirsty and have at least a mile to walk uphill! Got to love us. Made it back and collapsed, LOL

Spent the rest of the day relaxing and trying to stay cool, temperatures got up into the low 90s. Seems we went from winter, to very short spring and right into high summer, within a two week span.

Anyway as I mention this was a great well kept campground that we wouldn't hesitate to go back to and spend more. There is a lot in the area we would like to explore.

Tomorrow on to a special stop and great splurge.

Til Then

TA!

Cottonwood tree for which the area is named