Blog – Page 44 – Occidentalist

Southwest 2020, Utah

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2020-12-19
Post category:Truck Camping Utah
Post comments:1 Comment

After our night in Comb Wash it was time to start looking around this piece of southern Utah I haven’t really spent any time in. When we started thinking about our time in the Southwest our list for New Mexico was long and the list for Utah was pretty short. A combination of lots of closures throughout New Mexico and Utah having a lot of backcountry opportunities that kept us away from crowds resulted in us spending more time in Utah than anywhere else. We started the day backtracking to see the formation Mexican Hat was named for.

(more…)

Southwest 2020, Arizona Strip

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2020-12-13
Post category:Arizona Truck Camping
Post comments:4 Comments

We left Valley of Fire and Nevada behind, headed for the narrow strip of Arizona north of the Grand Canyon. Even though the North Rim was essentially closed for the season, according to our research it was as open as we needed it to be, meaning it was open to drive into and have a hike around to the viewpoints. We didn’t need to pick up anything at the gift shop. But, as we were getting closer to Jacob Lake the snow started to get pretty deep and our stop at the North Rim started to look questionable. Sure enough, the sign at the Jacob Lake junction advised that the road was closed due to snow, and not to travel toward the park, as if the freshly fallen two feet of white stuff wasn’t enough of a clue. Well, there goes that plan. I guess the North Rim goes on the list for next time we happen to be in the neighborhood. With 12 cookies from the Jacob Lake Inn as our consolation we headed east toward the Vermillion Cliffs.

(more…)

Southwest 2020, Nevada

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2020-12-12
Post category:Nevada Truck Camping
Post comments:0 Comments

We had grand plans that started in 2019 – Baja in 2020! Fishing, camping on the beach, tacos, cervezas. Then a little pandemic came along. We started thinking backup plans. Three weeks off and where to go? November limits options to points south. The southwest it was – Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, here we come. This is the story of 23 days and over 4000 miles on the road.

Since I feel like I have to address it: for those of you thinking…. ‘you can’t travel, it’s too risky’…. consider the fact that we go to work every day in an office, coming into contact with all sorts of people, service over health has been the priority around here. Now three weeks on the road only going indoors once a week or so for groceries seems like a pretty safe proposition. Ok, that’s all I am going to say about that.

(more…)