Considering it was our first night together in the van, it went pretty well, apart from Kevin overheating and me being too cold. After a constructive discussion, we had a few things to try for tonight to make us both more comfortable. We had more of a sleep in than I’m used to, a nice change. We joined Dan down at our camp where he’d already cooked breakfast over the fire in a cast iron pan. He’d made too much so again, we stole from Cleopatra and ate some of his potato, egg and bacon omelette. It was absolutely magnificent, better than the oats we were going to have. Such a generous guy to feed us! He’d even boiled some water in a kettle so Kev could have his coffee.
We continued where we’d left off the night before swapping more stories and talking more experiences. After about an hour of chilling, it was time all of us head off, so we packed away the kitchen and got our cars organised. After Dan had a quick inspection of my van, he was off, Cleo with her paws right on the dash on the passenger’s side. We were both happy to have met him. Turns out our timing was perfect because just as we were leaving, three cars rolled up and about twenty Mexicans piled out, a huge family obviously spending the day down by the creek, even Grandma.
After packing up the van, Kev and I went for a wander along the creek, which turned into a bit of a hike. My crocs definitely weren’t appropriate. We wandered all the way along the creek bed, seeing lots of people’s camps and unfortunately quite a bit of rubbish. Even found a naked couple who covered themselves up pretty quick when they saw us coming. After crossing the creek at the road and continuing on, we hit the jackpot. We’d been discussing buying Kevin a cheap outdoor chair that I could throwaway after he goes, but the creek delivered us one. Kev spotted it and said straightaway, “That’s our chair” and he was dead right. Apart from being a bit dirty, all legs were intact and functional and there weren’t even any holes in the canvas! Winner, winner. We’d walked ourselves a long way from camp so we scrambled up the side of the hill back to the road and trundled back to camp, Kev with his chair in hand.
Kev was keen for a morning shower and the Mexican family had moved downstream so we nudded up and washed ourselves in the cold flowing water, giving his new chair a good wash in the process. Feeling fresh, we hit the road, but not before an early lunch since I had the munchies! We drove out of the national forest and continued our way north towards Sedona. We left the cactus behind, to be replaced by forest and bloody snow. Not just patches either, but piles of the stuff.
Not far away from camp, we came across the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park so drove in for a look. Despite the $7 per person fee and the few people in front of us that turned around because of the hiking trails that were closed, we drove on in. It had already warmed up to a hot day, so it was hats and sunscreen before we went anywhere, even though the only open trail was a 45 minute round trip (the ranger had said to allow an hour).
The Natural Bridge was a bit of a let down since we couldn’t do a lot of the hiking around it, but the highlight was the trickle-style waterfall that came off an island of green at the very top, like a floating island with its roots dangling from below. The formations underneath and around the cave that formed under the bridge were cave-like with stalactites and popcorn formations all round.
We did all the walking we could, then back to the car and moving right along. The day had almost come to an end, so we were a bit on the lookout for a camp. As we were driving into Camp Verde (a town, not an actual camp) for a coffee, Kevin was on freecampsites.net looking for a site. His excitement levels peaked when he found a spot a few miles back that had hot springs. Mine peaked soon after.
At the café we found in Camp Verde, Kevin had a latte, me a smoothie and when we got talking to our server, she told us about some great hot springs at Sheeps Crossing, but that we should be wary because there were a bunch of Diamondback snakes there last time she’d gone. When she brought our order out to us, I tried to get more information out of her, but she quickly backpedalled, telling me that she didn’t actually know what direction they were in because she doesn’t drive and couldn’t tell us much about the place at all. Oh well, she had good intentions.
While Kev was on the phone to Claire, I did some more thorough research of camps in the area and despite the 1.5 hour drive to get to the hotsprings, we were both in agreement that it would be worth it. It was past 3pm and freecampsites had reported it is a popular spot so we didn’t muck around. Kev was keen for a drive so he got behind the wheel for the first time, what a treat for me! It did feel a bit weird sitting on the passenger side with someone else in control of MY car.
The turn off to our camp wasn’t far back from Camp Verde and the rest of the way we were on a dirt road winding up and down the mountains. There was no way an RV would navigate its way through here. The road was ok for the Astro until the very end. Camp was in site. It was only a few dozen meters below us and the only thing that stood in our way was a very rocky, hollowed out road that lead down to it. Kev did well picking his line down the first part, always asking for my input since he knew he was operating precious cargo. After coming down the switchback and opting for a highline on the right side of the road, after the front wheels peaked over, there was a loud crash as we bottomed out behind the front wheels, but the Astro gently slid down the hill without getting stuck. She’d done well and Kevin had handled her magnificently. We parked the car at the entrance to camp and walked around to find a choice spot. There was plenty of room for us to park on a small mound with our own private space, which we did. Out of the car, I had a quick inspection and found that Kevin had managed to put a HUGE dent in the passenger side rail where we’d bottomed out. We laughed about it and he later used a permanent marker to put his name on the damage. I was pretty happy that was the worst that happened.
With the light we had left, we were keen to hit the hot springs, knowing the temperature would cool off soon enough. I enjoyed a beer as we started our trek along the river to find the springs. It soon became obvious the springs wouldn’t be easy to find so we were happy when we caught up to another couple. Despite my warnings that they looked like they were lost, Kevin approached them and we were happy to find they’d been here before so knew what they were doing. We tagged along with them and came across a youth group that we’d seen back at camp who were on the other side of the river. They explained that you have to cross the river and double back to get to the springs and they did their best to describe the best place to cross, which was upstream of us. The river was wide and raging with current so we had limited options, especially because we were carrying a backpack with some cheese and biccies and our phones, thinking we were on for a short walk and a relaxing soak in a tub. Poor Kevin’s thongs kept breaking and slipping away under his feet in all the mud and rocks.
Not long after meeting up with Dorian and Shannon, the couple we were originally following who were only a bit younger than us, we came across a very different couple. Two women, family I think, one was pushing 90 and the other was at least in her late forties. The 90-year old was tall and thin, looking frail despite her obvious ability to walk on uneven terrain, on top of that she was holding a very old, very tiny dog in the crux of her arm. Her friend was loaded down with a small esky strung over her shoulder and a bag full of towels. Kevin soon took the bag of towels off her to help and we all reached our creek crossing together. Kevin took the hard road while I found a spot that was quite wide but had a weak current. Dorian and Shannon followed and I helped the ladies across. This was only half the ordeal, after a bit of rock hopping, we still had another five meter section of river to cross and the current was strong. I joined Kevin and watched him cross, with some difficulty. On his advice, I went back and told Dorian and Shannon that they’d be able to manage with our help, but I firmly advised the ladies that if they were to have any chance of crossing, they wouldn’t be doing it with all their stuff so I advised them to return to camp and maybe have another go at it in the morning after I could report back to them on the conditions.
After crossing the ladies back across the river, I crossed again and found the rest of my team. Kevin had helped Dorian and Shannon across and managed to get the bags over to. Kevin latched on to a tree branch on the opposite branch with his arm outstretched, ready to catch me. I crossed a few meters upstream of him so that when I fell over he caught me and slung me up onto the bank. It wasn’t graceful, but we’d all reached the other side in one piece. The walk from there to the springs was short and as a bonus, the big group of youths were walking out just as we got there.
The effort had all been worth it. The springs were beautiful. The sat on the foundations of what had once been a resort operated by Al Capone, one of the greatest mob bosses in America’s history, until the FBI shut it down in the 60s. This is all according to Dorian who’d been here before and happily provided tourist information. There were three pools within the concrete structure, all different temperatures. The one in the dodgy cave was the coldest so there was not much interest in that.
The pool outside was nice an warm and provided beautiful views of the canyon we were in and the river below. The hottest was within a small enclosure with only a knee deep pool, but plenty deep and big enough for two people to soak in. The place was covered in graffiti, but it was art, not vandalism, it made the place even more special. Despite the struggle, it had all been worth it. We cracked our beers and melted into the pool, chatting to our new friends.
We couldn’t stay long since we didn’t want to repeat our river crossing in the dark since we’d neglected to bring head torches. When I found out Dorian and Shannon were planning to drive back home to Flagstaff that night, I offered them the use of my tent and food so that they could stay the night, but they opted to drive. Since they were keen for our help to get back across the river, they came back with us. It was chilly as we started our trek and we still had a cold river to get across. I’d spied a potential crossing closer to the springs and was keen to try it out when we reached it. It was wide, but the current didn’t look to strong. The team lit my way as I trudged across to test the waters. It only went up to my waist and apart from a bit of strong current near the opposite bank, it was a much better option than our first attempt. Kevin ferried the two backpacks across the river and handed them to me, then helped Shannon cross. Kevin told me that as they entered the water, with Shannon holding onto him, that she said in a very small voice that she wasn’t a strong swimmer. About halfway across, she lost her footing completely and Kevin literally carried across the river, grabbing onto me when they got close to the bank to get through the strong current. Thankfully Dorian was following close behind and didn’t have any issues. It had worked really well and we got across in no time.
Dorian lead the way home with his giant flashlight and eventually we were back, happy to be at camp where we could don some dry clothes, which we did quick smart. Dorian had a quick inspection of the van, since he was interested in the life, but they didn’t stay long, they drove out after thanking us profusely for our help crossing the river. I just hoped they got up the road out of camp ok in the dark. It wasn’t something I’d be interested in attempting.
It was pretty late, but we decided to invest in a fire, despite the lack of firewood in the area. I dug us a small pit while Kevin collected firewood (it sure is nice to have two people doing the work instead of just me) and we had some warmth going within ten minutes. Leftovers for a second night and we sat by the fire, regaling about the crazy experience we’d just had.
As soon as we were in the van and under the covers, I crashed out but Kevin lay awake for a while staring out at the stars.