Exploring Flagstaff Arizona's Volcanic Fields + Free Camping | Newstates in the States
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- At 7,000ft above sea level, Flagstaff has great weather and lots to see, but did you know there are over 600 cinder cones from volcanic eruptions? We explore Northern Arizona's famous mountain town, Sunset Crater, Wupatki National Monument, hiking with the dogs in Coconino National Forest, plus show you a great FREE camping spot just 20 minutes from town.
This week's episode takes us to the ponderosa pine forests of Flagstaff, AZ. A popular weekend escape from the heat of Phoenix in the summertime, this was also Howard's old stomping grounds back around 2000-2002. Unfortunately, there is a heat wave and the normally mild weather here was in the 90s. We did our best to find a shaded spot in Coconino National Forest and set up camp. Like many Federal lands across the USA, you can stay for up to 14 days for free in Coconino National Forest. There are no services, so this is what us RVers call 'boondocking' or dry camping. You'll want to come with plenty of fresh water, empty gray and black tanks, and either fuel for a generator or solar (lucky for us, we have both!). If you'd like access to pins of our exact camping spots, be sure to check out our Patreon page to also learn more about how together we can help the communities we explore.
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument was one of the places neither one of us was really expecting. The dark, barren lava fields contrasting with the lush, green ponderosa pine trees is quite a sight. This area is part of the San Francisco Volcanic Field. With over 600 cinder cones, remnants of past volcanoes, the landscape looks nothing like the desert of Southern Arizona. Sunset Crater Volcano erupted 1000 years ago and is the most well preserved and youngest cinder cone here.
Just down the road 20 miles, the lush pine forests give way to Arizona's famed Painted Desert and is home to Wupatki National Monument. After Sunset Crater erupted, a layer of ash blanketed this nearby area which in turn made the arid landscape more fertile and able to retain more water. This brought an influx of people here who built pueblos and lived off the land for 100 years before abandoning these impressive structures. Several of them remain today and you can actually walk inside the 800 year old buildings.
After a day of exploring two vastly different National Monuments, we headed into downtown Flagstaff with the pups and found a great dog friendly brewery, Dark Sky Brewing. A local pizza joint operates out of the same building, so we topped off our great visit with some delicious craft brews and a white pizza with honey. Yum!
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It's so cool seeing you at places we have visited!!
Flag is definitely one of the best parks not just in Arizona but in USA as well. It's just amazing that you can hike with your beloved dogs. They can enjoy the nature as well. This view at 5:08 is breath-taking and that quesadilla looks awesome.
Thanks so much for watching, and you're right, Flagstaff is absolutely one of my favorite places. Bonus that we can share much of it with our 3 dogs. 👍 -Howard
Hi Katelyn and Howard and puppies!
Just wanted to say to the dogs. Thank you so much for this video. Learned a lot about the volcanic ashes that was nice. And it looked like you picked a great place to boondock. I would love it you could share sone recipes you make. They look so good. I’ve been to Flaggstaff but a real long time ago. Just stay there one night never hiked there. My sister and her husband when they drive out here to Vegas they stay there. It looks beautiful there. I love Arizona. I love the whole United States. Have a great week and see you soon!
Love seeing Scout and the pups are getting along so well :) Also, AZ is just an amazing state from stim to stern. Adding to my travel list!!
Hey there! They're all doing so well! We still have some moments of tension but they're getting few and far between. 👏 yes! Arizona is one of my favorite states, so much beauty everywhere! -Katelyn
Another great video!! Thanks
Thanks! This was from our first 6 months of the channel, but still holds up! 👍 -Howard
Great job providing information on both monuments. My wife is a NPS ranger at Sunset and loves it, after 30 years of teaching primary school.
Thanks Rick! We learned so much. Oh what a great job. I can see why she loves it! -Katelyn
Isn't it just wonderful to be able to discover all that natural beauty in your own country? Wow. Thanks for sharing. I really feel like I am along for the ride watching your videos. Awesome! 🎥👍❤️🌷🙋♀️
Hi Oma! It really is amazing to keep discovering all these new places here. Thanks for coming along with us! ❤️😊
Gorgeous, beautiful country you are in, great scenes to see, big thumbs up!
Many thanks, we are really enjoying exploring this part of the USA!
Stumbled upon your review of your Winnebago navion, and got hooked, and after watching a few of your videos, I can't believe you guys have just 14k subscribers. Like this is _really_ good content, nice editing and everything.
You guys should have a lot more subs.
Really enjoying the videos 🙂
Oh my goodness! Sending you the biggest virtual hug haha thank you!!! That's the ultimate compliment. We just started the channel less than a year ago, but we're hoping to keep growing! 🤗 Tell your friends! Haha 🤗 but seriously, thank you for the kind words! So glad you found us! -Katelyn
You guys are the best
Aww thanks Scott! 😄❤️
Thanks Guys great job safe travels enjoy all your videos 👍🙏🏼🙏🏼🐶🐶🐶
Thanks so much, Ronnie! Glad you're on the journey with us. 👍 -Howard
Awesome video
Glad you liked it!! :) -Katelyn
Glad to see Scout is so happy with her new family! She fits right in with you 3! Boondocking comes from staying in the boondocks. Looks like you guys are getting pretty good at it. Can’t wait to see your video of the Grand Canyon!
Thanks, Sandra! Scout has been welcomed mostly with open arms and paws. 😂 Still the occasional growl/fight between the 3 of them, but it seems to get better every week. Scout must have some kind of bird dog in her, she does the "bounding" through the brush and even has done a "point" a few times! 🐕❤️ -Howard
Can’t believe you didn’t visit petrified forest. Next to painted desert. Nor the meteor crater. Thanks for sharing
Victoria, there's so much to see in the area! Petrified and Meteor are off of I-40, and would have meant backtracking. We will try and check them out on our next visit! -Howard
Great video! Enjoyed seeing your growth as boondockers!
Thanks so much! Spoiler alert: we've been boondocking now for over a month since getting back into the USA. Just wait until you see some of the other boondocking spots we've been staying since Flagstaff! 👍 -Howard
Great video and wonderful places. Howard nice hair cut! Thanks for sharing your adventures.
Thanks Diane! Howard was so excited to get his hair cut 😍 5 months is a while haha. -Katelyn
Very cool! We camped up one of those forest roads several years ago with friends and went to Sunset Crater (but didn't hike as we had dogs with us) and to Wupatki. We found a great pond up the road towards the ski area and our Lab and friend's Lab had a blast swimming there. We dry camp as much as possible - have solar panels on the roof of our Rpod and two more that we can move around into sunny spots and have a composting toilet so can go for a long time out in the forest!
Glad you had such a great time in Flagstaff, too! Funny you should mention solar, I'm looking at a portable unit as we speak to help us stay cool in the shade but still keep the electricity flowing! Thanks again for watching, hope you'll continue on the journey with us. 👍 -Howard
Nice video....Scout really has adapted well to your lifestyle!
Thanks for watching, it's amazing how far she's come! 🐾❤️ -Katelyn
I love Arizona and I spend the summers in Flag, It has been hotter than normal this summer but still cooler than down south.
Oh definitely! We had to get out of southern AZ fast. It was definitely more enjoyable even with the heat wave! 😄
I’m cool with Coolidge 😂 that always pops in my head. Love the boon docking sites. Maybe look at more solar, bigger inverter and some lithium batteries if your gonna keep off grid. I absolutely love the big hole in the ground. Words can’t describe the Grand Canyon and how vast it is. Simply amazing. Great video ✌🏼
Haha that's a funny saying! Yeah, Howard's been researching our options for adding more solar since we're already pre-wired for it! Would love lithium batteries, on the wish list for one day! Grand Canyon definitely blew my mind, I was wrong! Next week's video will be a fun one! 😄 -Katelyn
Another cool video Nomads! The Wupatki national monument was so cool! We'll definetly add that to our travel plans! Already looking forward to next weeks video! Andy&L
Thanks friends! It was so cool that we actually got to walk inside those ancient structures! Definitely a great place to check out..yesss next week is gonna be good! 😄
We were just there three weeks ago. Touristic buildings we're closed. Vendors were selling outside.
Welcome to Flagstaff! You are truly on the Colorado plateau; when you ground your way up the long hill from Camp Verde - the Mogollon Rim - you reached that geographical feature that extends to the northeast corner of Utah. The plateau is sedimentary with volcanic features here and there. If you go north on Hwy 89, a handful of miles along hwy 160 is a location (Moenave) with dinosaur tracks in the sandstone. Continuing out the 160 (past the distance I have gone) you will find Monument Valley, with the rock spires and formations that show up in so many Western movies.
With a name like Flagmichael you MUST be local to Flagstaff, right? 👍😂 Thanks for the recommendations, and we actually drove on 160 but sadly Monument Valley (like all the other Navajo parks) was closed at the time due to COVID-19. I'm hoping we can maybe circle back to explore more of the area when things reopen! Thanks so much for watching and hope you'll continue on the journey with us! 👍 -Howard
flagmichael sounds like a NAU educated geologist...
Hi, yet another great travel along with you! Yeah, we have 2 large solar panels, powerful inverter/charger and good generator on our Class A, and we do fine boondocking. We never stay put longer than 3 weeks in any spot; we have very ample fresh water and sewer tanks, and mostly cook outdoors with portable propane stove and BBQ. We could easily last longer, if need be. Can TOTALLY relate in searching for a camp spot! Not only for cell service, but we also have a satellite dish and would also need shade to keep it cool for our cats. Our RV friends are big pros at boondocking, they're also part of a CB radio group, so we take some queues from them. SAFE TRAVELS!
Thanks for watching!😄 The solar definitely helps and Howard's been looking into adding more since we pre-wired for it! It's amazing how long it takes to find just the right spot 😆 always have to factor that into our travel time now! -Katelyn
Love this video! My family went tent camping in that area when I was a kid. Many great adventures were had. Cooking over a camp fire. Heating water in a big metal bucket to do dishes. Being attacked by fire ants at 2AM one morning. I found a Rolex watch laying in the mud at a KOA we stayed at, I turned it in to the office and when we got home 3 weeks later there was a thank you letter with a $50 check from the owner of the watch. Good times.
Random thought: @2:55 I have the same spatula.
So glad you found us, and those are some great memories! $50 as a kid is a lot of money (and still is, haha)! We loved our time in Flagstaff, for me it was great to be back after so many years. Hoping it won't be as long next time between visits! Thanks for watching, hope you'll continue on the journey with us. -Howard
Glad to see Scout doing amazing on a leash! I am sure you guys are getting lots of followers due to that story and the fact that you rescued a doggie! And I get that it is a new demographic, I mean .... I see how some people don't know anything about full-time RVer's terminology. Making memories, one campsite at a time! 🥰
Hi Jose! She's really come so far, she's better on-leash than our other too! You're right, it's amazing! Haha yes, lots of new faces here, Scout's fans! Which is great 🤗🐾❤️ not everyone knows all this RV talk! Thanks again for watching! -Katelyn
Hahahahaha your babies are too stinking cute nice video guys 😂😂🤣
Haha thanks Lynn! A constant and adorable source of entertainment! 🐾❤️
Oh my goodness. I was in Flag about 2 weeks ago and it was so hot, I left to Colorado, lol. I just started RVing and I love boondocking but, man, it is hard to find cel service! I usually give up, lol. I actually wondered how long others will look and now I guess I'm going to have to do the same in the future to find cell service.
I just moved to Arizona and got my RV so I can't wait to explore where you guys went. Thanks for a wonderful video!
And I was just going to type that you should go up and boondock in the Kaibab and go to the Grand Canyon .... and you are there! Looking forward to watching!
Allie, first and foremost, thanks so much for finding us, watching, and continuing on the journey with us! Second, congratulations on your news about the RV, are you still in CO?
Cell service is CRITICAL for us, so definitely feel your pain. We use a combination of apps (to tell us where the towers are), several different types of antennas, and multiple service providers to give us the best shot at staying connected for work. Even with all that, it still can take time to find a spot like we mentioned in the video that has the best combo of what we like and need in a campsite. I'm thinking a video just on how we stay connected might be in our future.
Grand Canyon was absolutely fantastic, and we found an incredible site super close to the main gate. Can't wait to hear what you think of next week's episode! 👍 -Howard
@@NewstateNomads I left CO about 2 weeks ago but can't wait to get back there in the future, it's a beautiful state!
That's great that you found a spot close to the main gate.
The more I research the more I realize what nomads have to do to stay connected is crazy! It's the one thing I don't look forward to figuring out. As well as cleaning the black tank, lol.
Thanks for the wonderful reply and I do look forward to watching more of your adventures!
We didn't know we could walk trails at Sunset Crater. Bummer. We were there in 2019
Hope you got to the Aspen Loop trail at the Snow Bowl!
Lauren, I just looked up Aspen loop, it looks beautiful! Definitely new since I lived in Flagstaff (left in 2002). We're already onto the next adventure, but we will have to check it out on our next visit! Thanks again for the suggestion, keep the recommendations coming! ❤👍 -Howard
When it’s cooler y’all should go to Chiricahua National Monument. One of my favorite parks in Arizona.
Ooo I haven't heard of that one, going to look it up now. Thanks for the recommendation, Blake! Always looking for new places. 😊 -Katelyn
Chiricahua National Monument is one of my favorite National Monuments!
Newstate Nomads If you’re still in the area, Petrified Forest and the asteroid crater is near Winslow.. I never knew about the volcanic fields near Flagstaff!!
@@GeocaverDan and @Blake Watson thanks again to both of you! We love getting suggestions like this, please keep them coming! 👍 -Howard
@@SLICKW1993 Petrified and Meteor Crater are definitely on the list when we come back through the area. I remember both fondly from when I lived in Flagstaff 20 years ago! -Howard
Doggie tug-of-war was hilarious
We were so excited that was happening, their first tug-of-war! It was so funny that Piper won! She's tough 😆
We seriously thought Scout would win; Piper only had that tiny piece in her mouth.
Piper and Ella are VERY strong for their size. All muscle! 😂
How much water are you using per day while boondocking? How often can you shower, and where are you getting your extra water?
Thanks for watching and GREAT questions! We have a couple videos now on Boondocking (over 125 straight days this year!) that cover where we get water, consumption, and a lot more.
ruclips.net/video/elbgl_zE01E/видео.html
2. How we find Boondocking spots, what we look for, etc.
ruclips.net/video/elbgl_zE01E/видео.html
Hope that helps! -Howard
Check out the northern side of the Grand Canyon...it's better than the south side. And it's cooler and quieter.
GREAT suggestion, Hal. We hope to explore both rims, next week's video is of the South Rim. 👍 -Howard
AA and Pahoehoe. Flag is a nice place to visit. Not a ton of employment available. Kaibab = ky-a-bab
Are you heading across Monument Valley? Camp (image search) at Muley Point (open camping & a hidden jewel).
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll be sure to pin Muley Point for a future trip. We're already into Colorado now, any suggestions up here? -Howard
@@NewstateNomads I actually live in Colorado. It is a big state.
Million Dollar Highway (Ouray)
Great Sand Dunes
Dinosaur Natl Monument (Camp at Echo Park)
Steamboat (Strawberry Hot Springs)
RMNP (Trail Ridge Road) Elk + Bighorn
Glenwood Hot Springs
Breckinridge
Red Rocks Amphitheater (Denver)
Wow, great list, thanks! We've already hit some, added some more. Hoping I-70 reopens soon due to the fire in Glenwood and that you are safe!
San Francisco Volcanic Field, Flagstaff AZ. how many volcanoes are in and around Flagstaff itself?
Kevin, first thanks for watching, and not being an expert (at all, lol), I went hunting on Google. First is the tricky part of what constitutes a volcano (according to the USGS, cinder cones ARE a type of volcano): pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html
Second is with that knowledge, do you just count the named ones (Sunset, Mt Humphreys, etc) or the over 600 cinder cones according to the University of Arizona: azgs.arizona.edu/photo/cinder-cone-quarry-san-francisco-volcanic-field-flagstaff-arizona
I'm going with somewhere between 3 and 600. 😂👍 -Howard
Fantastic that you did some research. I lived in flagstaff 4 years, its a Great place to visit.
@@kevinv8720 Really enjoyed my time living there as well (between 2000-2002)! It was great to come back and explore, hope to return again after COVID-19 to really check out all the new stuff around town. 👍 -Howard
Normally, you guys would have been drowned out by coming to Flag at this time of year because of the monsoons but its been so hot and dry this year.
Very dry! We did get almost daily brief showers, but the ground in Flagstaff and around Grand canyon is almost crunchy. Thanks so much for watching, Casey! 👍 -Howard
I’ve lived in Arizona my whole life I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon- I’m from the Navajo nation 🌵
Glad you found our channel, and we were hoping to explore all the beauty of the Navajo Nation but sadly COVID-19 has closed the parks and much of the reservation. 😟 Let us know what you think of our episode next week on the Grand Canyon! Thanks again for watching. 👍 -Howard
@@NewstateNomads The last time I saw signs the south gate to the Grand Canyon was open, but the east gate (which opens into the Navajo Nation, where the virus has wrought serious havoc) is closed.
You're right. When we visited, South entrance was open, but East was closed (even from inside the park, you were limited on how far east you could drive on 64). We did take a drive as far as we could but the roadblock started I think around Navajo point.
Did the pups seem affected by the elevation? ⛰
Hi Tara! Not at all, they seemed to handle it better than us 😆 we didn't take them on any long or strenuous hikes though, kept them short and in the evening 🐾❤️
Were is the boondocking in the trees
Mike, there's great free camping in Coconino National Forest off Highway 89A (between Flagstaff and Sedona). It's a beautiful spot! Thanks for watching. 👍 -Howard
Lol volcanoes in Arizona. Where?
Flagstaff, Jeff! It's called the San Francisco Volcanic Field...
They don't call it Grand for nothing
Haha, very true! We can't wait to share the hike INTO the GRAND Canyon in our next video! Thanks for watching, Candy. 👍 -Howard