A Wandervans Roadie: Roaming The Southwest

When I found out that Wandervans had currently opened a location in Phoenix, Arizona- I knew exactly how I wanted to spend my time roaming the desert on my solo road trip. When I first traveled in a Wandervan, a friend and I had flown to Boise, Idaho, and experienced an epic winter hot springs roadie. Exactly one year later, for seven days- I’m solo roaming across the desert in a medium Wandervan exploring Arizona & New Mexico’s State & National Park(s), with a few side trips along the way!

Day 1: Phoenix, Arizona -> Picacho Peak State Park

It’s mid-December and I am arriving in Phoenix, Arizona. Yes, I’m back. 😊🌵 I’m back in the desert on a week-long road trip wandering ’round in a medium-sized Wandervan! After loading up the van with camping supplies, bedding, and stocking the fridge with snacks we’re on the road! First stop- Picacho Peak State Park. After a 1.5 hours drive south, I find myself already changing my planned itinerary. Picacho Peak immediately caught my eye and when I found out that it was a State Park, and camping was available- I changed my plans to explore a new park I hadn’t been to before.

Day 2: Picacho Peak State Park -> City Of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

It was an early morning in Arizona and even though I had a long travel day ahead, I wanted to be able to explore Picacho Peak State Park a little further. No better way to start the day than a quick morning hike. The Sunset Vista Trail is a pretty popular trail, however, I caught myself solo hiking immediately right after sunrise, which I soon realized was a bad idea. The rising sun was in my face the entire time, so I didn’t hike much further.

Back on the road for a 4-hour drive to City Of Rocks State Park in New Mexico.

With shorter days and the sun setting around 5 PM, I was happy to have made it in time to catch the sunset after settling into camp. City of Rocks State Park is unique, with rock formations and pinnacles rising up to 40 feet tall! While making online reservations prior to my trip, I like to use a website called campsitephotos.com– to get a better idea of the campsite that I am making the reservation for. It’s been so helpful in the past! Right before my road trip, I was gifted a Bonfire 2.0 Solo Stove portable fire pit! Even though each campsite at City of Rocks is equipped with a table and fire pit, I was happy to be able to bring the heat a little closer for comfort.

Day 3: City of Rocks State Park -> White Sands National Park, New Mexico

I really like being able to have the option of using the built-in heater that the Wandervan provides, but I’m finding not much use for it this morning. I was up early again for sunrise, and a beautiful sunrise it was! Definitely got me excited for the day’s adventure to a national park I had not been to before. After a 2-hour drive, we arrive at White Sands National Park. National Park #22 on my list! After a quick stop at the Visitor Center for the collection of my national parks pin- we find ourselves at Roadrunner Picnic Area for a quick lunch stop before exploring the park.

I hadn’t realized the size of the national park but was happy to get out and explore the dunes for a bit. Sunset was amazing and I had absolutely no doubts it wouldn’t have been. I wandered off a little too far and without shoes, but soon found my way back to the Wandervan right before losing all daylight.

Day 4: Baylor Pass BLM -> Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

I failed to do proper research on my camping options the previous night and after catching the sunset at White Sands National Park, I found myself making a huge U-turn at Holloman AFB. It was the first night on my trip that I arrived at camp at night, but I felt safe enough to make the drive at night and arrived with no problem. Sometimes you luck out with really awesome campsites and sometimes you get what you can- ending the night at a BLM trailhead parking lot, where several other campers had the same idea.

It was a shorter traveling day and not much exploring to do as I did not want to miss my reservation for Riverbend Hot Springs in Truth or Consequences, NM. Never ever have I paid to soak in a hot spring, but I would pay to soak here again and again! The private soaking rooms are amazing and the resort itself is just adorable.

After the soak of a lifetime, I was a bit bummed that I had not made RV camping reservations to take advantage of the common pools as well, but I’ll be back! I did, however, have campsite reservations at Elephante Butte Lake State Park, and as luck would have it- I arrived with minutes to spare for sunset! Unfortunately, high winds picked up that afternoon and no one at camp was even attempting to have a campfire. Sunset was really pretty though and the views from the camp were totally worth it.

Day 5: Elephante Butte State Park -> Angel Peak BLM Campground, New Mexico

The high winds lasted overnight, oftentimes shaking the van back and forth. I imagined driving down the road in those conditions and being entirely too top-heavy to feel safe enough to drive to my next destination. I continued to check the weather for an appropriate window and realized that I would have to start my day pretty early and make a decision to cut my trip short or continue to head north.

Luckily, I found a decent window and remembered the epic snowstorm we experienced in Idaho. This was absolutely nothing compared to that. Leaving Elephant Butte State Park a little after sunrise with no time to explore the park- I was back on the road headed north through Alburquerque, New Mexico.

The high winds eventually died down that morning and it had only been noticeably windy whenever I would stop at the rest stop to do some work, check the traffic, and check the weather, not to mention get out to use the restroom and stretch my legs. I realized that it would be silly to continue on to my furthest destination, and I would be cutting my trip a little short. Still excited for my next destination, still, 2.5 hours away, I made it to Angel Peak Campground right before a random winter storm rolled in. Thankfully, it was just one of those storms that came and didn’t last very long. I pulled out the Bonfire 2.0 and enjoyed a nice campfire before calling it an early night.

Day 6: Angel Peak BLM Campground -> Bisti Badlands Wilderness, New Mexico

It dropped down to 11° that night but I stayed nice and warm with the built-in heater. I’m finding that it’s a lot easier to catch the sunrise when you’re waking up from camping whether in a tent or a vehicle- and the sunrise that morning was beautiful. With about an hour’s drive, we arrived at our next destination, Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness. As someone who loves to research destinations before arriving, I decided to just see what this was all about without having done much research. Although I did previously have my maps marked as to the places I wanted to visit, I failed to look at them until nearly 4 miles into my hike, which ended up being the wrong hike.

When I discovered my mistake, I backtracked to realize the hike I had been on was actually a loop according to AllTrails. I decided to go for it, but eventually got too tired climbing with the wrong pair of boots on and called it quits halfway through the loop. All I really wanted to see were the hoodoos and I just so happened to have accomplished that mission. The hike back to the van was exhausting. Hiking through a wash is very tiring, and I made the decision to just camp at the trailhead parking lot rather than make the 35-min drive to the correct trailhead right at sunset- which turned out to be yet again simply amazing that evening.

Day 7: Bisti Badlands Wilderness -> Petrified Forest National Park -> Homolovi State Park, Arizona

It was the first morning in a couple of days that I woke up to no clouds in the sky. It was beautiful and crazy at the same time. I watched that storm roll in and out and continued on its way east. So much sky. I decided that morning to check out the area of Bisti Wilderness that I had originally wanted to and was surprised to see not a single soul there when I arrived. Had the winter storm scared everyone away? Was it just too cold this time of year to explore the Bisti Badlands? Either way, I was ecstatic that I was the only one there that morning.

I gave myself 2 hours to explore this part of Bisti Badlands and was still able to see some really neat things. The Tabletop Hoodoos were my favorite. Apparently, there really aren’t any maintained trails at Bisti, so it can be very easy to get turned around. If you’re planning to visit the area, please track your hike and make sure you carry a GPS device. There would have been no way that I could have been able to backtrack my journey had I not been using AllTrails.

I wanted to be able to at the very least drive through Petrified Forest National Park before sunset on my way to my next destination. Even though I only spent 2-hours wandering the Bisti Badlands, I still had a 3-hour drive to the national park. I made it with enough time to spare and stop at the visitor center to collect my national park pin. With the recent storm, there was just a perfect dusting of fresh snow and it was really special to see.

I wasn’t aware that there was no camping available in the park, nor any campgrounds nearby really. I decided to start making my way back towards Phoenix, Arizona as my Wandervans roadie was coming to an end. I discovered Homolovi State Park just outside of Winslow, Arizona where I was able to make same-day reservations that afternoon.

Day 8: Homolovi State Park -> Walnut Canyon National Monument -> Phoenix, Arizona

To be quite honest, I had no idea what Homolovi State Park was about, but I am so glad I stayed the next morning and did some exploring around the park. I did three hikes that morning and learned about the Hopi sites, pueblos, and ruins that still remain. It was a great reminder that not every destination needs to have the most epic viewpoints or things to do- history itself is pretty amazing and it’s important that we take the time to understand it- especially when visiting these special places.

Driving through Flagstaff, Arizona I ran into some snow in the higher mountains. It was beautiful. I passed a sign for Walnut Canyon National Monument and decided for a quick stop to break up the long drive and to be able to stretch my legs. I was not expecting one of the more popular hikes, Island Trail- which is only 0.9 miles round-trip, to consist of climbing 274 stairs down into the canyon and back up again. For that, I was not prepared. I eased out by hiking the 0.7-mile Rim Trail and still had amazing views of Walnut Canyon and the past ruins as seen from up above.

One last stop before our Wandervans roadie comes to an end, the car wash.

After spending 8-days on the road, roaming the desert, and driving on a few dirt roads- I wanted to at least rinse off any loose dirt before returning my rental. This helps the cleaners and saves you a possible cleaning fee in the end. I simply pulled into a self-serve car wash nearby and gave the van a nice rise. This also helped me organize all of my stuff to ensure I wouldn’t leave anything behind!

I’ve had a great time exploring new places and I’m happy to share any further information you may need! In doing so, I also feel it’s important to talk about Leave No Trace Principles, to ensure that we are keeping these special places special. Please take a minute to read over the 7 LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLES and visit LNT.org to learn more information.✨

LEAVE NO TRACE SEVEN PRINCIPLES

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
4. Leave What You Find
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
6. Respect Wildlife
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors
   © Leave No Trace: www.LNT.org