Theodore Roosevelt Lake

Last year I was on my way here when I got the call from Aluminarium to meet them at Buckeye Regional Park on the other side of Phoenix. Since I had not yet settled it, I went ahead and turned West to meetup with them, leaving Roosevelt Lake for another year… this year.

I immediately set out to view the Tonto National Monument which was smaller than I thought. Still, if I were to recommend it to anyone I would be smart to mention to go there early in the day. A noon-time hike *up* the cliff side will work a few puddles into your shirt.

This time around I came prepared with a kayak and made sure to get out on the water right away. Surely there are more picturesque places to kayak, but what I needed was a nice controlled place to get some experience under my belt and the Lake provided well in that area.

As the work-week set in, so did I. I hardly left the camp site until  Friday night where dinner at the only bar within 30 miles was saved for an evening out to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

I camped at the Cholla Campground which was free, minus the $6 per day fee for a “Tonto Pass”. The camping here was pleasant enough; with standard camp sites, shaded picnic tables, bathrooms, and even solar showers I had almost everything I needed. I hear this is the largest solar campground in the country. Still, the one thing lacking was a consistent Verizon data connection. Although there was a signal, it often cut out to the point that work stopped too.

Clean and caught up on work, I now move on to the Cottonwood area to stall another week before beginning the northern migration back towards Colorado’s cold and snow.