Camping Wherever

The woman with the broad face by the door at the Kayenta, AZ Chevron station smiled ever-so-slightly. “Camping?” she said, pointing up the highway from where we had just driven. “Utah. Or maybe the Grand Canyon.”

What she didn’t say was: “Idiot. There is no camping on tribal lands.” And tribal lands – Navajo and Hopi country – is where we’d drive for the next few hours into darkness.

Instagram paints dispersed camping – settling down for the night/s on public land – in a romantic hue. Wake up by a mountain stream, a California beach, a field of wildflowers. Vanlifers rave about the freedom of pulling over anywhere. What they neglect to add is that finding those glorious, and even not so glorious, free spots requires research.

As in studying the area that you hope to stop for a sleep to ferret out the possibilities.

Had I done a little legwork, I would have known we would not find a welcome mat between Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. With the Chevron woman watching, I tapped my camping apps and reserved a dry camp site (no water, no bathrooms, no nothing) 30 miles from the Grand Canyon, our destination.

Back in the van, Bill drove and I fed him dinner. Peanut butter crackers. Bread with chicken. Pita chips. He was well-carbed. We had hours to go and I feared that this failed first plunge into dispersed camping would be our last. One hour on the road. Two hours.

And then I remembered that Denver Son had texted us a link to a free spot on a fire road in a national forest outside the Grand Canyon. Fifteen minutes away!!! Bill looked doubtful. But it was on the way to the spot I had reserved, which Google maps said was still hours away, since it was, it turns out, on the OTHER side of the Grand Canyon. And so we went for it, finding ourselves parked for the night in a peaceful field surrounded by woods.

The Kaibab National Forest, like most national forests I later learned, welcomes campers. Sites are remote, offer zippo amenities, but they are free. All the rangers ask for is to avoid fires on windy days, and to leave no trace – no beer cans, no toilet paper, no food scraps.

Rambled through the woods the next morning before heading to one of the seven natural wonders of the world and a reserved site at the Mather Campground within the national park.

The night after that, however, following a recommendation from the Sedona Visitor Information greeter, we chugged up yet another national forest fire road, this one just outside the bustling downtown tourist Mecca. No beer tents or silver jewelry shops here. Only acres and acres of cactus and yucca plants and the occasional rumble of a Subaru or Winnebago seeking a spot to call home.