I was so excited about getting to the hot wells; although, I'm not sure why because had just left Big Bend NP, which had gorgeous water. I guess it was the excitement of a new landscape and the promise of a wilderness setting. When we turned off I10 towards Bowie, there wasn't anything around. I carefully followed the directions and soon saw signs for our destination - Hot Well Dunes 19 miles. The first 3 miles were good, and there were miles and miles of pecan trees.
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| Pecan trees on the way to Hot Well Dunes |
But soon there was a sign that said, "pavement ends", and that is exactly what it meant; only it should have also said, "no maintenance proceed slowly". We continued on this road for 8 miles and at several points I thought about turning around. John was driving about 2 miles an hour to keep from shaking everything upside down, and the 19 mile trip turned into a 45 minute drive.
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| Wash board road - rv in the upper left. |
| About 8 miles from the dunes, we turned onto a paved road, and could speed up a bit - 45 miles an hour. When we arrived, we were treated by the following two signs and a wonderful little walking path around a desert oasis. |
| Fees are $3.00 a night or $1.50 with access pass. |
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| Fees are $3.00 a night or $1.50 with access pass. |
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| A lot of diversity in habitats here. |
We pulled into "site" number six, and were happy to find a nice picnic table and a real fire ring with dry wood all around. Later that night John made a red hot fire that turned into beautiful smoldering embers. It is hard to tell but there are rolling dunes throughout the entire area.
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| Our camp in the middle of the dunes. |
| We hurried with our late lunch and headed for the hot wells, which I have to say were a bit of a disappointment after having spent several days at the hot springs in Big Bend. But it was warm, and the sun was setting over Mt. Graham, making it a perfect way to end a day on the road. The kids had fun in the wells, and we were the only ones there most of the time. |
| The hot wells, there are two exactly alike, at sunset. |
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| The hot wells, there are two exactly alike, at sunset. |
Because it was the middle of Feb. the nights still got pretty cold - I think it was around freezing, and we awoke to a hard frost everywhere, which made the desert landscape sparkle. Hanna also noticed that our swim suits, which we laid out to dry, we're light as a feather and stiff as a board :)
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| Hanna showing off the flat swimsuits. |
I had only allowed for one nights stay here, and now I am wishing we would have allowed more. There was lots to explore, and we could have easily spent three or four nights, and then maybe I wouldn't have been so disappointed about the road/ride getting out there. On the back to I10, Mt. Graham was straight in front of us with it's snow covered peaks, and although there was not a single cloud over us, there was a cluster of clouds holding close to it's peak. It was a majestic view to behold.
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| Mt. Graham as we were leaving. Snow on the peaks and clouds surrounding it. |
John and I both agreed we would come back to Hot Well Dunes with our next camper - a toy hauler and some toys to ride the dunes.
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