Docking the Canyon, Pt 1, They call this a road
Story - Docking the Canyon, Pt 1, They call this a road: Boondocking means camping for free. The difference between "squatting" and "boondocking" is that the latter of the two is legal. If someone doesn't own the land, or if it's legally open to the public, then it's free to boondock. This includes primitive campgrounds like Toroweap in the Grand Canyon... and, lemme tell ya, some 'o these sites take "primitive" to a whole new level. The very name "boondocking" comes from the fact that most of this land is as far out into the boondocks as you can get. Toroweap, however, is easily the most impressive primitive camping ground that we've found to-date.
Take the outhouse above for example. This crazy facility's literally been built on the very rim of the canyon. It has two rooms and it's been cleaned by park rangers and other campers. There are actually toilets! There's no real running water; this is, after all, a desert... and the nearest running water is a mile below you. That'd be at the bottom of the canyon. There is, however, an insane mulching system that not only helps restore the local environment, but keeps the place smelling good. It's more advanced than you'll find in a public park.
That said, Toroweap's definitely got its primitive side. To our discredit, we'd been warned not to drive out into the canyon with our little white sedan. But this is Dame Blanca we're talking about! This car chews up deserts for breakfast and shakes the dust off like it ain't nothin'. It does help, however, to actually have something that resembles a road... and they call this a road?
Take special note of the jutting rocks and sudden drop-offs. Did I mention that we were driving up this road during the night? Well, consider it mentioned. Hmmm... actually, that'd be yet another thing that we'd have to log under a whole lotta "our fault". Whatevz! Dame Blanca could handle it. Getting out of the car to grab our bearings, we noticed the narrow ledge that we'd almost driven over. Fortunately, we also noticed where there was something resembling actual camping grounds. Rock!
No, literally, "rock"... the camping grounds were made up entirely of rock. Pitching our tents meant weighing them down with everything we'd brought with us. That far up in the canyon, any tent that ain't held down by som'n is gonna go flying free in the wind. If it fits your fancy, you can wave "goodbye" to it while you watch it fly away. Our plans were very specific about the part where our tents stayed in one place.
The Checklist:
• First thing in the morning: check all four tires to make sure we could escape the canyon. Check! Yes, Dame Blanca was good to go.
• Second thing in the morning: get a photo of whateverthefrakk that thing was that they call a road. Check! 'Cuz damn, that's some serious offroading there.
• Third thing in the morning: throw this frakking list away, fill waterbags, then go explore the canyon.
While we were out hiking, we left tea on the rocks to brew in the sun. We also gathered a nice group of mosquitoes to follow us home to our camp. Little buggers, ya just can't get away from 'em. Humanity needs to step up its tech game. Once science finally gets a working teleporter out into the world, the next step is to develop a way for humans to communicate with geckos. Can you see it? Mankind fighting alongside geckokind in a world wide effort to annihilate all of the mosquitoes EVERYWHERE! It's... so... beautiful!
Welcome to Toroweap fools! ...and enjoy the Canyon!
Related Posts:
• Docking the Canyon, Pt 2, It tastes like burning
• Docking the Canyon, Pt 3, Flushed
More Boondocking Info from External Sites:
• Boondocking sites on The Wandering Hobo
• Boondocking dot Org
Song of the Day: Andrea - Cigarettes & Ectoplasmes [Free from Triple-S]
"Cigarettes & Ectoplasmes" by Andrea
