Still Squatting

 Been 6 weeks now that I have been squatting on my soon to be property, the good news is that the owner has given me written consent to stay on the land until the title transfer is complete. Squatting here as been a little difficult its like getting a new toy, and not being able to take it out of the box. Guess it leaves more time to make solid plans.

The weather has been windy for quite a few weeks now, but guess thats the norm for springtime in the mountains. Temps the last few days have been in the low to mid 80's, and 50's at night excellent sleeping weather. Candy doesn't agree, and thinks it time to move further up the mountain. Which may just happen any day soon:) Heres a few pictures of hikes taken around the property...

 Blooming cactus up at 7200 ft

Good Day!

New Neighbors

Been on my soon to be land for almost 3 weeks now. Turns out the title isn't clear, and could take up to six weeks to close, so for now I will continue to squat on there property. My Realtor is working with the owner on signing some documents permitting me to stay here until closing.

 Not to worried about being harassed in my 3 weeks here my Brother and his family came to visit, a truck drove by, one four wheeler, and that's it. Heres some pics of my other neighbors.......

This guy/gal comes thru nightly, and is rather tame.

Decided to buy a hummingbird feeder after rescuing 1 to 2 a day who flew into the van, and got trapped up in the front window. One even poked Candy in the nose.

 Antelope have come thru twice now. Also noticed a lot of deer scat in the area.

Close up of the Antelope. Thanks for visiting, and Good Day!

Hunting for Land

 As I mentioned a few posts back I had been searching for a small piece of ground to call my own. Well there it is 98240 sq ft to call my own, or just a smidgen under 2.5 acres. Papers are all signed and moneys moved into escrow, so hopefully all goes well.

 The property has basically no zoning, and parking a Rv here is permitted, its also located 20 minutes from Show-Low, and has great roads leading to it, which was a tough find.  Its elevation is 6800 feet, so its average temps are mid 80's in the summer, and mid 40's in the winter, there is no water, electric, (which I haven't been hooked to in over 3 years anyways) and most importantly no bills!

 One day should I decide to build a off the grid cabin, the ground is perfect for making a cobb, or earthbag structure, but for now I am just going to put in a driveway leading up to the location pictured above. By the time all that is done I am sure I will be ready yo move on. Heres a few more pics of the property....

 Black Mesa off in the distance. Grass is a bit dry but imagine that green up when the monsoons arrive.

 Mountains in the Distance, about 20 miles as the crow flys. I stayed up there for 6 weeks last year. Wrote about it here.

Great sunsets here as well. Thanks for visiting!

Scott's Reservoir Show-Low, AZ Review

Scotts Reservoir in Show-Low is a great spot to stay when in the Show-Low,Pinetop-Lakeside area.  The area is heavily treed, and each campsite has a fire ring, and picnic tables. The campground also has vault toilets, and is hosted from May 1st to October 1st. Its also very close to all your shopping needs. Your length of stay is just a mere 5 days, which is more then enough time for me to stock up. If you wish to stay in the area longer there is forest land just up the road. Just take a right out of the reservoir, and then take another right on Porter Mountain Road forest land is about 3 to 4 mile back. Ohhhh and it is free to stay at the Reservoir. Heres a few pics.

The reservoir. Thats Porter mountain in the background.

The reason why your stay is limited. Pigs leaving there trash behind Theres hundred's of dumpsters in the area, and they bring there garbage out here, it takes only one to ruin it for the rest of us!

General area

Thanks for visiting!

Home Base

The picture above is from my campsite up on the mogollon rim, the snowstorm took 3 days to melt so not to bad. This is a area where a lot of full time Rvers head, due to the fact that you are able to bounce back and forth from the Tonto National Forest to the Apache-Sitegreaves National forest. 14 days in one then 14 days in the other. Most sites have camp hosts, vault toilets, and fire rings as well. Water is available for free at canyon point campground. Dump and trash are there too, but there is a fee.

 If your gonna stay awhile make sure you get large trash bags I had 6 very small wal-mart bags filled with trash my bill for garbage was $18, when I asked what if I combine all the bags into one big bag I was told it would only be $3 makes perfect since to me needless to say I just threw them away at the next dumpster. If your interested in this area a quick google search of Forest Lakes, AZ will show you the general area.

Now to explain the title of my post as well as my delinquency for a little over 2 weeks. Ive driven nearly 600 miles exploring the backroads of north eastern Az in search of a little plot of land to call home. Someplace where I could set up camp for few months a year, and not be herded around every couple of weeks.

The search proved to be a little more difficult then I had anticipated,  after looking at several pieces of acreage I made a phone call to the county zoning office. They informed me that you can not park on RV on your own land, the only way you can park an rv on your land is if you have a principle residence on the property as well, but I could store it for up to 30 days there. 

Seems a bit crazy to me, that you can buy 20 acres in the middle of nowhere, and there is restrictions on camping, or rving on it. Would you get caught? Probably not, but if you did you could be fined, and possibly kicked off your own property, and most counties have zoning laws like this! Well thats my mini rant.

 The good news is, after calling several counties Apache County in Az is zoned agricultural I asked if I was able to park my Rv there? They said sure, but you better be able to explain what your doing with your dirty water? Sounds like a fair enough deal. So off to Apache County I go. Heres a few more pictures of my camp on the rim.

Candy making buddies. Thanks for stopping by!

Riding the Storm Out

Time to make my way to 7600'. After watching the various weather websites, it appeared that the weather was gonna remain 65 to 70 for the most part. So I stocked up on supplies, then headed up the mountain.

 Upon arrival the weather folks were right a fine day indeed, so Candy decided to take me for a hike I heard from a fellow boondocker there was snow over on the ridge. Knowing how much she would love a romp in the white stuff we headed in that direction, as you can see from the pic above it was a bit disappointing, that was all about to change.

Enjoying a long weekend of perfect weather. The weather man said there was a storm front moving in, and could produce winds up to 60mph, also a chance of 2-4 inches of snow possible. Wasn't to excited about the wind, but a little snow a few times a year I do enjoy. When I went to bed Monday night the winds had stopped, still no snow though,then I awoke to this.....

2 to 4 inches my @$#! 10 inches, and still snowing on/off over 5 hours later. Sunny Arizona :)

 Guess Ill be staying awhile.

 No worries got a months worth of supplies wouldn't chance any storm in the mountains without them. The good news is 65 by Friday, so they say.

 Candy got her romp in the snow

 Getting tuckered in the deep stuff!

Just a note for you folks in the midwest, and possibly east coast. Check your weather you may wanna batten down the hatches. Thanks for visiting!

Payson BoonDocking

 Two weeks already since my last post. The good news is I haven't done much of anything since then. Enjoyed my stay at the Casino, and did a little more indulging then I should have its's pretty easy to do when such great restaurants are just a short hike away.

The picture above is of my new home for the last 2 weeks. Located just 4 miles from Payson down airport road in the Tonto national forest. The area had a ton of wildlife. Stirred up several deer on my daily hikes. Had my camp invaded by Javalinas while I slept, they managed to scatter my garbage all over the place leaving only little piggy prints behind, and the Jack Rabbits here are enormous. Unfortunately I was not able to capture any of these critters with my camera, but heres a few more pics of the general area .

 Morning hikes to the top of the hill.

 Pic from the top of the hill looking towards Flagstaff. A person could easily disappear out there if they wished.

 Mogollon rim from the top of the hill, which is also the next stop on my journey. The rim is over 200 miles long and 8000ft high in some areas. Ironically its a ancient sea floor heres a link to a previous post.

 Another shot of the Mogollon rim

 Daily visitors

 Weird things you find in the middle of the forest.

Thanks for visiting! Good day!