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On a hot week in June, I left Phoenix for New Mexico.
The land of enchantment.
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From the searing heat of the Chihuahuan Desert to the cool forests of the higher elevations.
Even 750 feet below the earth's surface.
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Buckle up, guys. I'm going to take you with me on this
over 1,000 mile journey through the infinite deserts of the southwest.
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We're heading north up the Beeline Highway.
One of my favorite drives in the state of Arizona.
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So for today's drive I'm actually driving further north than I normally
would because the route that I was going to take
was blocked because of wildfires.
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One of my favorite things is to drive northward out of the Sonoran Desert
and watch thousands of saguaro cacti flash by me
and then before you know it as elevation gains the Sonoran Desert transforms into something else.
Pinon juniper forest arise seemingly out of nowhere soon making way for the tall ponderosa pine.
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You can really see here as we drive into this forest, you can get a
closer look of what we've been seeing from the road.
I just decided to stop here at one of the campgrounds.
It is so much cooler up here than Phoenix.
This is beautiful weather. This is perfect for tent camping right now.
We'll be coming back but first, gotta do something
I believe what we have here is a ponderosa pine.
And now we have to smell it.
Alright, let's see.
Wow.
That one smells really strong.
I'm telling you... butterscotch and vanilla. I know you think I'm crazy but...
If I could bottle that up and sell it to you, I would.
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I had to stop for a bio break and this was fantastic.
It's a vault toilet but immaculately clean. No odor at all either.
Give you a quick shot here of some information.
You can see an overview of the map.
You can see definitely bears in the area.
And you can also see here's the fee schedule. A little pricey I must say.
$27, I'm assuming, a night but I think it's worth it.
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Got another one of those really nice grills.
Everything really well contained and then that. Check that out.
Really cool looking fire ring. Elevated off the ground.
Awesome site.
Let's go take a peek here at this non-accessible site to compare.
Give you a quick look here at this other campsite.
They're all fantastic. I've not seen a site that I wouldn't camp at.
Another awesome grill here. Man, this is a beautiful site.
Then for the non-accessible site, I think this is probably the style of fire ring you get.
Another grill. Look how deep that goes.
And of course a picnic table. This is... this is a beautiful place.
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I don't know if I've mentioned it already but this is Sharp Creek Campground.
One of several campgrounds that I've passed on the main route.
I'm unfortunately out of time here.
I would be happy just setting up camp but I did not bring my tent.
Gonna be sleeping in hotels this whole time but...
this campground or probably other ones in the area... awesome.
Pretend you and I are that blue pin in the center of the map.
That's the location of Sharp Creek Campground.
You can actually go on recreation.gov and make reservations for it.
i just checked and they had a lot of availability actually.
So um... anyway.
That whole area in general that 260 goes through is known as the Mogollon rim.
I think that's how the locals pronounce that but that's where we're driving through.
We're about to pick up back from Hunter Creek heading east now
towards New Mexico.
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This is quite a beautiful time of day.
It's about 6:30.
Probably have another hour or so of sunlight ahead of us here before it gets too dark to film.
If you look on the horizon, I don't know if you can see kind of a purplish overcast off in the distance.
I mentioned fires earlier.
Maybe I mistakenly called some cloud cover fires but what I can see up ahead for sure...
that definitely looks like pollution from smoke to me.
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The further east I drove towards Show Low, the more hazy and smoky the environment became.
I think you can see here in the video, a slight haze or fog around the trees.
That's evidence of a fire burning south of this region.
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Alright, just passed a sign said I'm about 49 miles from the New Mexico state line.
So this is a once again an adventure.
I'm journeying into parts unknown at least for me.
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[singing] Springerville. At night. It is such a sight.
Well, if you've ever wondered, folks, about Springerville, Arizona... here you go.
I'm just glad to be back in the car it's chilly out there.
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So the evening moved on. I don't even know when I got into New Mexico.
It was so dark but at this point we were nearing our destination
in Glenwood, New Mexico at a place called
the Double T Catwalk Resort where I rented a casita for the night.
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But before we arrive at the casita, I had many run-ins on this road with elk.
A couple really close calls in fact. Here I'm just kind of shushing it off the road.
Same here. There's a baby deer or baby elk. I'm not sure.
I tried to usher it off the road also and, yes, believe it or not, even cows.
And this was not the only cow mind you.
And many rabbits. You name it. But, yeah, this road was dangerous.
Use your high beams if you drive it at night and be very careful.
I finally made it. I'm being quiet because I don't want to disturb my neighbors here
but I'm at the casita I rented out in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.
Let's go inside and take a look.
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Alright, so I'm inside of the casita that I've rented at the Double T Ranch
and so far I like what I'm seeing.
It's just like advertised. Got some good reviews.
There's not much to choose from out here but this place is really nice actually.
I'm standing right by the front door and you can see there's like a...
I'm gonna guess that's a double sized bed and a single.
Really small one room here but really nice.
You actually get a microwave. Looks like a toaster oven. A fridge.
Yeah, not bad at all.
Looks like the floor is pretty new.
So that's cool.
And all that's left is really the bathroom
but you can see... I mean the shower is very clean.
That's the theme so far... is clean. Nothing that fancy.
Hey! They actually did leave some shampoo and conditioner here.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah and there's the little hidden toilet.
This is kind of interesting. It's a water heater, I think, back there but
they kind of hid it with that but, yeah.
I am pleased.
I have to thank Amy for this find. It's really just a place to lay my head down for a night.
I wanted to be close to my first activity tomorrow which is not far from here.
Originally I was going to spend the night three hours away and wake up really super early
and drive out here but, boy, I'm glad we found this place.
I have to thank Amy for this one because she took some time and found this and
this place is definitely awesome.
Phase one of the road trip complete. We made it to our destination.
Thank goodness.
Well, good morning.
Decided to get up and time to hit the road but before I go I wanted to explore the grounds of
this ranch really quick where I rented a casita last night.
Really had a very pleasant night's rest and really like this place.
Now I can actually see what it looks like though during the daylight because it was dark
when i got here last night as you saw.
There's another view of the casita.
My unit was the one on this side.
And there's a look at the sign.
Too dark to see it last night. The Double T Catwalk Resort.
It's named the Catwalk Resort because it's near a recreational area known as the Catwalk
which I am going to be visiting and doing a video on here shortly.
Yeah, so they have multiple units for rent here. I had one of the smallest rentals.
One of the casitas but they have a few here.
Got really good reviews and I will add to that.
They even left an axe for you so you can chop your own dang wood.
I love the surrounding countryside here.
See what looks to be a lot of pinyon. Juniper. Trees. bushes.
Definitely a little bit cooler up here. I think it got down to the 50s last night.
This morning it's already warming up but compared to Phoenix i'll take this anytime.
Alright, the road trip continues.
I'm heading over to the Catwalk Recreation Area now
and I guess this is probably the way to get out of here.
I'm confused. They don't want me to leave apparently.
So join us again next week when we take you to the Catwalk Recreation Area.
I really loved exploring it and it was an amazing thing to discover
and i can't wait to share it with you guys. Til next time.
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