In the desert mountains: High outside Wikieup, AZ

We decided to try another area of the country.  We also wanted to be in close proximity to Las Vegas, so we could get to the Las Vegas airport easily in the next couple of weeks to pickup our grandson, Ian, who will be joining us for a week of boondock camping in the Mojave National Preserve.

Vicky ("Always Prepared") had already obtained maps for an area in Arizona south of Kingman.

Here she is reviewing them as we drove:

One cannot underestimate the importance of this.  On this road trip she has two containers this size, with maps in them.  They are all organized and, as can be seen in the photo, she has them organized in such a way as to be able to find them when we need them.

She enjoys this.

Virtually nothing on this road trip has gone as "planned."  We had planned on returning to our beloved National Grasslands, but never got to one of them.  So what?

When we left the Valley of the Gods, we drove to a KOA in Flagstaff (not a good experience), and then headed west to Kingman.  Before we got there we headed south, until we got to a small community named Wikieup, and then headed into the mountains.

Our first site was off of the only "main" road between Wikieup and Interstate 40.  It is a gravel road, but well maintained.

It was a beautiful site.  We were on a spur off of this main gravel road.

On our first hike, we identified several very old mining/ranching roads:

Up high on one of these old roads we found something:  Amazing.

What we found was a very old corral and windmill.  Why would these be here?  Who built them?  To get the cattle from this place to Wikieup would be almost impossible.  Why not just herd the cattle down lower instead of collecting them here and then trying to drive them down these very steep, old roads.

Another mystery:

The next day we hiked closer to our camper.  Along the way we found yet another old corral:

AND a camping spot that was farther off of the main road.  We decided that, even though we liked our first site, we would like this one better, so after our hike we picked up and moved.  Here we are for tonight, and probably several nights to come:

I doubt we will hear or see anyone else.  Perfect!