We specifically headed south because it was supposed to rain all over the state and the Tucson area was supposed to get the least of it. We drove and drove and drove! We fond a few state parks, but one was really expensive, and the other one only had an overflow lot available- which is basically just a regular parking lot that you pay $15 to camp at. I looked up neat off road trails in Tucson, and saw that there was an easy trail to the back of Mount Lemmon. We headed that way. The closer we got though, the darker and more rainy it got. We started getting nervous and we weren't even sure that we were on the right road.
We found a good place to turn around, and started back the way we came. We kept watching for turn outs or interesting looking roads, but nothing seemed good enough, so we just continued on. We found what looked like a pretty decent spot, but when we got out of the truck, a donkey yelled and scared me. Who knows what sinister plans that donkey had for us while we slept?!
We drove to the cutest little hotel, Chalet Village. All the buildings were these adorable little A-frames. Chris went and discussed our predicament with them, and they said they couldn't rent a room to us because of our dogs, but they would let us camp on their property. So sweet! The only problem was where would we use the bathroom?
I found a hotel online that was pet friendly, so we headed into town again our safe haven- The Catalina Inn! They only charged an extra $20 to the room rate for Chloe and Chanel to stay with us. Chris went to pick us up a pizza at Rosati's and I walked the dogs in the rain. Pretty romantic Valentine's Day overall- haha! I don't know if it sounds like a fun and funny good time- but it really was!
The next morning we decided to try Mount Lemmon again. The guy at Rosati's told Chris that we were ALMOST to good camping spots last night. But I was glad we stayed in a hotel instead of trying to set up camp in the rain. We headed back up Mount Lemmon Road. Right when we could actually see Pepper Sauce Campground, the landmark we had been looking for, we also saw a raging wash blocking our path. It didn't look too deep for the truck to get through, but we weren't too sure about the trailer.
We decided not to risk it, but the area was pretty so we decided to have a picnic. We got the chairs out, and started preparing food, when all of the sudden it started to rain. Like, quite a bit of rain. We packed up the chairs, food and dogs, and got in the truck. And then it stopped raining. Hilarious! Right when we were about to give up a Jeep came and drove through really easily. They stopped to talk to us and assured us that we weren't going to have any problems getting through. They said they would wait for us to get across safely before they left. With that vote of confidence, we crossed the wash- no biggie at all.
The payoff was amazing! We got to camp along side what ended up being not a wash, but Pepper Sauce Creek. We hiked around the area, and it was really cool. The trees there are so old and ginormous.
Chris set up the hammock right by the creek, and we took turns laying in it with Chloe.
We got in the truck and drove up a little further. There were lots of places that we had to cross the creek. It was fun to explore the area.
We got back to camp and played cards for a bit, and Chris caught me a couple of magic tricks. We started a campfire. It was nice to listen to the water and sit by the fire.
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