travel – RVing With a Purpose

A Day of Three Short Hikes

Monday, June 1, 2026

We awoke to a very quiet Walmart in Page, Arizona on Saturday morning May 30. We had done our shopping Friday night so after a restful night, we were ready for some adventures. We stopped to top off our propane and then went to the back of the Shell station for our first hike. The actual name of this location is Biidi “The Arch”, according to the sign we found. But when looking it up online all the YouTuber channels refer to it as the Cave behind the Shell station or the hidden gem behind the Shell station or something similar. I guess it’s because most of us don’t know the correct pronunciation of the actual site.

You can trudge through the sand for a way and climb a hill and end up in a beautiful cave. It’s a great place for pictures. For most who make this stop that’s the end of the visit. For those who are a little more inquisitive there is much more to see when you start walking around the base of some of the boulders, as you can see from the pictures below. Such a great place to start the day.

By moving around we could catch several sunrises in one day

After leaving Biidi “The Arch” but while still in Page, we drove to the Hanging Garden Trail about ten minutes away. This was a short one-mile hike but certainly worth the effort to see. The payoff is an alcove full of maidenhair ferns. The temperature drops as you approach the alcove. Along with the maidenhair ferns there were also orchids. We didn’t see it but there has to be a spring feeding the garden because the plants are thriving.

We saw many of the stream orchids among the ferns.

After we left the garden, we drove to Kanab, Utah, about 1.5 hours, for our big hike of the day – the Sand Caves. This was a super fun and unique hike, 1.2 miles round trip. It is an easy .5 mile walk in the sand and then there is a steep climb up “slickrock” to reach the caves. Twice Anne needed some assistance due to having legs that were just a little bit too short, but the payoff was worth the effort. The interconnected chambers feature large window-like openings carved right into the Navajo sandstone cliffs. BTW, shoes with good traction are highly recommended. We discovered after our hike that the caves are totally man-made. They are the remains of a 20^th century mining operation excavated to harvest high-quality silica sand for glass production.

The trail was marked by painted paw prints on the rocks.

In case anyone is wondering, all three of these hikes were absolutely free.

Leaving our fun time at the sand caves, we drove an additional 1 ½ – 2 hours to the beautiful Kodachrome Basin State Park where we will stay for the next two nights.

This was a great day!!

NOMADS – Mingus Mountain, AZ 2026 – Week 3

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Week 3 of the NOMADS project at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat was a push to the end for everyone. Those working to repair and improve the men’s bathroom completed that task Wednesday afternoon.

LuAnn cutting baseboard for the bathroom

It was everyone working on the Camp Store on Thursday. Wednesday had been an extremely windy day and high winds were predicted for Friday. We really needed to get the tin roofing installed but Wednesday we couldn’t safely manage the tin in the 40mph winds. We decided to give it a try first thing Thursday morning and God answered our prayers. The winds remained manageable and we safely completed the roofing about 10:00 am Thursday. After that, we painted the store, installed shelving and cleaned up the construction debris. We didn’t quite complete the painting on Thursday but two of our members were staying until the first of the week and they completed the second coat of paint on Saturday.

One of the attendees at this week’s program even helped install the rafters during his break.

The full team plus the camp director helped put the metal roofing on.

… and LuAnn began painting as soon as the roof was finished.

The outside was finished by the end of the day

Suzanne and Steve finished painting the inside on Saturday

Below is a list of all the projects completed by NOMADS the past three weeks. It was another successful project and the Camp Director seemed very pleased.

NOMADS – Mingus Mountain, AZ 2026 – Week 2

May 25, 2026

Week 2 of our NOMADS project at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat started on May 18th and was much like Week 1. We continued all our projects with our Nomads friends, finished some and started some new ones.

On Monday we discovered a railing on one of the camp buildings was very loose, so the team stabilized it.

The team continued in one of the men’s bathrooms by installing the new vinyl plank flooring.

LuAnn and Steve working on the gaga ball pit

Another big project we started this week was tearing down the old wood shed to build a new camp store.

Taking down the old wood shed piece by piece

The rest of the team helped with raising the first wall.

The weather has been the same as last week. Lows in the low 50’s overnight (didn’t bring enough warm clothes) and climbing into the low to mid 70’s during the day with a few days in the low 80’s. There has still been NO rain! No threats of rain. The only clouds are the white puffy ones, otherwise it’s just beautiful blue sky. There is no dew on the ground in the mornings. No change in the forecast for this week. Very different from what we are accustomed to in Alabama. Also, we have friends in Alabama that have had tornadoes this week and are now experiencing flash flooding. Please say a prayer for them! Don’t think we told you about the elevation. We are at 7,600 feet so that explains the cool evenings. Friday when we were in Prescott Valley doing laundry the temperature was 84 and it was 74 when we arrived back at our campsite on Mingus Mountain.

On one of our hikes around the camp we found this agave in its “death bloom.” Agave live for 10 to 30 years, bloom once, then die.

NOMADS – Mingus Mountain, AZ 2026 – Week 1

May 24, 2026

Our last post on May 8, we drove through some beautiful scenery to reach our home for the night in Cottonwood AZ. After refilling the refrigerator and the propane we had a good night of sleep. We really appreciated hospitality of the Methodist church. On May 9 we began our drive to Mingus Mountain, our home for the next 3 weeks. It was a beautiful although harrowing drive. We drove up through Jerome, but it was before anything was open. We plan to stop there as well as Sedona when we leave. Both areas are interesting and beautiful, but it was time to just get settled in after eighteen days on the road.

The drive from Cottonwood to Mingus Mountain was another interesting …

This deer herd walks through the camp frequently.

They look a little different from the deer back east.

We arrived at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat before lunch, found our place to park and set up our campsite. We were greeted by our NOMADS leader Suzanne and later that afternoon the rest of the team, Steve, and Doyle and LouAnn arrived. Suzanne went ahead with our opening meeting since we were all gathered together and asking her questions. It was nice though since it gave us all a free day Sunday. Monday we met the camp director and program director when they joined us for devotion. After a tour of the facilities, we began our work for the week. We made a lot of repairs. Repairs to the entrance signage and painting it, the pump house roof, the heat strip on the pavilion roof, a door, lots of painting, built a trash can enclosure, an entry ramp for the dinning hall, repaired the 9-square game and began working in the men’s rest room which is a big three-week project. We began by removing all the tile, preparing the flooring for new vinyl laminate and started the painting. By the end of the week we had it so the rest room could be used by guests for the weekend.

Preparing the entrance sign for painting

Steve and Doyle repairing the pumphouse roof

Doyle and Steve re-installed a door that was blown off by the wind.

Doyle and Steve made the dining hall more accessible.

Repairing heat tape on pavilion roof. We were probably the only people in Arizona working on heat tape this time of year.

The camp director wanted enclosures for the trash cans to keep animals out.

Steve working on the trash can enclosure

Over the weekend we visited Prescott Valley. Wow! Another steep drive with minimal side rails. You can see the roadway, way, down below. We also bought groceries and visited Culver’s while there. Saturday, we hiked to the top of the mountain where there is an area for hang gliding. No one jumped off the mountain while we were there but the scenery was beautiful.