Boondocking Near Tucson

We’re getting close to our first winter destination – boondocking near Tucson, Arizona. The jaunt across I-10 towards Tucson, Arizona was somewhat less scenic than our last drive on US-90 and TX-118 but it did have its moments.

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Setting Up Camp

After a couple more days of ‘lotdocking’ (staying in a business parking lot – with permission, of course), we arrived in the Tucson, Arizona area. We searched for some BLM land to do some boondocking, dry camping, dispersed camping, whatever you want to call it, and continue living off the grid. We found the Ironwood Forest National Monument, which will make a good base from which to explore Saquaro National Park, Old Tucson, and other interesting things in the area.

The monument is named after the area’s plentiful ironwood tree, one of the longest living trees in the Arizona desert. There are also plenty of mesquite, palo verde, creosote, and some saguaro. The Silverbell, Waterman, and Sawtooth mountain ranges are in the distance, making this an idyllic desert setting. I have to tell you, when I hear the word ‘forest’, this is not what springs to mind.

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The El Tiro Glideport, home to the Tucson Soaring Club, is close by so on occasion, especially on weekends, you’ll see this guy towing a glider to altitude, releasing it, and coming back in to get another one.

But the true stars of Ironwood Forest national Monument are the sunrises…

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…and sunsets.

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Simply spectacular and just about daily affairs! It’s worth the trip out here just for that!

Saguaro National Park

Saguaro National Park is divided into two sections on the west and east of Tucson. The Tucson Mountain District about 10 miles west of the city and the Rincon Mountain District is about 10 miles east of the city. Since we were staying to the northwest of Tucson, we spent most of our time in the western district. The saguaro cactus is only found in the Sonoran Desert and Saguaro National Park was created to preserve these majestic plants. We spent several days driving and hiking around the parks. You can read a more detailed version of those events here.

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Pima Air and Space Museum

The Pima Air and Space Museum bills itself as one of the world’s largest non-government funded aerospace museums. Nearly 400 aircraft are displayed over 80 acres, featuring planes from a Wright Flyer to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. You can get a tram tour if you’re not up for walking the grounds but, due to Covid, that option was not available to us. So walk we did.

There are a bunch of fascinating planes here…

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…as well as the typical ones you see at an air museum.

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There is a hangar dedicated to the B17 Bomber from World War 2 but it was closed for construction. They do have a B24 in another hangar.

There are some planes of a historical value, as well.

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And then they had some planes from the ‘Boneyard’ they let artists have some fun with.

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It even looks like they had a jet for the CEO of Mary Kay

Plan on taking a couple hours to walk around. This is a fascinating experience.

Airplane Boneyard

The adjacent Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is affiliated with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, also known as the “Graveyard of Planes” or “The Boneyard”. The AMARG is the largest aircraft storage and preservation facility in the world, controlling over 4,000 airplanes. The Boneyard is the sole repository of out-of-service aircraft from all branches of the US government. You can get a bus tour from the museum but, again, due to Covid…. Covid sucks.

Other Reasons Covid Sucks

Old Tucson

One of the things to visit whie we were in the area was Old Tucson. Old Tucson is an American movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson. The studio was originally built in 1939 for the movie ‘Arizona’. Notable movies and TV shows made here include ‘Little House on the Prairie’, “Gunsmoke’, ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’ (the 1957 and 2003 versions), “Tombstone’ and many others. The theme park opened to the public in 1960, offering historical tours and live cast entertainment featuring stunt shows and shootouts. Unfortunately, Pima County shut it down for an “indefinite” period starting on September 8, 2020.

Kittery Peak National Observatory

The Kitt Peak National Observatory has the largest and most diverse collection of research telescopes in any one place in the world. Three of the nearly two dozen active telescopes on Kitt Peak are dedicated solely to public viewing in our world-renowned nightly stargazing programs. Starting at the Visitors Center, you can access the informative daytime tours, nighttime stargazing programs, fascinating exhibits, in addition to gazing out at the beautiful panoramic mountaintop views. You can even schedule a VIP tour which gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the Kitt Peak telescopes. Again, the observatory is currently closed due to Covid.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

One thing we should’ve done while we were here is visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It’s a combination botanical garden, zoo, aquarium and museum on 98 acres with 2 miles of walking paths. There are over 12,000 animals and 230 species here. another in a long line of ‘we shoulda…’.

Time to move

We’ve been here in Ironwood Forest National Monument the maximum allowed 14 days so it’s time to move on. We picked another part of the Sonoran Desert to explore and you can check that our here.