RV Industry | Stoness Travel Blog

11 Reasons to RV to Arizona in the Winter

When the summer heat of the northern latitudes begins to fade, RVers start to plan for their winter. Common destinations are Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. Arizona is directly south of the four western Canadian provinces. As such it’s about a three or four day drive. For the eastern provinces, Florida and Texas are about a three or four day drive,

and Arizona, is more like a six or seven day drive. So why select Arizona?

1- If you don’t like humidity you won’t enjoy Florida’s humid days. In Arizona the weather is normally dry with low humidity in the winter. The days are usually sunny, although cloud and rain can happen. There are two climates in Arizona. It will be warm in the southern area, but cold a

nd snowy in the north, up by Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.
2-   Nights in Arizona are cool for nice sleeping conditions. After late February the heat increases.
3-   Arizona’s scenery is great. In the southern desert areas, rugged mountains rise from a flat desert floor. To the north, above the Mogollon Plateau lies the Grand Canyon.
4-   For those who want to boondock, Arizona is the place to be. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) looks after vast acres of wilderness. In some of those areas, such as at Ajo, you can boondock free for up to 14 days. This is true wilderness dry camping. Your RV has to be self-contained, and you will have to leave the area when your dirty water tanks are full or your fresh water tank is dry

5- If staying in a trailer park is important to you, you’ll find lower prices for trailer parks in small places like Wellton, at around $300/month. Big cities area will be closer in price to the higher rates found in the east. If you like trailer park communities, you will find lots of these near Yuma, and Phoenix.
6- The state has several historical sites to visit. After all, this is the home of the old violent west, home to Tombstone, the Yuma Jail, and Tucson.

7-   Old mine sites are plentiful and are frequently found at the end of a long four-wheel drive trail. At Ajo, you can visit a huge open pit copper mine, now derelict, and see the massive rock and tailings piles that spread out for a mile or so.
8-   Kitts Peak observatory
9-   When boondocking, you have great access to uncluttered skies. This is a terrific time for stargazing.
10-   Quartzsite has a huge RV show in a massive tent around the end of January. Thousands of RVers camp on the surrounding BLM land.

11- Kartchener Caverns is one of the newer caves discovered and is now open for your visits.

For more than four decades James Stoness has travelled the roads of North America, photographing and writing about what he has seen. His travel articles and beautiful pictures have been published in several magazines and newspapers. He is also the author of five western novels. Visit his website at: www.stonesstravelguides.com

Experience the Canadian Rockies With Via Rail

The mountains of Jasper National Park attract visitors from all around the world. In fact you will meet dozens of rental motorhomes in the mountains of Western Canada, mostly driven by Europeans.

Jasper's Mountain Scenery — Jasper’s Mountain Scenery

Recently Sylvia and I drove our motorhome from Ontario to British Columbia, and stayed a while in Jasper NP. We camped at a Jasper Campground and planned something different. We decided to take a Via Train from Jasper to Vancouver. My wife has always wondered about taking the Via Train across Canada, and this was just a sample piece of such a long trip.

Jasper's Heritage Station — Jasper’s Heritage Station

Visitors to Jasper remark on the presence of many trains. You don’t have to be a rail fan to appreciate some of the very long freight trains that pass through. They also take an interest in the beautiful passenger terminal. The Jasper Heritage Railway Station, built in 1926, is enhanced by the stone wall created from round rocks, possibly stream bed rocks. The roof is steeply slanted and broken up with dormers. The steepness should help reduce snow load in heavy snow winters. Inside the wooden interior you will find the information desk and rows of seats where you can wait for your train to arrive.

There is the flutter of excitement when the long, sleek silver cars glide to a stop in front of the station. With the grey mountains as a backdrop, it’s a precursor of the quality of scenery yet to come.

Soon the station has quietly dissolved into the distance and as we head west we are watching the green cloaked mountains rise rapidly from the railway until their snowcapped peaks stand starkly remote against a deep blue sky. Nearer to the edge of track white birch stands are mixed with the dark green evergreens of the forest.
It’s nice to be able to watch the scenery for a change, and not the traffic while someone else does the driving. As we carve our way through the cuts in solid rock we hear the squeal of the wheels scrubbing on the rails on the curves. If you are lucky to get a seat in the dome car at the rear of the train you have a perfect view into the distance.

We found the service perfect. The crew worked hard to be sure that everyone was comfortable. Too soon, it seemed, night fell across the mountains and we crawled into our bunks. In the morning the scenery had changed for the worse. The

mountains were not close anymore and there was a long run into Vancouver showing back yards and industrial areas.
It was a great trip, in spite of the Vancouver ending. Hope to do it again, someday, going the other way.

Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Park

Basalt lava flow covered with mosses and lichens

Volcanoes are not choosy. They erupt wherever they can, and whenever they are ready. Two hundred and fifty years ago a terrible calamity hit the Nass River Valley in British Columbia. A volcano erupted and spewed lava down the hillside into the valley and then flowed northward to burn and bury two villages of the Nisga’a aboriginal tribe. The gases and the lava killed over 2,000 natives. The flow buried some of the original channel of the Nass River and pushed the entire river northward across the valley to its present location.

Today, a 179 square kilometre park is preserved as a memorial to those families who

perished. The park is managed together by the aboriginals and the Provincial Government. If you visit you will find a campground with 16 sites, and a colourful Visitor Centre which may have a resident artist on duty during the summer time. There are also maps of the track of the lava flow, and native artefacts.

Solid blocks of lava thrown upward as lava pushed

A guided tour will take you on a trail to the lava cone. The trail is moderately hard so wear good hiking boots for the 4 hour hike which takes you 3 kilometres over the lava to the cone.

If you travel from Terrace, heading north, you will see Lava Lake. This lake is the result of the lava damming the river. Often the river now flows under the lava and is out of sight in places. The basalt lava flow is extensive and very interesting to examine as you follow trails across the surface. Normally you would find basalt lava to be very black. In the lava field it has a surface coating of lichens and mosses and looks somewhat tan, or yellow. Do not leave the trail as it destroys this new vegetation which is slowly turning the basalt into soil.

Notice how the surface is often buckled, and heaved up in blocks. This is caused by the lava surface solidifying or freezing, while underneath, the lava was flowing quickly. This is similar to a stream with ice flows. Sometimes the flow would pushNisga’ upward, and blocks of basalt would flow and jam causing even more buckling of the crust. You will see

these areas and realize the tremendous

Hole in frozen lava caused when lava flowed around a living tree, which later rotted.

force and pressure required to redesign the landscape in this manner. If you follow Tree Mould Trail you will see several examples of this, and you will see a hole through the rock formed when lava flowed around a live tree and solidified. Later on the tree rotted leaving the round tunnel through the rock. Some blocks whose edges you can see show multiple holes. These were gas bubbles that were trapped in the freezing lava.

There are also attractive rapids and waterfalls.

The drive in from Terrace is very scenic with great views of the mountains. Then suddenly you are on top of the lava beds. Take time to go and visit the site of Canada’s last volcanic eruption.

Happy RVing!