What You Can’t Tell from a Map

I plan our trip using Campendium, an app on my iPad. It gives me maps and reviews of campgrounds and a link to their website or a phone number. We have some places we want to see, if they are popular I get a reservation there for when I can and then fill in with campgrounds to get us there. So more than half of the places we go I choose because they sound like a decent campground in the right area.

One of my favorite things now is coming to a place I chose on the map and seeing what the campground and the area are really like. I chose the North Clifton RV Park because it was between Kartchner Caverns State Park and Albuquerque. (We took the tour through the part of Kartchner Cavern we hadn’t seen. No picture taking allowed. We liked it, but both thought the other side of the cavern was more beautiful. We are heading to Albuquerque to see the petroglyphs.) North Clifton is a city park and had good reviews so I reserved a site.

Turns out it’s up in the mountains. It’s the first time we’ve seen a warning sign for long horn sheep in the road, and in town, too! So far no sheep, though.

Here is our turn,

then back past some little houses tucked in the canyon.

It’s along the San Francisco River, and there’s water in this river!

The campground looks pretty nice,

and the view from our site is just fine.

But that’s not the half of it! I heard it was close to the Morenci Mine. We decided to drive over to see the mine, there was supposed to be an overlook.

As it turns out, US route 191 goes right through the mining operation. There are huge conveyors running right along the road.

This one went right over the road.

We went through three tunnels. That ore truck crossing overhead would have just about fit though the tunnel.

There were buildings and trucks and trains.

And then we came to the overlook and the pit. Well one of the pits, anyway. The dots you can see on the road going down into the pit are giant ore trucks.