Southwest September 2025 Wrap-up
2025-10-01
PA
I always like to look back on my trips to see what worked well and what could use some improvement. Probably the biggest change on this trip was the three week planning period. That ended up being stressful to put together, and left me a lot of work to do on the trip (including shopping for forgotten items).
I counteracted this to some extent by having more down time in my schedule. However, early on a lot of that downtime was in campgrounds where there was no cell signal, much less internet access. Without access, I couldn't book ahead. That's fine if you're going to take a hotel in Flagstaff, but more challenging if you want to be sure to have a camp site at Snow Canyon. I was forced to lock in a week's worth of choices while I was still in a hotel. Luckily I made all those dates and didn't have to cancel, but it did put pressure on me to stay ahead when I could.
The cooler was a new addition and it worked well with the food I packed from home. However, after I got to Pueblo, I didn't really use it again. I still feel like I could have used it better, especially in conjunction with the fridge and ice machines in hotels. I think I will try that again.
The Garmin did not get much use, and what use it got was sending "I'm in for the night" messages when I lacked cell signal so people don't worry. Lack of use is a positive, of course. It was good peace of mind, knowing that I could get help if things went south. That allowed me to push a bit harder than I might have. I will probably cancel my plan for the winter though. I don't think I will be anywhere outside of cell phone range for a while.
Taking out the back seat provided a nice bit of extra room. While I may revise this opinion once I attempt to put the seat back in, it seems like a good idea. I feel like it added a fair amount of space. I do want to build a plywood base for it though. The rear seat base is contoured such that I had to stuff things under one edge of the bins to keep them from sliding out when I opened the door. Losing a couple inches but having a flat level surface to pile stuff on would be nice. I'm not sure if I'm going to tackle that before I reinstall the seat or attempt it closer to the next trip.
The shade canopy never came into play either. All of the camp sites had some sort of shade, be it a large bush, a tree, walls on the picnic area, or the wall of a canyon. I never did find out if I can erect it myself. Overall I preferred the natural shade, and I made good use of it.
And the numbers everybody wants:
- Total driving miles: 6374
- Days spent: 26 (with plans to spend maybe another 15 days had I remained healthy)
- Nights in a tent: 8 (with 13 more planned)
- National Parks: 4 (bringing the total to 44 of 63)
- Other parks, recreation areas, etc.: 22
- Museums: 7
- States Traveled: 13
- Pictures taken: 2001 with my camera, plus a smattering with the cell phone
- Pictures kept after first pass: 1094
- Entry fees not paid due to $80 pass: $260 (partially offset by donations to several of the parks)
- Months left to plan if I choose to finish the trip next year: 11.5
I have been asked about the budget cuts and how that affected the parks. For the most part, the people were great and the camp sites were in decent shape. On the other hand, the bathrooms at Petrified Forest and White Sands Visitor Centers were in rough shape; no working urinals, one working sink, limited paper. They are number 37 and 33 respectively on the list of most visited parks, with 560k and 700k visitors annually so a little less than 2k people per day on average. They certainly could have been in better shape with some additional budget for plumbers. This was before the government shutdown in October.
