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| Chiricahua National Monument |
We enjoyed our time immensely exploring the area by hiking and driving our Toyota 4x4 through backcountry we had never explored before. We fell in love with that corner of the state, but eventually Brad was hired as superintendent of Petrified Forest National Park and we left. Petrified Forest was THE park Brad had wanted since working there in 2007, and he is planning on being there until his retirement in the spring of 2019. To say that he is happy there is a major understatement!
Our plans were still to retire in the Verde Valley and build a beautiful adobe home on an acre with a gorgeous view that includes the red rocks of Sedona, the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff and Mingus Mountain. We had already hired an architect and had amazing plans drawn up and had started the process with the builder and the county planning department.
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| Rimrock property with our Sedona red rock view |
All things were going as planned until we went up to the property and saw that some jerks on ATVs had driven their rigs all over the property. They had done doughnuts and generally destroyed much of the vegetation that we had so carefully designed our building around to prevent taking out any of the vegetation that didn't need to be removed outside of the building envelope itself. I was devastated, and it completely changed my attitude about living there. Brad was, as he always is, much more even tempered about it. But I have to admit that I never felt the same about the property after that incident. The lack of respect for private property never seizes to amaze and distress me.
Time passed and our plans had to be put on hold. Yes, funds were tight, but I had also personally lost my enthusiasm for the place. I could not get excited about our "Rimrock Casita" any more. Brad suggested that perhaps we could look for property/camping areas that were a bit more remote and that didn't have so many ATVs around. We both enjoyed southeastern Arizona and decided to go on a camping and scouting trip to look at property--just for the fun of it. We didn't really have anything set in our mind but just thought we'd look around.
We drove around looking at properties near Aravaipa Canyon and the Dragoon Mountains. But our interest was really piqued when we found some property in a development called Dragoon Mountain Ranch. We had actually seen the area from the outside when we were exploring back in 2010 but couldn't get in due to it being a "gated community." The smallest lot is 36 acres and was once a large ranch at the base of the Dragoon Mountains on the west side. The views are incredible! We decided the area was worthy of a closer look.
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| View of the Dragoons |
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