First BLM Land Experience

For those who don't know, BLM is Bureau of Land Management and they are responsible for managing public lands for a variety of uses such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, etc. A lot of this land is free to camp and attracts a lot of RVers and Van peeps like myself.

About 45 minutes West of Phoenix I found a little patch of this land that not many people know about - thanks to one of the apps I found, it led me here. This place was off the freeway, onto a small side road, then down a gravel 2 track....literally in the middle of nowhere.

Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for...solitude =)

I was surrounded by Mountains, the main one was called Big Horn and was beautiful to see each morning I woke up. I spent 5 days here and never saw another soul. Being alone during that time was bittersweet….didn’t feel stressed at all and was able to just be…at the same time, 5 nights alone in the desert really forces you to be with your thoughts and emotions. Cried a bunch over my mom, questioned if I was doing the right thing with my life….

But each morning I’d wake up and see the sun rising, I felt reassured.

One evening we heard a coyote close to where we were and it was beautiful! Felt so wild in that moment, and grateful he came by 💜🐺 (turn volume up for video below)

Luci loved being able to venture off during the day. She never went more than a few hundred yards but she did find a skeleton of a large cow and kept bringing back bones NOT understanding why I wouldn’t let her bring them in the van.

When I wasn’t working , we would explore or go for bike rides and look for cool

rocks.

On my last night there, during sunset, I spread more of my moms ashes. I know she was terrified for me to do this…but I thanked her for being there with me and said goodnight.

I felt pretty badass after leaving this place, even though I’ve done backpacking and slept in a tent for days, there was something different about this. Spent 4 months building this van and to be able to make it a home and have the ability to be in places like this was a sense of accomplishment I haven’t felt in a long time.