Solo Camping In Arizona

The year is 2021, the location is my small apartment. Each morning, I wake up, move to the dining room, and sit on my computer working all day. After work I relocate to my bedroom, and sit on my computer playing games or watching something. Slowly my sanity starts leaving my body. It’s time to get outside, go camping, and breathe in some fresh air. Travel somewhere that isn’t my dining room. (Even though being close to all my food was convenient!)

Read more about this trip here -> Solo Paddling in Arizona

Where Should I Go?

I search for a place that accommodates a solo traveler. A place that’s relatively close, safe, and not as isolated as I usually like when I’m traveling with someone else. When I travel alone, I try to make sure I always have cell service and/or wifi and there are people close by in case I need help. After some searching and talking with friends I decide to go to Arizona, just outside of Sedona. One of the main reasons for choosing this area was because I had friends living in Phoenix at the time. My friends in Phoenix were gracious enough to be my emergency contact while I was traveling. Thanks friends! Please ready my disclaimer and don’t necessarily follow what I did.

I found a place to camp using the online marketplace, hipcamp. It wasn’t the most beautiful camping spot, but it was affordable and somewhat isolated. There were people and houses within walking distance, but blocked by the hills and tress so I could pretend I was alone. Dirt roads led me to the camping spot through a developing area. It seemed that people were buying property, and some people had started building or have built houses. But most of the plots were undeveloped. And most importantly, there was cell service, and it’s a short drive into town with food and a hospital. I felt safe!

One Day I Was With Friends

I was on a solo trip…. for most of it. My first full day in Arizona my friends from Pheonix (and their dog) came and we went to Sedona for the first half of the day. We left early so we could do a longer hike and be done in the afternoon. We can’t remember the name of the hike, but early on the trail came to a branching point, where we could have gone on a few different hikes. Regardless of what trail we were on, it was nice to start off my trip with friends. The first hike of my trip I wasn’t alone, so I wasn’t worried about my blood sugar number going low on the hike. I had plenty of support. (And at the time, one of my friends was in medical school. She knew all of the complications with type 1 diabetes.)

The hike was a success! We did come to a point where we turned around. The trail got very narrow on the side of a mountain and most of us got a bit scared of the heights. We reached this point after we saw a group of mountain bikers pass us coming from the opposite direction. So they had to have successfully crossed this narrow mountain portion of the trail! Once we realized this, we were blown away. In our cautious minds, we couldn’t understand how mountain bikers crossed this path safety! I have a mountain bike and have gone a few times, but I am not a strong mountain biker.  

This mountain biking group had on all the protective gear and seemed very confident. I’m sure they knew what they were doing. But it still made all of us nervous.

Solo Hiking

A few days later I went back into Sedona to do some solo hiking. As mentioned in my 9 Travel Tips post when I was hiking alone, I placed a note in the dashboard of my car. This note said which trail I was on, when I left, my expected return time, that I had type 1 diabetes, and who to call if I don’t come back. This card-system definitely helped my family feel better about me being out here alone. It did make me feel more comfortable, although it did give me some limitations I wasn’t used to.

If I wanted to stay out on a hike a bit longer, take an unexpected side trail, or go on a new trail, I couldn’t. I made myself stick to the trail I wrote on the card, and the timeframe I gave myself. I do remember there was one hike where I had to turn back earlier than I wanted to make sure I was back at my car when the card said I would be back. At the time I was upset about it because I just wanted to see more of Sedona’s beauty. But if all I have to complain about it turning back to stay safe…. I was doing just fine (but I’ll still groan about it).

Want to Mountain Bike

There were a lot of trails that I hiked that I wanted to mountain bike. As stated earlier, I am not a strong mountain biker, but there are still plenty of easy biking trails I can do. I did bring my mountain bike on this trip, but I used my bike on a different day, not in Sedona. And definitely not on any trails like the one my friends I hiked the other day.

This is for a future trip to Sedona, when I can bring at least one other person to bike with me. When I got back from this trip, I did reach out to a few of my friends who like to mountain bike. We all decided we wanted to go but sadly haven’t actually found the time to go. But don’t you worry, it will happen one day!