Sheep Bridge - March 2020
So if you have managed to read all of our blogs you would know that our very first camping trip was to Sheep Bridge back in 2017 right after Casey first bought his new truck. It is also the trip that gave the Blue Cow its name! We had a ground tent and had to borrow a cooler from a friend but we loved every second of it. This was our third time out to Sheep Bridge since then and our first time with the roof top tent! We left first thing Saturday morning and took the route from Cave Creek Rd in. We noticed that the road seemed to have been more washed out and a little bit rougher than we seemed to remember from trips past. It was a beautiful day and we passed tons of mountain bikers which made us want to take that on as our next hobby… We shall see about that though, it seems like a lot of work.
When we pulled up to Sheep Bridge it was pretty packed. The campsites south of the bridge were all taken and most of the ones up top just off the road were taken as well. Thankfully since Casey got the new lift on his truck we felt confident to take the side dirt road north of the bridge down to some spots. I hate camping in the sand there because I always seem to find tons of ant hills, so we settled on the spot in the middle of the path where there was still rock/grass. We set up camp, grabbed a beer, and headed down to the beach area on the river north of the bridge. There was a pack of side-by-sides hanging out and Benci went ballistic running around trying to steal everyone’s shoes.
The water was moving quickly and fairly deep. We had brought our paddle board in hopes of taking it out for a spin but Casey went on it for a 3 minute ride and that was it. The water was moving so quick that the second he got on it swept him down the river. We walked out to the center island in the river and sat down to enjoy the sunshine. It wasn’t long until more and more packs of side-by-sides arrived. The area quickly turned into quite the rowdy hangout. We didn’t mind and enjoyed meeting everyone and I must say they provided some good entertainment. It was shocking to see just how heavily traveled the area has become since our first few trips there in years past. I totally get it though, its such a beautiful spot. The hot spring seemed to be in good shape which was nice to see since in previous trips there had been cracks and such in the walls.
After some time down at the river we headed back up to camp for some dinner and to hangout. We made a chicken stir fry which was absolutely amazing. I love finding dinners that you can throw together easily with leftovers you have in your kitchen already. We headed to the bridge for golden hour/sunset to capture some pictures and it was beautiful as we had always remembered it. We headed back to camp and had a pretty early night. Casey brought his ipad and we watched a movie before bed. Usually we don’t like to watch movies or anything when we are camping near others so we don’t disturb them but this felt like an exception. The groups camping around us were pretty rowdy so we didn’t think they would mind (or notice) our movie.
We woke up the next morning for a quick breakfast which I think has quickly become a fan favorite. We made oreo pancakes and bacon.. Yes that’s it, oreo pancakes. Sounds so simple (which it is) but it was such a nice treat. So easy to throw together and clean up, and requires very little utensils / ingredients. We headed down to the river for a few hours before we left to let Benci play and to enjoy the sunshine. There was a couple who had camped right along the river in the sand but they had gotten up and left early in the morning so we pretty much had the area to ourselves which was a treat considering the day before was anything but calm down there.
Overall it was nice to be back but it definitely is a different vibe then our typical camping trips. It’s a great area to go with friends or a group of people and I would have a hard time saying we won’t be back sometime soon. You always have a love for your first ;)
