March/April travel to Arizona

So I am considering planning a trip out to Arizona sometime in March/April for 2 weeks. The primary goal is to spend a couple of days in Tempe to go to ASU Baseball games (a friend is on the team).

The plan is to drive out there from NH with my dogs. It is a 39 hour drive so I figure if I take 3 days to get out there and 3 days back that gives me about 8 days to see a few games and hopefully do some off-road trails.

Here are my questions:
1) are there any off-roading events/get togethers around that time?
2) where are the best places to stay/avoid?
3) Any other recommendations for places to along the way? (New England-Columbus-St. Louis-Oklahoma City-Albuquerque-Tempe seems to be the route I would take)

You need a place that accepts your dogs yes? So I’m assuming you’re thinking of renting a house vs hotel? If you like to hike with your dogs (or mtn bike) an awesome area to look is near South Mountain which is near the Geronimo trailhead and Mormon trailhead (and there are several other connected trails as well). There’s also a cool drive to the top of S Mtn.

I live right at the base of S Mtn and totally love it. Close to downtown, close to Tempe, 50 miles of trails, easy highway access. Tempe would be about 15 minutes away. I have a friend who rents her house right at the base of S Mtn — super nice place and has a heated pool. I don’t know if she takes dogs. I think it’s fairly pricey.

If you’re not into hiking and all that — then staying in Tempe would be really easy, especially if you and your friend will hang out mostly in Tempe.

If you’re planning to drive up the mountains some cool places are — Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome (old mining town), Flagstaff. Lots of trails up there. Get in touch with forum member ShootingCar — he lives up near Cottonwood and would probably know of good off roading trails.

AngusMacG said:

So I am considering planning a trip out to Arizona sometime in March/April for 2 weeks. The primary goal is to spend a couple of days in Tempe to go to ASU Baseball games (a friend is on the team).

The plan is to drive out there from NH with my dogs. It is a 39 hour drive so I figure if I take 3 days to get out there and 3 days back that gives me about 8 days to see a few games and hopefully do some off-road trails.

Here are my questions:
1) are there any off-roading events/get togethers around that time?
2) where are the best places to stay/avoid?
3) Any other recommendations for places to along the way? (New England-Columbus-St. Louis-Oklahoma City-Albuquerque-Tempe seems to be the route I would take)

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Arizona Land Rovers is having their annual rally in Goldfield, AZ (a ghost / mining town, about 30 minutes east of greater Phoenix on US-60) the last weekend in March.

Grenadier owners have been invited to join the club by their president, Pierre, who I met at a test drive event in late 2023, and I did. Great group of folks. It's historically been a huge event, with folks from all over the country attending.

Just an idea of something to do if you're here in Arizona then.

As I am trying to iron out details I am thinking that I may only bring 1 of the 2 dogs. Leaning towards my female as she is just under 40lbs while my male is about 90 lbs. The male is also blind which would make some things more difficult though he is friendlier than the female . Of course there is the option of leaving the dogs home but not sure if my normal dog sitter would be able to commit to 2 weeks.

@ANNML yes I’m leaning more toward a house/apt to rent that accepts dogs as when I go to the baseball games i will need to leave them and most hotels won’t let you leave the dogs unattended. Thanks for the tips on hiking. The image below kinda sums me up . I do enjoy hiking just not loooong hikes.

@IG_in_AZ Wow that looks great! Only issue is it would be tough for me to schedule both that and ASU baseball games within my 2 weeks…May need to figure logistics out more to do both

Hah love the shirt!! Here’s another idea for the dogs that people do on trips — find a dog sitter in Tempe/Phx via Rover. You can have a sitter hang at the hotel with your dogs while you’re gone and/or you could drop them off at their house when needed (hourly rate, day rate, or overnight if needed). Many Rover sitters have all of those options. I’ve had sitters watch my dogs at hotels for the day and it was so easy.

Once you get dates locked in let us know, I'm sure some of around PHX area can get together take you on of the trails around here. Box canyon isn't far from Tempe, there is also Crownking run and many more.

If things work out I may be able to head out with out the dogs. It also looks like I will try to do the ASU games when I first get out there which would mean the weekend of April 4th. This would give me several days in a row to do some off-roading.

The AZLRO Rally is really tempting but I don’t think I can make it work.