ONUMENT VALLEY, Ariz. -- Flames of light flickered through the camper window. Squinting one eye open, I found myself engulfed in blazing color. The eastern heavens, ignited by the dawn, burned in a conflagration of fiery crimsons and glowing yellows. It was the four-alarm wake-up call of an Arizona sunrise.

I joined a handful of others standing at the edge of a bluff. In hushed silence, we watched as the incandescent sky silhouetted Monument Valley's famed rock towers. I would have missed this if I had not been camping.

For a fraction of the tab of a resort hotel, one can buy a tent, borrow a trailer or rent a motor home and experience the pleasure of sleeping out in nature's inn. The wallpaper comes in the form of mountains, forests, deserts and seashores. Burbling steams and quaking aspens offer background melodies. Campfires provide crackling warmth, and it's the aroma of pines, not Pine-Sol, that lingers in the air.

Camping is especially cost-effective when traveling with kids. Most youngsters love the unconfined, outdoor freedom, and bunking away from urban distractions provides a meaningful opportunity for family bonding. In the wild, teens have even been known to drop their iPod earbuds and tune in to the rap of nature.

When it comes to camping, there are few places better than the American West. Much of this grand land is publicly owned, and sites abound.

Since first crawling into a Boy Scout pup tent outside Phoenix, I've camped in all 11 contiguous western states. I've found what I think are ideal places to bunk in the great outdoors.

INTO THE DESERT

Although Arizona boasts conifer-clad mountains, it is cactus country that still defines Arizona camping for me. My preferred place is along the Verde River in central Arizona, where the morbidly-named Dead Horse Ranch State Park near Cottonwood proffers a lively base for fishing, hiking and eagle watching.

Nearby, the Verde Canyon Railroad offers scenic rides, the ghost town of Jerome presents apparitions of its coppery past, and arty Sedona delivers everything from galleries and golf to New Age group gatherings.

An unparalleled array of national parks, forests and monuments grace Utah to the north. Years ago, my stepdog, hippie girlfriend and I were visiting Arches National Park near Moab. Too broke to pay for camping, we looked for a free site off Utah 128 on the Colorado Riverway. We soon fell asleep at an isolated spot beside the stream. A short time later, a boat's spotlight from a Canyonlands at Night floating tour awakened us. Fortunately, the dog's barking drowned out their hokey prerecorded narrative.

The pup has since perished, the girlfriend has become an ex and our site has been developed into a pay-to-stay campground. Still, the spot remains a favorite.

New Mexico offers deserts and mountains slathered with an aura of salsa. It also features Chaco Culture National Historical Park, an archaeological enclave southeast of Farmington. A thousand years ago, this was a trade hub and spiritual center for the Anasazi.It was also an astronomical site.

MYSTIC PILGRIMS

At summer solstice, mystic pilgrims now flock to one of its ceremonial kivas, where sunlight beams through an opening and illuminates a niche on the opposing wall. One year, a ranger allegedly placed a cardboard cutout of Elvis in the ruin. At dawn, the image of the King greeted the chanting revelers. I wish I'd been there to have seen it.

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