May 22 – Zion National Park

I returned to Zion N.P. this morning alone since Sunny would have to wait in the truck. Got to the visitor’s center and found the bus/shuttle pick up location. Rode the bus to the last stop, the Temple of Sinawava. This is where you could enter the Narrows, if the water wasn’t flowing so fast. Very nice path along the river. Powerful water.

Headed to the Zion Lodge bus stop and hiked to the Lower and Middle Emerald Pools. Very cool walk and interesting waterfalls. Stunning rocks and sheer cliffs.
Unfortunately it was very windy so hiking to Angel’s Landing was not recommended. I guess that gives me a reason to go back!

The bus system worked surprisingly well and efficiently. I met another individual traveler on the bus and we spent most of the day together checking out the park.

May 21 – Hurricane/Zion N.P.

Up early to phone call. Strange, but nice, being back in daylight savings time. Sunrise at 5:15 am in Arizona is ridiculously early. Head into St. George to have brakes done. Saw the large white Mormon church.

Dealer took an hour and a half to tell me the brakes do need to be done, on my dime, tune the tune of $290 plus tax. Also there is an oil leak – the rear main seal. That’s covered under warrantee but will take two days to replace. I did not want to go all weekend without my truck so scheduled to drop off truck Monday morning with a hopeful pick up of Tuesday afternoon.

Visited Zion National Park late this afternoon, much later than I had been planning. Still had enough time to stop by the visitor’s center to get an idea of what activities I want to do and how the bus system works. Being late in the day and having Sunny with me, we drove the primary access road which passes through two tunnels and has numerous pull offs/overlooks to view the incredible rock formations.

After seeing all the overlooks, we drove the Kolob Terrace Road north along the west side of the park about 20 miles to the Kolob Reservoir. Beautiful drive skirting in and out of the park. The reservoir was quite large and very full. I understand it had been frozen solid less than a week ago. We saw several deer along the way including three bucks that posed for a picture. Tried to go to the Lava Point overlook, which I understand is phenomenal. I was told at the visitor’s center the road was still closed due to a foot of snow on the road. Since the reservoir had thawed and I did not see very much snow in the area, I figured we would give it a shot at getting to the overlook. We made it about a half mile towards the overlook before dropping into a wash and finding the road washed out, at least beyond where I was willing to drive. We stopped and walked around a little. Sunny walked across the washed out area and before I realized it, stepped onto a cattle guard. I knew we were in trouble as soon as she did since I tried to show here how to cross a grate with no luck at Jacob Lake. Of course, two of her paws slipped into the grate. The water I had to cross to get to her was flowing quite fast and there was not a ‘good’ crossing point. The whole time (3 seconds or so) I’m plotting my path through the water, I had a little tension on the leash. Apparently it was enough that along with Sunny’s agility, she got out of the grate and came back across the water to me. Whew. Time to head home...

May 21 - Zion N.P. Pictures

Another day deserving more than 5 pictures...

May 20 – Jacob Lake to Hurricane

We’re very conflicted about leaving here this morning. We’re camped in a beautiful high mountain forest where the temperature is mild. I anticipate southern Utah to be a hot desert with little to no shade at a lower elevation with much higher temperatures. Knowing that it’s only going to get hotter as the summer approaches we get on the road. Travel is good, mostly downhill.

Along the route is the Pipe Springs National Monument. It had been a water source used by people for hundreds of years. The early Mormon settlers built a fort over the spring and piped it to an internal room. The water flowing through the room would regulate the temperature, making it an excellent storeroom for dairy and produce. The fort supplied much of the dairy products to the construction workers in St. George who were building the temples there. The tour was lead by a ranger very knowledgeable in the history of the fort. I was extremely disappointed when we finally entered the ‘spring’ room to find it not flowing. I inquired and learned that a few years ago a public water system well had been installed not far away and lowered the water table so the spring quit flowing. The NPS has installed a pumped water system to the fort however it was currently shut off due to improvements being made for access around the fort.

As we approached our destination we entered the valley and were amazed at all how much greener the valley was with actual trees as opposed to the desert flora we’ve been driving through. The campground is in the town of Hurricane Utah, somewhat centrally located for my activities over the next few days. Very nice for a campground. Much more of a trailer park feel with paved roads, concrete pads and grass between sites. Quite a few large shade trees as well.

Got settled and ran out for dinner. Ended up at a grocery store, got dinner and returned to park.

May 19 – Grand Canyon North Rim and Kabib National Forest

Visited the Grand Canyon North rim today. Great drive into park. A lot of snow as we got closer to the park and higher in elevation. A couple large meadows completely covered still. I inquired with the ranger at the entrance about driving to Point Sublime and learned there’s a low area the road crosses which will be impassible until late June. That information both modified and solidified my plans for where I was going in the park.

The Lodge at the North rim is somewhat unimpressive from the front and even once you enter the lobby. However once you walk down the steps you get a view of the large picture windows framing unfathomable views of the canyon. Walked to a couple overlook points near the Lodge. There are definitely fewer visitors here than there were on the South Rim.

After seeing the lodge, we drove the paved park roads to several other overlooks, the last being Imperial Point. I’m glad we (unintentionally) saved it for last. It’s the highest overlook of the canyon and maybe the most impressive for the distances you can see beyond the canyon out to the Vermillion Cliffs and into the Painted Desert.

Heading back north out of the park we saw a coyote playing in a meadow, maybe hunting a mouse. I hoped to return to camp via Forest Service roads for the different scenery and serenity. The first opportunity we had to head off the main park entrance road was a couple miles out onto FS22. There was a little snow in the area still but it seemed promising enough to give it a shot. I knew if the road continued up we were not going to make it very far.

As we headed up the road (literally) there were a few old snow drifts across the road which had to be traversed, none of which were a problem with four wheel drive. A mile or so up the road, I came upon on snow drift with a Ford Explorer stuck in the middle of the road. The driver was there trying to get loose. I stopped and the idiot told me he was going to go until he got stuck, then put it in four wheel drive. When he did get stuck, he discovered his Explorer didn’t have four wheel drive, I can only assume he meant it was broken... I dug a tow strap out of my tool box and pulled him back out of the drift with no trouble. He headed back down the hill, we kept going up.

A few hundred feet farther there was an abandoned vehicle stuck in the road. We kept going about another quarter mile up the hill to a point where the entire road, as far up as we could see, was snow covered with no fresh tracks. We stopped here and went for a walk in the snow. It seemed like there were no other people around for miles.

Being stopped by the snow on this road didn’t deter us. We backtracked to the main road and headed north until we found the next possible turnoff into the forest and took it. This road passed through a recently burned area which made for unique views and scenery. We found a side road into a canyon and headed there in search of solitude. The road quickly became a rough, dirt two track in the forest. It was great. A couple miles in I spotted a small lake not far from the road so we parked and went for a stroll in the woods around the lake and enjoying the serenity of the forest.

When we resume the drive it ultimately took us up the hill we drove down yesterday on the one lane precarious drop-off road. We slowly but successfully navigated the ascent. Once returning to camp and walking sunny I spent some time figuring out where we’re headed from here.

May 19 - photos

I'm limited to 5 pictures per post but today needed more...

May 18 -Flagstaff to Jacob Lake, Kabib National Forest

Traveled to Jacob Lake today to access the North rim of the Grand Canyon. Decided to turn west before reaching Page Arizona kind of figuring I may hit that after doing the ‘grand circle’. There’s no good way to do it without some backtracking.

Drove the Vermillion Cliffs Highway which was amazing. Started out windy this morning and only got worse. Trailer pulled fine but I was still very glad to finally reach the campground. The camp is in surrounded by National Forest and very wooded. Apparently they had 6”’ of snow last week. We got a few snow flurries dropping on us. Enough to get everything wet a few times.

Stopped by the forest service office and got a great map of the back roads and tips for hikes. Took a drive with Sunny and saw some awesome wilderness. One VERY steep downhill, one lane, serious dropoff, curvy road which took us into a canyon was particularly interesting to drive. Discovered the historic Big Springs Fire Lookout Tower. I climbed all 122 steps and got some very panoramic pictures. There were several mule deer by the lookout tower. In total on the drive we saw 10 mule deer, two wild turkeys and 3 fox squirrels. Saw the old Jacob Lake Ranger Station and tiny puddle that is Jacob Lake. The rangers told me when getting the map that the definition of lake is a little different in the area.

Headed to the only place around, the Jacob Lake Inn and Café for dinner. They have students who live in cabins behind the place work there for the summer. The season had just started so things were still a little rough. Service was friendly but slow. The food was good.

May 17 - Flagstaff

Spent today taking care of chores - oil change and tire rotation on truck, caught up on laundry and decided my jeans needed to be retired so went to local mall for a new pair. Stopped in Ruby Tuesdays, which I haven’t eaten at in years, to grab dinner. There were cops all over the place! Turns out they were helping to serve at Ruby Tuesday’s across the state. The tips were to be dedicated to a foundation to help families of fallen officers. I tipped well hoping to sway my karma with the popo!

Went to a Safeway for the first time to stock up on groceries before returning to camp in time to watch 24.

May 16 - Grand Canyon South Rim

Decided to make a day trip from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon South Rim rather than moving the trailer. It was a fairly easy drive with some nice scenery.

A few miles south of the park we turned off onto a forest service road to find a good place to walk a little. I wanted to tire Sunny out since her activities at National Parks are limited. We found a great little parking spot and headed off into the woods. No one around. Sunny sniffed up a deer carcass and was in bone heaven! Needless to say we did not take any bones home with us. Drove a couple fire lanes exploring the forest.

The Grand Canyon was stunning. Again pictures don’t do it justice. Amazing power of water. There we tons of tourist around, probably 80% of whom were foreigner travelers. We checked out the visitor’s center and several overlooks. Took a lot of pictures. Visited the Watchtower at the eastern end of the park and headed back towards Flagstaff on a different road than we took up.

May 15 - Flagstaff (Meteor Crater)

Visited Meteor Crater today, east of Flagstaff. It is one HUGE hole in the ground. Must have been one heck of an impact. Pictures don’t do it justice. On the small fenced in area in the bottom of the crater there is a 6’ tall wooden cutout of an astronaut. Evening zooming in it appears to be tiny. There is an interesting hole in the wall in the courtyard of the visitor’s center with cool views through the ‘window’.

It’s hard to believe but after being at Petrified Forest and now Meteor Crater, I have been within 30 miles of Winslow, AZ twice now and have not made it there to ‘stand on a corner’. Guess it just wasn’t meant to be this trip.

Returned to Flagstaff area and took Sunny on a hike. It was a portion of Arizona Trail and pretty cool for being close to the city. Ate dinner at the popular Horsemen Lodge before turning in for the night.

May 14 - Sedona to Flagstaff

Headed to Flagstaff today. Travel on 89A through Oak Creek Canyon was beautiful and challenging with the hills and curves. The “watch for falling rocks” signs are no joke. At one spot we came upon a large boulder in road. It must have just fallen and was blocking the opposing lane with smaller rocks in our lane. Thankfully, I guess, we got there soon enough after the fall there was not a long traffic jam yet as traffic needed to alternate directions on the now one lane road.

Made it to what appears to be a very nice, well cared for small campground. Got in and set up early enough to explore the area.

We went east a few miles to Walnut Canyon National Monument and hiked a trail leading through several cliff dwellings along the canyon walls. Stunning and amazing that people lived there. The foot paths were basically up and down the canyon walls. Pretty cool to be allowed inside some of the dwellings. Ran into a hummingbird making all sorts of buzzing noises flying around. Didn’t know what it was when I first heard it but figured it out when the buzzing got louder and I saw the little bird.

Just a few miles north of the campground is Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Since it was not yet sunset, we went there and walked the lava trail then drove around the crate to the Cinder Hills scenic overlook for sunset. Took a quick spin into downtown Flagstaff before returning to camp.

May 13 - Sedona

We went for a hike in Boynton Canyon this morning. Disappointing since the trail was adjacent to a resort development for the first mile or mile and half. There were also quite a few people on the trail so it defintely did not feel secluded. Once we made it into the canyon it was peaceful with small trees for shade and lots of great views of the rocks. The overall trail was supposed to be 2.5 miles long. Due to Sunny’s exertion and excessive panting, we turned back well before the end. It was actually a very slow return hike. Sunny was tuckered out by the time we made it to the truck. All in all it was an O.K. hike with nice views of red rock cliffs.

Cleaned floor in trailer (which desperately needed it) and reorganized the storage in the bed of the truck. Walked Sunny by the creek and talked with campground folks. Sedona in general is stunning with the scenery but too populated, spendy and touristy for my tastes. And no, as much as i hoped to, I didn’t feel any Vortexes while in the area…