May 25, 2011--North Rim Day 2

We were up early this morning because we were eager to get back and see more of the Canyon. As I mentioned earlier it's 45 miles from Jacob Lake to the actual North Rim. The drive is odd in that several miles are spent in area's that have been damaged by fires and it's pretty awful, but the rest is a combination of pine trees and a very long beautiful meadow. Since the elevation is about 8000 feet there is still a little bit of snow here and there. Our goal today is to drive the road to the Cape Royal area, and then the Point Imperial overlook. On the way there are several viewing stops and each one was more spectacular than the one before. At Point Imperial we ate our picnic lunch and Betsy took out her sketch book and did a very nice picture of snow caped Mt. Humphrey off in the distance. Point Imperial is the highest point on the North Rim at 8800 feet.

May 23 and 24, 2011

Well gang, here we go again. Starship Avion is ready to blast off on "The Escape the Heat Tour 2011".
To escape we have to follow rule number 1 which is go north and that means Flagstaff or more accurately Munds Park which is about 20 miles south of Flag. There's a nice RVpark there. So it's up the mountain we go, which seems to get easier each time we do it. I now hyperventilate when we hit the downhill portions only.
Tuesday, May 24--we didn't start to awfully early because we only have a couple hundred miles to go.
The object today is to reach Jacob Lake, AZ and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We've been to the South Rim a couple of times but have always wanted to see the north side of the canyon which is said to be higher in elevation and even more spectacular. There's only one minor problem--while the distance between the rim of the south side and north side is only 10 or 15 miles as the crow flies, the drive from one rim to the other is about 170 miles! As we used to say back in Indiana, "ya cain't get thar from here". About half of this drive we had done before when we visited Monument Valley so it wasn't all new to us. We arrived at Jacob Lake about 1:00 PM and found the RV Park we elected to stay in.
As we were pulling in Betsy and I looked at each other and said "do you see what I see"? The object was to escape the heat but it was now spitting ice pellets! Luckily the little squall didn't last long and there was no accumulation, but it sure got us thinking about the clothing we had packed. We dropped the trailer, hooked up to the water, electric, and sewer and headed for the North Rim which is about 45 miles away. I've read that the Grand Canyon gets about five million visitors annually but only 10 or 15% visit the North Rim. All the guide books we read were correct--it's higher, and more spectacular.
For our first visit we hit the visitor center area which seems to be the hub of activity. And there is one above rim trail where dogs are allowed. There really aren't words to describe what you see here.

2010 Fall Trip--10/22 Homeward Bound

The plan was to head south to Flagstaff or Cottonwood and find a campground for the night. We left Moab at about 7:15 AM in a light rain which slowed us down a bit since we were going through the mountains. Then about two hours later we ran into a convoy of huge mining equipment and we spent several miles going 30 mph. When we finally reached Flagstaff it was still raining, very dark clouds, and 41 degree's. I thought it would start snowing any minute. The Cottonwood area wasn't much better so we kept truckin' on down the mountain. We finally found the sun again just north of Phoenix and then got stuck in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. At that point it didn't make much sense to stay overnight at a campground since we were only 2 hours away from home. We made it back to Green Valley about 8:30 PM. After 605 miles in one day Betsy and Tipper tell me that on future trips there will be new rules about how many hours one may drive in a single day.

Next week I'm driving back to NE Arizona to meet Cousin John and friend Larry from Denver and explore Canyon de Chelly. Can't wait!!

Top Photo--sandstone formation called Elephants Feet just north of Tuba City, AZ. Can't you just hear the old prospectors arguing, "dang-na-bit Clem them thar things don't look nuthin' like tree stumps. They look like elephants feet."
Middle Photo--Arches National Park
Bottom Photo--Balanced Rock, Arches National Park

2010 Fall Trip--10/21 Canyonlands National Park

In addition to Arches National Park there are several other national or state parks close to Moab.
We chose for our last day the Islands In The Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. I'd never heard of this park until a few months ago, but we learned that it was set aside as a park back in the 60's. It's about 35 miles from Moab and was much less crowded. We may have saved the best for last. All I can say is WOW!! We will remember this trip for a long, long time.
Top Photo--Mesa Arch
Middle Photo--Bucks Canyon
Bottom Photo--Schaefer Canyon They used to drive cattle up and down this road to get them to the summer and winter pastures. Then when uranium was discovered they drove loaded trucks up and down!

2010 Fall Trip--10/20 Arches National Park

After two nights in Bluff, UT it was time to move on. Our next destination was Moab, UT and Arches National Park. Getting to Moab was a short drive of 2 hours north. After checking in at our campground we headed to Arches. I'm sure you've all seen pictures of the many natural arches formed by eon's of wind and water erosion so I'll only publish one here. We found an off road vantage point of an arch that Betsy wanted to sketch. While she did that I took a trail that went up a huge formation of rock. When I got to the top I found that I wasn't alone. There was a raven sitting on a rock next to a small cairn that someone had left. At first I thought the raven was injured since I could get quite close, but he would hop around and then fly to a different location but never really left. I would make a kissing sound and it would look at me and then make a response noise. Of course all this time I was taking pictures like mad. What a great treat.

2010 Fall Trip--10/19 Monument Valley II

Yesterday when we were in Monument Valley we had Starship Avion with us so our movement was limited to the parking lot. We wanted to return and drive the 17 mile loop road in the valley. So we headed back to Monument Valley and then later in the day we went through an area called Valley of the Gods. I have never seen such spectacular scenery!!

2010 Fall Trip--10/19 Bluff, UT

After our visit to Monument Valley yesterday we headed toward Bluff, UT where we had a campground reservation. Bluff is aptly named as it is truly surrounded by towering sandstone bluffs. There are 4 or 5 big old houses that are made out of sandstone blocks. According to one local the big houses were built back around the early 1900's by area ranchers. Bluff is very small but has some interesting businesses.
The Dairy Cafe is indeed a local eatery but has an extensive array of Native American jewelry. According to the owner, the artists bring the items in and they (the artist) put the prices on them. Several of the business use old trucks as a means of getting attention.