"Go West 'Young' Man" (With your wife for your 25th Anniversary)

Grand Canyon North Rim

This would turn out to be a place I wish we (I) had more time, like three or four days, to explore. Since I knew our itinerary wouldn't allow it, I didn't do much research. I'm glad I didn't know what I was missing until we got home.

There are a ton of trails in the Kaibab National Forest. And some will get you pretty remote and at the edge of the canyon. We opted for one trail and possibly two stops. More on that next.

One thing we noticed, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones, is that the North Rim is a darker red and gray formation than the South Rim. I'm sure a geologist or a park ranger could tell us why. I didn't ask. And I can only imagine what the sunset would have looked like here. The south rim was spectacular.

Time for pics. The pics are from the immediate area around the visitor center. We are not in shape for the hikes, and my knees really don't like prolonged down hill paths. (I don't like the climb back up either!)

 

Point Sublime

We set out from the visitor center to Point Sublime. After the park ranger did his best to talk me out of going. "Lot's of mud after all this rain we had," "there are probably trees across the road," and "you'll need 4WD and high clearance because it's a rough trail." We did find some mud, and yes, I played in it.

The trail is about 20 miles of fire road and a lot of it is 2WD. If we had time, I also wanted to drive to Kanabownits Lookout Tower, which would have doubled our time on the trail.

We aired down at a gravel parking lot for a trail head, and paired up with another Taco driver from California. This was their first trip to the north rim as well. They traveled a lot and had very well set up rig.

The trail has a bit of everything on it. Nice climbs, flat meadow areas, old and new growth trees, and some nice camp areas. And a large herd of bison.

We stopped at one campsite that had an abosultey beautiful view of canyon. The couple in the other truck would go back there for the night. We drove out and headed back to Lee's Ferry, as Monument Valley was on the agenda for the next day.



The trucks and some trail shots.






One of the mud puddles. Somehow, the accelerator found the floor through one or two. (I have to get that checked!) The truck would never be clean the rest of this trip.




The camp site the other couple came back to.




Point Sublime











On the way back in we found a herd of bison. First, the alpha male, then then rest of the herd appeared over a rise to our left. It turned out they had crossed where we stopped, and they would cross in front of us as we started to leave. The main herd was 150-200 yards to our left,

 

South Rim / Grand Canyon Village

Whether you have high expectations or none at all, this park won't disappoint. We spent three nights here, saw snow, some cool temps, and nice warm sunny day. And the sunset, well, wow.

There are way too many pics to post, so some of my favorites are below.

Entering the South Rim from the north. The higher elevations picked up 3-4 inches of snow before we arrived.


These are from the drive down toward Grand Canyon Village and our hotel room on Tusayan. There were still a lot of clouds in the canyon, so we didn't take a lot of pics as there wasn't much to see. Unless you like clouds and low visibility.


The next day the sun came out!


Trail Cairn

Petrified wood in the rock wall

The story behind this, is that one of the workers building wall had a crush on one of the women working there. He carved this and placed it in a spot where she could see it from her room.

A pack mule train hauling supplies to the ranger station in the canyon. These haul gear for the rangers who stay there for I think it's a week, as well as food and other needed supplies.


The Colorado River

Just a "little" zoom.

Everywhere you look, it's different. And that says nothing of the effect of sun and shadow.


Then the sun went down.



A series of panoramic pics.

And my favorite. I guess I knew my wife was standing there. A little angelic radiance?

 

"Cuffs" and the Historic Grand Canyon Airport

When planning started for the trip, I reached out to @Cuffs who I had talked to on the Inferno thread. I knew she lived in the area and asked how much it would take to get her to show us around and asked about off-roading in the area. Not only did she agree, she went above and beyond, in my opinion, to help our stay be as enjoyable as it was.



One of the things I wanted to check out was the "Historic Grand Canyon Airport," located on some fire roads. She was in agreement with this and exploring some other areas she hadn't been to as well. Game on!

The airport is long abandoned, and three structures are still standing; the hanger, a duplex style cabin that I think was for staff, as there is also a bunker style food storage are near it, and a stable and pen area for horses. There used to be a lodge and several cabins at the airport. All have been lost except the three remaining buildings. Research said that most were lost to fire. It started as "Scenic Airways," became the "Grand Canyon Airport," and is referred to as "Red Butte Field." http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AZ/Airfields_AZ_N.htm#redbute








Kitchen area

Mechanics shop

Builder?

Cistern

The "duplex" area






The stables area






Gopher holes abound (aka: ankle breakers!)

Found a six lug wheel, but decided it was a little too small for the truck.


We ventured up a fire road on Red Butte trying to get the top. After finally engaging 4WD, we were defeated by a locked gate. Some pics from where we turned around picked up the airport in the distance. Couple of nice camping spots up there as well.



The hanger in the distance looking in from the longer run way.

 

Sedona

This was a day trip / detour on our way to Winslow. We thought about spending a night, but that was a short lived thought when you start looking at rentals / hotels. Especially on short notice.

We ran Schnebly Hill Road north to south. The first few miles were not much more than a dirt road. Then you turn a corner and the views break out and the trail changes to rock and dirt. And rock.

These pics just don't do justice to the area. It was a beautiful drive on a "Chamber of Commerce" day.

 

Winslow

We saw some pretty spectacular stuff on this trip, but I told my wife that is a must for me. I mean bucket list must! She laughed.

I like the Eagle's song, but there is just something about the Travis Tritt version of "Take It Easy" that just made this something I had to do from the time he released his cover of the song. I learned later that his covering of the song, and getting the the video done, was the first time the Eagles had played together in 14 years. The next year the Eagles launched the "Hell Freezes Over" tour and the band was back!

Take a look at this picture. It is from the video and the first time the Eagles played together after the break up of the group. (See the next video for the story.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnsT2idtRc0

The story about the video and the results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHV8TUmNFs

Now for the fun.











More Pics in Post 52 & 53!

 

Awesome post! Excited to see the rest. I will be heading through Sedona and the South Rim with my wife the week after Thanksgiving. Definitely looking for some tips on cool places to stop

 

I'm not sure what will be open with the winter schedule, so check that before you get up there. The visitor center was closed for covid. We drove the road up the east side and hit the stops along the way. We spent some time in GC Village and did the sunset up the west side. The guided tour for the sunset may be the warmer option now as it was getting chilly (it snowed one night).

We also went exploring on the fire roads. There are a couple of points on the south rim you can access, but they looked like full day trips to get there and back. Pack a chainsaw if you go that route. Kaibab National Forest has the roads and they have an office nearby. Red Butte was locked so we couldn't get up there. There is a historic airport we explored as well. It will be muddy and soft if it gets wet, so make sure you have your recover if you head out.

 

From Flagstaff: Sedona will be fully open to you to travel and enjoy.

The South Rim is a different story. Do your research as a lot of the FR roads very well may be closed, depending on how the weather has been up there.

 

One note on Sedona - avoid it on the weekends if you can. Traffic sucks.

 

So did you get out to Sedona and the South Rim? How was the trip?

 

Petrified Forest

So this is another of the stops that surprised me. And another spot where I took way too many pics. Being a woodworking hobbyist, I love working with wood, and watching the grain develop in the wood as you work and sand it.

The amazing thing about the petrified wood, is you can actually see the rings and grain patterns in some of the wood. That really surprised me.

This is one of the larger "forests" that exists in the US. No one is allowed to remove anything from these. The stuff you can buy is sourced from other areas. There is a store on the outside of the park that got some of our cash.

A couple of pics from the store with some of the cut and polished products.


In the park. The first section is around the office / museum /gift shop. The Chrystal Forest is a short drive, and well worth the stop and easy walk.




























On the way out, people were pointing to the top of this hill across from the parking lot, trying to figure out what was on top. Turns out that this area is the edge of the American Condor Range, and this, from what we could tell, was a pair of American Condors. A little blurry, but posted as one more thing to watch for when you out there. As the crow flies, this is 180 miles from the Condor Release Viewing area in Vermillion Cliffs.

 

Painted Desert

The last "tourist" stop on the trip. The Painted Desert is part of the same park as the Petrified Forest as far as access is concerned. From here is was back to ABQ for an early morning launch toward home.

When it comes to the color and cliffs, this is like the kiddie pool for the Grand Canyon, which is 120 miles to the NW. There are some things to do in the area, but it was shut down for the season while the road remained open. This might be far enough to avoid seasonal snow closures, but as with all the parks here and north, check before you head out. Unfortunately, the sun continued to play hide and seek.













A couple of panoramic pics.

360*



And the I was here shots.

 

Some pics from the road.

Nashville from the south side.


Oklahoma Welcome Center on I40




Gwen had grown up a farm with it's own fuel supply. She'd never seen a tractor at a gas station. Frankly, neither had I.




When the name of you city is too big for the sign.

It was just a little windy.

Skydance Bridge in "Okla City." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skydance_Bridge)



"Dave doing Dave things."




This was a very long intermodal container train headed west. I'm guessing it was about two miles long with five engines; three lead, two middle pushers. And he was moving almost as fast as we were, guessing 60-ish as it took a couple of minutes to pass him.



Home Sweet Home!! Time for oil and tires, and a good bath! (The truck too!)

 

Thanks for taking a look. Hope it helps if you plan on heading out that way.

 

Great trip report!

I can't get enough of the southwest desert - my Daughter & I spent some time there at the end of October. Her time was limited so we only scratched the surface. Will definitely be taking my wife there for another excursion, and planning on lots of time in the Vermillion Cliffs and North Rim areas.

Thanks for posting.

 

@EricOutside - thanks looking. When you head back out, back out, if your trip lines up with the condor release. I would love to have seen one fly! Those things are huge.

 

What an awesome thread!

My wife and I did the highway 40 corridor across AZ in October 2021 as well, Grand Canyon, Sedona, several of the more minor NP's and NM's close to Highway 40, of course Winslow, and also Meteor Crater. I'd been to all these places at least once before, my wife had not, so these were all quite a treat for her. We opted not to hit up Monument Valley, as it would have taken an entire day round trip just to drive between Flagstaff and MV, and would not have left much tome to truly see the Valley. We may have even crossed paths somewhere along the way

 

Thank you sir!

This was my first time out there. My wife had been to most of the places we went. We planned the route to avoid the longer drives once we were out there. Staying in Vermillion Cliffs made it not too bad a drive to the MV and the North Rim.

I was kind hoping to run into someone who was headed out for an overnight. (My sleeping bag and CPAP battery were in the RTT.)

 

Very enjoyable thread, thanks.