Day 16 - Fredonia, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ

 

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Weather:  Sunny and low 70’s up north, then increasing clouds and a few sprinkles as we headed further south with decreasing temps to the mid-60’s once we arrived in Flagstaff.

Steps: Shaun - 10,229, Shannon - 10,415

Breakfast was served early at the ranch (which was fine with us since we weren’t really sleeping anyway!), so we got on the scenic route to Flagstaff earlier than expected.  It was a beautiful day, and our route took us north through Kanab and then back around through Page again.  We stopped at a seriously cool sporting goods/bookstore/coffee shop in Kanab run by some major hippy freaks, so naturally we never wanted to leave.

We drove back through the Vermillion Cliffs and then arrived at the eastern entrance to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, commonly called the Desert View. The most outstanding feature of this entrance is called The Watchtower that was designed by Mary Colter (who built several of the key architectural features at the South Rim as well).  The tower itself was constructed in 1932 to resemble a Native American buildings of a much earlier time.  Inside is a circular staircase that winds up through five levels of galleries with paintings and pictographs based on the art of the Pueblo Indians from nearby Hovenweep and the Round Tower of Mesa Verde. It was absolutely amazing, and there was a wonderful gift shop where Shaun bought a sweatshirt and water bottle with replicas of the artwork.

Desert View offered some really beautiful overlooks into the canyon that are quite a bit different than can be seen from the North or South Rims. Our favorite was called Grandview, but the light was weird when we were there because the clouds were rolling in.  It was very atmospheric though, so we enjoyed it immensely. 

On our way out of the park, we seized the opportunity to take some close-up shots of our ubiquitous friend, the raven.  These birds are so amazing, and we really gained an appreciation and an affinity for them over the course of this trip.  Finally, while sitting at a stop sign just outside of the rest area, Shaun glanced to her left and said, “What the heck is that big thing standing over there?”  Do you know what it was?  A humongous bull elk is what it was!  Seriously, he was just nibbling on the grass in the median of the entrance road with all the cars piling up on either side of him.  It was amazing!

At the junction of Highway 69 and 84, there sits a crazy store called the Cameron Trading Post.  We were moved to go in by our bladders, and 2 ½ hours and many hundreds of dollars later, we finally left the store behind.  We went away with some absolutely awesome stuff though, and we were so happy we stopped.  They had reasonably priced Native American crafts including gorgeous jewelry and handmade rugs.  Shaun bought a small rug and an earring and necklace set made from orange and purple oyster shells that she’d been lusting after at every store we went into.  Shannon bought a Navajo vase and lapis and silver earrings.

Not only did Cameron’s fulfill our retail jones, but we also had a wonderful lunch there.  Shannon had Navajo beef stew with fry bread, Shaun had a hummus plate, and we shared a guacamole to round out the meal.  The rugs hanging all over the walls and the baskets sitting on the gigantic stone fireplace were absolutely insane!  We were amazed by the craftsmanship surrounding us, and we only wished we had a boatload of money because we would have each snagged a basket and rug that would have set us back several thousand dollars (but would have been so worth it!).

It had started sprinkling when we left Cameron’s, and we were treated to a lovely rainbow. Once we got to Flagstaff, we had Thai food for dinner in the beautiful townhouse we had rented for the next 3 nights aptly called “The Nest”. It had 2 bedrooms, 1 ½ baths, kitchen, living room, dining room, fireplace, deck, and washer and dryer which we were in critical need of. It was fantastic, and we wished we could have stayed there much longer than we did. As it was, we had to do laundry really fast and get all our crap sorted out to prep it for shipping (which was no mean feat, let me tell you!).  Tomorrow we will be spending the day in Sedona.

Little Grand Canyon

Day 14 - Page, AZ and Glen Canyon/Lake Powell

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Weather:  Sunny, mid-90’s

Steps: Shaun - ???? (Fitbit died), Shannon - 14,244

Mileage: 32568-29659=2909 miles

We ate breakfast at the Sleep Inn and Suites at Lake Powell.  It was quite underwhelming...okay it was actually pretty crappy, but we needed fuel, so we made the best of it and then got on the road.

The first stop on our itinerary was the highly touted Horseshoe Bend, which is located in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The name is inspired by the horseshoe-shaped meander where the Colorado River loops back upon itself, and the pictures of it are awe-inspiring.  We experienced several problems though: (1) It was unbelievably crowded at the parking lot for the viewpoint when we got there, but luckily we found a parking spot near the front; (2) The trip was only ¾ mile round trip, but it was both up and down a big hill of deep sand, so the walk was really challenging; (3) Several busses of people had arrived around the same time we had, so there were hundreds of people all around the viewpoint that had no guardrails to protect people from the perilous loose rock edges all along the 1,000-foot drop. Everyone was vying for spots, and some were quite rude. Shannon was taking a picture of Shaun (who was standing with her back to the edge), and a woman pushed Shannon out of the way and was trying to do the same to Shaun. We stopped her and told her to wait a second, so she backed up but then stood and looked over Shannon’s shoulder while she took the pictures. We finally said we didn’t feel comfortable with all these crazies, so we walked back to the car, only to find it blocked in by 4 buses! Luckily, another guy was also trying to leave, so we waited for him to handle the situation and then just followed him out. All in all, Horseshoe Bend was underwhelming and totally overrated. They were in the process of constructing an alternative parking area much closer to the viewpoint, but the setup when we were there was absolutely insane.

 

Our next stop was the Carl Hayden Visitors Center at the Glen Canyon Dam which had several wonderful exhibits about the surrounding area, the construction of the dam, and a life-sized model of a slot canyon.  We walked across the dam and took a bunch of great pictures while we looked for the elusive California Condor (spoiler alert...we never saw one...dang it!).  We did see the most beautiful juvenile red-tailed hawk who had markings that reminded us of a Navajo rug, and we also saw our ever present friends, turkey vultures, as well as cliff swallows along the walls of Glen Canyon.

Shaun didn’t want to leave the dam because she knew that as soon as we left that a giant swarm of condors were going to swoop in and we’d miss them. However, we had decided to book a 2 ½-hour boat tour of Lake Powell because it seemed like the best way to learn about this crazy body of water in the middle of the desert. The tour left from Wahweap Marina which was just a short drive from the Visitors Center, and it took us through Navajo and Antelope Canyons and close to the other side of the dam. It was totally awesome, and we saw some of the best views we could have ever found from the water.  We had decided not to hike Antelope Canyon at the recommendation of friends due to its “theme park-like atmosphere” since it had become so popular, so this was a wonderful alternative. The boat traveled as far into the canyons as it could, and then the captain had to perform some pretty amazing maneuvers to turn the boat around in tight quarters to go the other direction.  We had a great time and were so glad we’d decided to spend our day this way, especially after the less than stellar start to our day.

After the boat trip was over, we hiked up a giant hill and went to the excellent gift shop at the hotel attached to the marina.  After we contributed to the livelihood of the locals, we drove into Page and got lunch at a burger shop and then drove back out of town to the Hanging Garden trailhead. This was a wonderful one-mile round trip hike where moisture was seeping through the porous sandstone allowing maidenhair ferns and other plants to grow under an overhang in the middle of the desert.  The trail was pretty easy (and there were some really cute little birds along the way) until we got close to the cliff where the trail basically led up the rocks with nothing to hang onto, so we had to go down on all fours in order to get to the overhang.  On the way back, the sun was going down, and the colors were absolutely gorgeous as the light and shadows moved along the red rock cliffs.

We drove a bit further down the road to another scenic viewpoint of the lake where we took more pictures of the fading light (I know...shocker). Next we went to Walmart to buy a new computer and FitBit and external hard drives for each of us so that we could process the 5,142 pictures we ended up taking. $700 later, we went back to the hotel to sort stuff, set up our new electronics, eat dinner, and pack for our trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the much anticipated visit to the dude ranch. We heard someone say that the weather at the North Rim was in the 30’s and that it had snowed, so we checked and sure enough, the next few days were supposed to be 70 during the day and 35ish at night. The temps here are even weirder than in Michigan!