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 15 - Page, AZ to the Grand Canyon North Rim, then back up to Fredonia, AZ

Friday, May 18, 2018

Weather:  Sunny and mid-80’s in Page down to high 50’s at the North Rim—hey, it’s better than the 30’s!

Steps: Shaun - 11,354, Shannon - 9,404

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is about 2 ½ hours away, so we got up fairly early, packed the car, ate breakfast, went to Walmart again, and stopped for gas before heading out. The drive was a beautiful one that took us through the Vermillion Cliffs area and over the Navajo Bridge (which is where Debbie Struble told us we would absolutely, for sure, no doubt about it see condors nesting...but alas...no self-respecting condor would touch his delicate feet to the scalding hot metal under the bridge at this time of the year. Bummer).

The Navajo Bridge Information Center was small but had a few condor-y postcards, socks, etc., so it was still a worthwhile stop. After that, we stopped at a few other shops along the way, but we didn’t find anything spectacular, which was lucky because it turned out that time was definitely not on our side on this day.

The hours seemed to pour through our fingers like water, and we’d been told that we needed to get to the dude ranch where we’d be staying the night before dark or we’d have trouble finding the turn-off. Since it was 90 minutes away, we couldn’t dawdle at the North Rim, which was definitely a shame because we didn’t feel like we gave it the amount of time it deserved. I guess we’ll just have to come back again someday!

Shan's first look

We decided to immediately drive all the way up the Scenic Drive and then come back down and see the Canyon on the way back down. The highest point on the North Rim (at 8,803 feet) is called Point Imperial and includes a wonderful rock formation called Mount Hayden. This vista is where Shannon got her first look of the Grand Canyon, and just seeing the look on her face when she gazed over the edge made my heart sing. These are the moments that will stay with us always, and I’m so glad I get to share them with my favorite person on the planet.

Since we’re writing this blog six months after the actual trip, I’m having a really hard time trying to figure out which pictures are from which viewpoint. To make matters worse, Shannon’s pictures were taken from her phone which adjusted to the correct local time while my camera did not. This means that the pictures are all shuffled together but they’re shots of different places! I’m going insane trying to figure them out, so I’m just going to list our stops, pick my favorite pictures, and move on. I hope you guys don’t mind...but then again, you’ll never know will you?

Mt. Hayden

Heading south from Point Imperial, we stopped at Vista Encantada, Roosevelt Point, Walhalla Overlook, and Cape Royal where Votan’s Throne and the Unkar Delta spreads out to the horizon. Since we were pressed for time, we didn’t do the hike we had intended to do to the end of Cape Royal, but we saw the Angel’s Window rock formation from the road, which was very cool.

Shaun demonstrated her superior mountain driving skills as we rushed pell-mell back down the Scenic Drive to get to the Visitor’s Center and Lodge where Shan got food from the deli and Shaun had to settle for food from the car because there was no vegan-friendly food to be found at this venue. We thought that was pretty weird, but the North Rim had just opened on 5/15, so maybe it was just a timing thing.  The holographic globe in the Visitor’s Center was really cool and showed us how the different layers of the canyon had formed and changed over the millennia, so this added one more bit of information to our ever expanding understanding of the geology of this incredible area of the world.

This tree was happy to see us

After our meal, we hiked the Bright Angel Trail, which was quite steep but had incredible views of both sides of the canyon with the light playing along the cliffs and leaving some parts in shadow and other parts in the gorgeous reddish orange light of the setting sun.  There were several hawks and turkey vultures soaring just beyond the outlook, so all in all, the hike was totally worth doing.

We arrived at Grand Canyon Ranch & Outfitters just in time for sunset, and it was a beauty! We were also just in time for a very robust dinner served buffet-style by a wonderful family who ran both the 350-square-MILE ranch and the cabins for guests, many of whom came to experience a week or more working on a real ranch. The cabins had no power or water, and the main house ran on generator only from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. We spent the time until bed playing a new game called Bananagrams by the light of a lantern and then had s’mores by the campfire.

Our cabin was quite cute, but since we had no power, we had no fans. This made for a restless night for both of us. Also, guests had to walk to the bath house after the main house closed down, and we’re very happy to report that the headlamps that Shannon had bought us at L. L. Bean were lifesavers once again. Shaun got up in the middle of the night, put on her boots and headlamp and walked down the road only to be stopped halfway by a horse who was attacking the bale of hay the folks had been practicing roping on earlier in the day. Let me tell you...there’s nothing like needing to pee and being scared out of your wits by a big, honkin’ horse running loose! I was glad we were only staying one night despite the fact that the family and the people we met were really quite nice.