2023 – Early February – Grand Canyon NP

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Image captions note the locations where the images were taken.

Maricopa Point

After a several hour drive from Kingman, AZ, we stop in Ash Fork, AZ to stretch our legs.  The first place we see is the Ash Fork Historical Society Museum.  We enjoy visiting museums, so we stopped.  A volunteer welcomes us, “This is a hands-on museum.”  “Feel free to sit with the characters playing cards, try on the fire fighting gear, and sit in the old car.”  I can’t remember if it was a model T or A.  We have a great time doing ‘hands-on’  We spend an hour looking, then another half hour listening to our docent tell stories of the area.  It’s a great little local museum to visit.

March/April 2021 - Yosemite NP, Saguaro NP, White Sands NP

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Yosemite NP

Moonrise over half Dome

Orange groves and nut trees line the roads heading towards Fresno.  Once through town we see development give way to open ranch land then rolling hills.  The snow topped Sierra Nevada mountains form the backdrop to the east.  Our route is one of the main roads entering Yosemite National Park.  We are here for a photography workshop lead by Gary Hart.  The next portion of my blog is an unsolicited story of our workshop experience.

More Utah travels, September 2020 - Central TX; Petrified Forest NP; North Rim - Grand Canyon NP

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Grand Canyon, sunset

Since I last posted we have relocated from NM to central TX.  We are enjoying our time here, happy we made the move.

Back in early-March we started thinking about a trip to Greece when the pandemic hit.  As time went on we knew Greece was out of the question so we started looking at revisiting southern Utah catching some of the areas we missed in April, 2019. 

Inner Basin, Coconino National Forest, AZ, May 14, 2017

My hike into the Inner Basin was an opportunity while I was in the neighborhood.  I’m actually in Flagstaff to attend the Overland Expo, a marketplace of camping, camping vehicles, motorcycling.  In general different ways of just getting outdoors.  I am interested in seeing camping equipment; primarily truck campers.  I did stop to see other forms of camping; tents on trucks, tents on trailers, plain old everyday tents and large expensive and very expensive all terrain camping vehicles.  The only thing I didn’t explore was camping via motorcycle; I like four wheels and a lot of sheet metal around me.  I’m glad I went.  I didn’t get all my questions answered but I was able to narrow my choices.

Sedona - Fay Canyon Hike

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This is our final day, and hike for this trip.  After loading up with the free breakfast at the hotel we pack the car and start our trip to Fay Canyon.  Laurie texted then called Don to see if he was hiking or not.  No response.  Oh well, we can do this one on our own.  As we pull into the parking lot Don is already putting on his pack, waiting for us.  Should have known better.

Sedona - Doe Mesa Hike

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Our second day’s hike is to the Doe Mesa along Dry Creek Road.  It is about 5 miles west of Sedona.  The mesa itself is about 400’ above the surrounding terrain measuring about a half mile by a quarter mile at the mesa top.  I could get used to this; having a multitude of hiking trails within a 30 minute, or less, drive from town.

Sedona - Brins Mesa Hike

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Our first day’s hike is to and along Brins Mesa to see Angel Falls then continuing around Cibola Mesa.  Don was here the previous day, snow and all.  He’s wants us to see Angel Falls; water does not flow over the falls very often so he wants us to see it while there is still snow melt.  After the first mile of hiking we take off the outer layer of fleece because the sun is warm.  Even with the warm sun, shaded portions of the trail are covered with ice and snow.  The sun drenched portions are wet from melted snow.  Climbing up on to the mesa reveals different views of the rock formations.  We pass by the west end of the Fin to its snow dotted north face.  As we ascend higher more snow appears along the trail.  Trickles of water are forming in the low sections of the trail from the sun warmed snow.  The final climb to see the falls is steep and icy.  We are encouraged to take our time since a slip on the rocks can end up painful, if not worse.

Sedona, AZ Dec 26-29. 2016

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Not wanting to sit at home over Christmas break I started looking for someplace to go for a few days.  I just finished trips to Greece and northern Wisconsin but I still have the urge to get away, but not so far that I have to fly.  There are quite a number of close options; Bisti Badlands, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon and Canyon de Chelly to start.  My friend and hiking partner, Laurie came up with Sedona.  She has a hiking and cycling friend that lives there, Don, who is always looking for an excuse to hike.