In AZ:
Just outside (north of) Sedona is Oak Creek Canyon. Really pretty area, several campgrounds. The large one...forget the name right now..cave springs CG maybe...has been hammock friendly. Hike into west oak creek canyon, very cool hike right through the stream.
If you can work it out to hike down into the grand canyon. The rim is cool but it's a 7 out of 10 while the hike in and views from in the canyon are a 100.
I have trip reports for both.
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Yes, +100 on all of that! Sedona and West Fork Oak Creek are wonderful. I also loved to camp in the high semi-desert at about 4000 ft elevation just outside of Sedona, and quail hunt. Wonderful memories!Originally Posted by pgibson
Then go up to Flagstaff, maybe find Dejoha, or a ranger office and get FS maps and directions to Locket Meadow high above Flagstaff and hike in to the inner basin in the crater of the extinct Volcano, all on the east side of the San Francisco Peaks. And/or get directions to Hart Prairie on the west side and camp there.
Drive south of there to a place called either Bloody Basin ( have lots of water) to the west of the interstate or go east of the interstate to Payson and enjoy that or head south on 287/188 a place called Pumpkin(or Punkin) Center and keep going out to center of the Sonora desert in the area of the Superstition Wilderness and Wheeler's Needle and the Flying Dutchman.
It's endless, really.
Buy a national park pass to save on the park and monument entrance fees. Get an Indian Country highway map from AAA to show the region without the map cutting off at every state line. In the high country of Arizona (tree species show you the general elevation), the first big snow is usually near Thanksgiving. The winter weather often is a 6-8 day cycle of a day or two of cold front (snow up high, drizzle in the deserts), then several clear sunny days, then cirrus clouds on the day before the next storm. I bail out of my backpacking trips when I see the cirrus clouds. You could easily drive to lower elevations.
From Flagstaff in the winter time, go to the Grand Canyon via Cameron on the Page highway to avoid some of the snow, otherwise go the shorter route up over 8000', northwest on the state highways. Inside Grand Canyon National Park, from a few spots on West Rim Drive, look down a mile to barely see the Colorado River. Attend both a geology and a bird/condor lecture while in the park. Learn how a condor cools his feet.
Outside GCN Park is national forest with much cheaper, significantly less developed campgrounds, and free dispersed camping. Only if dirt roads are dry, on East Rim drive, somewhere near milepost 251, 252, or 253, there is a turnoff to a fire tower (East Rim Tower) outside the park, in the national forest. Outhouses at the fire tower, and free quiet camping in that area. Watch the side fencing on the dirt road to see where you soon leave the park. You could stay in the Park campground overnight to leave the rig then scout the national forest site. You can pay for showers in the nat. park without paying to camp.
Come out of GC Park to Cameron to the northbound highway, and continue north without taking the Tuba City cutoff going to Page. Note the mile marker when you first see the cliffs start on your right, they will continue for the next 50 miles, including a dozen? miles past the bridge over the Colorado river. Sometimes condors perch near the walking bridge. Just past that bridge, turn into Lee's Ferry (avoid the campground, windiest in the state) to dip your toe into the Colorado River and see the muddy Paria River (it's a creek) entering the clear river water. For dry camping elsewhere, get water from the faucet at the boat launch restrooms. Consider hiking down Cathedral Wash to the river. If you want some exercise, hike up the cliff on the Spencer Trail that starts beyond Spencer's sunken steamboat, past the end of the boat launch parking lot. Amazing views all the way up, ascending a thousand feet to the top. On top, do walk to the far side to look down into a horseshoe loop of the river, and see past the power plant in Page to Navajo Mountain in the distance.
There is a 17? mile dirt road (House Rock road) that goes to Utah just past the end of the Vermillion Cliffs. After 10 or more miles, it passes the Stateline Campground (dry camp, not even a faucet), and the Buckskin trailhead that feeds into the Paria River. Where the dirt road meets the paved Utah highway, is somewhat near where you get permits from the BLM for the Paria, Buckskin Canyon, and The Wave hikes.
From the Lee's Ferry area, backtrack to the Tuba City turnoff to get to Page, or continue west, stopping at the wide scenic lookout in the hairpin curves at the base of the climb to 7500+ feet elevation to Jacob Lake (North Rim closed from Oct 15 to May 15) then down to Fredonia AZ/Kanab Utah. Stop at the BLM's Vermillion Cliffs/Grand Staircase visitor center in Kanab. Backtrack east through Utah to Page to see Lake Powell, tour the dam, and pay to visit Antelope slot canyon out by the power plant. Google for the pictures of Antelope canyon to see why you would pay to visit there. It is on Navajo Reservation land, so your park pass doesn't work. Page Az has a WalMart to resupply.
Just north of Page is a wide spot in the road named Big Water, Utah. There is a plain building that houses some Grand Staircase Nat. Monument operation offices. Look at the single diorama there and visit with the staff. If Merle is working, by the time you leave, you will want to go back to school to be a paleontologist. In the old days, finding any dinosaur was a lifetime event for those in the field. Within the monument, they were finding a new specie per month, and many dinosaurs! To research for your trip, look for the Nat. Geographic magazine within the past year, that has a T-Rex looking dinosaur skeleton on the cover. That critter was dug up by those people. No, they do not have one that you can go dig up or even see or touch for yourself, kind of disappointing after that buildup.
You are now out of my territory, happy trails to you.
Last edited by heyyou; 11-05-2014 at 00:59.
More good info heyyou Thanks
I have been noting and researching all of the ideas so far and seem to be getting a plan together.
The wife asked me " are we just going to sit around"? When I show her the plan she will wish she could get a day to "sit"
I've been all over the sw this year vacationing. We went to 11 national parks. Mostly in Utah. Loved Bryce Canyon. The Flagstaff area of AZ was great. If you get a chance to come to TX hit up Big Bend if car camping; Guadalupe Mountains if you are going to backpack. There are way too many great places to mention them all here.
Just off of I-70
Goblin SP http://www.desertusa.com/gobut/du_gobut_vvc.html, to Capital Reef NP behind the visitors center is a nice slot canyon http://www.utah.com/hike/sulphur-creek-trail, if the roads are open take scenic Utah 12 http://www.scenicbyway12.com plenty of campgrounds to Bryce NP. Kodachrome close by to Bryce.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/uta...tate_park.html
Off to Zion NP must do walk the Narrows you can do the lower as a day hike but dress warm you will walking in the Virgin River at times.
http://www.citrusmilo.com/zionguide/narrowsday.cfm
Last edited by arczeneb; 11-09-2014 at 21:48.
+1 on Grand Canyon. Hiked the Tanner Trail last year at Thanksgiving. Foot and a half of snow. Also hiked out during this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...henomenon.html
Absolutely incredible and hard to beat for a first time Canyon trip.
"Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory"
- Ed Viesturs
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