Skip to main content

Salton Sea Road Trip - Arizona Strip

We are used to taking a long vacation every year and I have to say it was tough taking two weeks off with no where to go.  Well, no where is not really an accurate description.  We actually chose to go to the middle of nowhere Arizona, Utah and California.  The goal was to stay away from populated areas and stay heathy.  We booked Air BnBs in the cities of St. George, Joshua Tree, Kanab and Moab and cooked all our meals. We had the RTIC cooler in the Jeep filled with lunches, the Stanley and an extra two gallons of emergency water for our daily excursions.

St George, Utah was base camp for Parashant National Monument in the Arizona Strip for three days of off roading to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  In preparation of the Arizona Strip exploration I ordered a BLM map that included secondary roads in the area.  Each night I plotted our course for the next day.  The first part of each day was to travel across the Arizona border, which was like six miles from the Air BnB. We did three trips out into the high desert; Toroweep Overlook, Twin Point Overlook and Grand Gulch Mine. 

Camera: Fuji Film XT3


Toroweep Overlook was fairly popular trail and we saw a lot of Jeeps.  The dirt road for the first 90 miles was not too bad but the last six miles was rocky and only passable by 4 wheel drive.  We made it and were rewarded with an epic view of the canyon and the Colorado river below.  



For the Twin Point Overlook we drove down the same BLM roads as the day before but with a few turn offs. A quick stop at an abandoned shack and Erich lost his phone.  We think he left it on the hood of the Jeep, well it is gone for sure, there will be no finding it on 60 miles of dirt roads.  We stopped looking and proceeded to the route. On this road we only saw two other vehicles. We drove to the edge of the canyon again, but this time we got to see an expansive view.  A few more miles down the trail we came to the end.  We were the only ones there, it was our Grand Canyon for the day!


Grand Gulch Mine was our last trail in the Arizona Strip. The trail took us to Pigeon Canyon through dried up washes and red rock mesas to the old copper mine.  Super cool place with abandoned buildings and mining equipment. Back on the trail to St. George I got a text from the host of the AirBnb we were staying at, she was worried about us.  We didn't have cell service all day.  Apparently, we goofed up the booking and we should have checked out. She thought we were lost in the back country, called the cops in St George and in Thornton. We got it all sorted and she gave us another night at no charge.







Labels:
Location: Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Littlefield, AZ 86432, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lake Atitlan - Guatemala

Lake Atitlan is surrounded by many villages, in which Maya culture is still prevalent and traditional dress is worn. The Maya people of Atitlán are predominantly Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel. The Maya weave textiles and each group has their own pattern. Santiago Atitlán is the largest of the lakeside communities, and is noted for its worship of Maximón, an idol formed by the fusion of traditional Mayan deities, Catholic saints and conquistador legends. The institutionalized effigy of Maximón is under the control of a local religious brotherhood and resides in various houses of its membership during the course of a year, being most ceremonially moved in a grand procession during Semana Santa.    Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_de_Atitlán The rain was starting to let up as we walked through a maze of cobblestone alleyways to the house of Maximón. The courtyard was was thick with the smoke of incense and the light drizzle of rain collected on the blue plastic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arches - Utah

Put on your coat, gloves and fuzzy hat because Utah is cold in the winter. Arches National Park is 119 square miles of over 2000 iron oxide rich, red rock arches at roughly 5000 feet above sea level, just minutes outside of Moab, Utah. We stayed at a cute, old western themed hotel in the center of town. Santa was driving a covered wagon in front of the bunkhouse style exterior aglow with holiday lights. The tiny room was equipped with a mini kitchenette and knotty pine paneled walls and furniture. Very comfortable and warm!! http://www.moabredstone.com We missed a winter storm a few days earlier, which left a dusting of snow on the monumental weathered rock formations, revealing depth and contrast to the otherwise predominately red landscape. Driving up the paved passage into the park, Park Avenue is the first formations you see and a little further is the Courthouse Towers viewpoint. Bundled up like an Eskimo, I rolled out of the car and waddled around the ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grand Teton and Yellowstone - Wyoming!

The second road trip of the year we headed to northern Wyoming to visit the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.  We stayed in Colter Bay, a village in the Grand Tetons, renting a rustic cabin for 4 nights.  This was the home base for our adventures of exploration in the parks. We had a bit of weather the first two days, after all it is Wyoming and you always have to be prepared for anything.  It was quite cold, around the lower 40s in the day time , cloudy and rainy.  We bring our 'Wyoming Bag' on every road trip (gloves, beanies, and 32 degree jackets). This is not great weather for photography, but we pushed through. We brought the IR converted Lumix cameras just for fun. We did some cool stuff in infrared in the Badlands two weeks ago and wanted to keep the trend going.   Camera: FujiFilm XT5, Lumix LX 100, iPhone  Grand Tetons in Infrared  We started the trip in Cody, Wyoming over the weekend intending to avoid the weekenders in the parks.  We strol...
Post a Comment
Read more