Visiting Iconic Horseshoes & Cathedrals

As the calendar flipped into September, I suddenly realized that I only had a few weeks in southern Utah...and I'd not yet visited any of the surrounding iconic places that I'd vowed to see before leaving.  Time for some quick road trips!

My first trip was an overnight tent camping trip up to Capitol Reef National Park, three hours northeast of Bryce along the stunningly gorgeous Utah Highway 12.

Off-Roading to Canyonlands, Part II

Looking at Canyonlands National Park’s Island of the Sky District from the mesa-top is a breathtaking and frustrating experience all at the same time.  Breathtaking for the vast Colorado and Green river canyons that envelop the mesa from both sides—each a “canyon within a canyon”, and each appearing even larger than the Grand Canyon.

But frustrating too—one never seems close enough to get a really good look at these canyons when looking at them from the mesa-top.  I remember that same feeling during my previous visit in 1998, and also remember watching with envy as Jeeps as small as Matchbox cars went crawling down a curvy, steep dirt road to get into the canyon.

It may have taken me 16 years, but on this visit, I finally got to drive this road and experience Canyonlands below the mesa-top.

Off-Roading to Canyonlands, Part I

Moab is home to some of the most radical and difficult 4-wheel-drive Jeep trails in the U.S.  With trail names such as Cliff Hanger, Hell’s Revenge, and Metal Masher, it’s no wonder the trails provoke a rush of testosterone from every young male with a comically-oversized Jeep who reads about them, and more rational “forgeddaboutit” decision-making from everyone else. 

It had been over a year since my little yellow Tracker had done some off-roading, so I was eager to find a few easier (sane) trails to explore.  There looked to be a few around Canyonlands National Park, and since this was Suzanne’s next park to check off her bucket list, we decided to take a few trips to the park via dirt backroads rather than the paved highway.

First up was Gemini Bridges Trail, an easy 13 1/2 mile 4WD road that connects Moab’s main Hwy 191 to scenic Hwy 313 running through Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky district.

 

B = Big Bend’s Bluebonnets and Backroads

My RVing friend Suzanne (TakeToTheHighway.com) and I rolled our Winnies into Big Bend National Park on a gray and blustery Sunday afternoon in mid-March for a week’s stay in this vast park well off the beaten path.  For such a giant park, there are only 2 roads that get you in and out, and the park is anywhere from 120 to 150 miles to the nearest town with a full-service grocery store (Alpine, TX).  Verizon cell service starts vanishing about 30 miles before you enter the park, so we prepared and expected to be “off the grid” this particular week.

 
We arrived to our campsites in Rio Grande Village, on the far southeast corner of the park, as clouds were beginning to lift and the lower elevation also brought warmer temps too!  The campsites here were beneath the shade of bright Spring green mesquite and cottonwood trees—a literal oasis from the ocean of desert browns that surround it for hundreds of miles!

I’d have 2 campsites this week—starting across the green common area from Suzanne’s site, and later moving to the site next to her.  We found that site being occupied by fellow View-Navion owners, Sara and Charlie from Connecticut, who are on a grand loop tour of the US and Alaska this year.  Always a thrill to get to meet and camp with other “Skinnie Winnies”!

Since the campsites did not have hookups, we all just parked with our windshields facing towards the lush green common area.  We later discovered that Rio Grande Village was quite a bit more stocked and comfy than we thought it was going to be—we had a nice, free dump station nearby to get water or dump tanks if needed, and a great camp store just down the road that offered free Wi-Fi, basic groceries and supplies, fuel, and even propane (I had been unable to find propane in Alpine and was very relieved to not have to drive 150 miles to Fort Stockton to get my motorhome tank refilled!).

As we drove along the park roads the next day, we saw more signs of Spring in the lower elevations—bluebonnets and other wildflowers were in full bloom and just gorgeous!

My little yellow Tracker had not been for an off-road drive since our trip to Arizona two winters ago, so I was itching to try one of Big Bend’s fun 4WD roads.  I happened to see a postcard at the Visitor’s Center of an interesting watering hole that was not too far from the campground along a 4WD route, so that was our first morning’s destination.

It was a little over 5 miles up the 4WD-only Old Ore Road to get to the trailhead for the Ernst Tinaja.  According to the park brochures, a “Tinaja” is Spanish for an “earthen water jar”, or more accurately, a pothole within a stone bed that holds water.  While many other tinajas in the park tend to only have water right after rain storms, the Ernst Tinaja is one that tends to have water all year.

Suzanne likes to describe me as a photographer who hikes a trail to get to a good photo subject, while she is a hiker who happens to take a few photos along a really good trail.  Fair assessment! Our trail to the Ernst Tinaja was short and fairly easy—not much of a hiking challenge but sure a pretty photo destination on this sunny morning!

The canyon cut through hundreds of thin layers of limestone (some almost paper thin!).

The layers were fun to climb to get up above the tinaja for a better view.

Just as advertised, the Ernst tinaja was full of water—what a gorgeous sight in this dry river of rock!

Another interesting spot was just upstream of the tinaja where a portion of one of the canyon walls had folded and warped into a bizarre pattern next to a small walk-in “cave”.  What fun this was to explore!

After our short hike, we decided to go ahead and drive the remaining 20 miles of Old Ore road.  How hard could it be, right?  Well, parts of the road weren’t too difficult, but other sections made me very grateful to have a capable, low-gear rock-crawling Tracker rather than just an all-wheel-drive SUV! In a couple of spots, we had to actually get out and pile a few rocks together to level out some of the deeper spots so we could continue driving!

But we did manage to find some pretty plants along the way, like these Spanish Dagger yuccas, white desert primrose, and prickly pear cactus.

While the first 13 miles of the trail were fun and enjoyable, the last 13 miles got a bit redundant and took much longer than we thought.  It ended up taking us over 3 hours to drive the full 26 mile road and, by that point, we were both pretty ecstatic to finally see pavement again in front of the trailhead sign!

But honestly, doesn’t that Tracker look like it’s smiling just a little bit?!!!

 

 

Heading to Higher Ground

Arizona is one of the few places where you can nearly always find a comfortable temperature without leaving the state.  As Tucson and Phoenix’s forecasts were starting to climb well into the 90’s, it was time to start looking for higher ground!  I wanted to visit the Apache-Sitgraeve area around Show Low, but the weather there was still a bit too cold.  Checking the forecast around Prescott and Sedona, however, showed a string of perfect days in the 70’s.  So, Millie and I headed north!

I stayed in Prescott Valley for the first five days as the unlimited $15/night Passport-America rate at the Fairgrounds RV Park was just too good to pass up (it even included free WiFi, what a treat!). 

I had visited the Prescott area briefly last winter and remembered driving past a lake that looked like it’d be awesome to paddle in warmer weather.  So on Easter Sunday, I did just that.  Watson Lake is one of two lakes in Prescott that are in the midst of a red rock area.  Watson is a bit smaller than Willow Lake and seemed more popular with kayakers, so I headed there.

It was a terrific lake to explore!  Lots of little nooks and a few rocky islands to paddle around… and I even saw a bald eagle!

After doing up Prescott, I wanted to move to the northern side of the Mingus mountain range to even prettier places—Cottonwood and Sedona.  I had spent a weekend there last winter and knew I had only scratched the surface of all there was to explore. 

I was eager to do some more boondocking after staying in campgrounds and RV parks so many weeks, and I lucked into a phenomenal BLM site a few miles east of Cottonwood near the Thousand Trails RV resort.  I had a terrific view of the Mingus mountains and Cottonwood to the south, with Sedona’s red rocks off in the distance to the north….what a view out my “office window”!
 

I even watched a small rain shower roll over the moutains one afternoon and make it’s way across the valley:

Just before sunset each evening, I’d take the Tracker for a drive up to the Sedona area.  One night, I drove the trails out beyond Dry Creek Rd where all the tourist jeeps go:

The next night, I drove the main tourist route from Oak Creek into Sedona and really lucked out with spectacular lighting (and even a rainbow!).  This area really should have been a National Park—it’s just jaw-dropping gorgeous!

Alas, all good things must come to an end.  A big cold front was moving into the area and bringing some thundershowers with it.  Time to move back down to lower ground!   Also time to finally leave beautiful Arizona and start making our way back home to Chicago.

Exploring the Safford Area (Roper Lake State Park)

Having been locked in Tucson for the last 4 weeks while Millie got her radiation treatments, now that her paw was starting to heal, I think we were both ready to get out of town for a few days and see something new.

Millie had a follow-up appointment with the vet in a few days, so we couldn’t go too far, but I wanted to find somewhere we’d not been to before.  After some searching online, I found that Roper Lake State Park had some sites available and was only about 2 hours from Tucson.  As a bonus, as the name implies, it also had a lake that I was eager to paddle!

The first night was hot, still and made for a lovely sunset:

The next day predicted strong winds in the afternoon and a cold front after that.  So, a morning paddle it was going to be.  Millie and I jumped in the Sea Eagle and set off to see the lake.  The tallest mountain on the horizon, Mt. Graham, still had snow at it’s peak.  Turns out, this mountain is actually even taller (at 10,700 ft) than Mt. Lemmon (9100 ft) that towers over Tucson!


We had a terrific campsite overlooking the lake:

After our boat trip, we headed back to the rig for some lunch and to rest awhile.  I found a 4WD road nearby that looked interesting and thought that might be more fun than sitting in the View once the afternoon winds picked up (it can really “rock and roll”!).

Just as we were ready to head out, I saw a few other campers walk past my site and I started smelling campfire smoke (even though all my windows were shut and the A/C was on).  When I opened the door, I saw what all the commotion was about—the high winds had started a brush fire across the road from the State Park, probably less than a mile from my campsite!

I considered staying home to quickly move the RV if necessary, but considering that there was a lake between us and winds were blowing the fire away from us, I decided to proceed with our 4WD outing.  As I got up to the front entrance to the park, though, I could see tall flames getting closer to the park--- YIKES!

We drove out to BLM land about 10 miles northeast of Safford, to a off-road trail called the Black Hills Back Country Byway.  It was well-graded, so no need to slip the Tracker into 4-wheel drive, but it was still fun to get off the pavement and kick up a little dust!

The road climbed quickly into the Black Hills overlooking the desert floor below.

Some nice views from up there as we got nearly level to the buttes in the distance.

The higher elevation also meant more wildflowers in bloom (the desert valley had been dry and lacking much color).

As we climbed higher, we began to view the western valley and mountains.  This particular stretch seemed completely untouched and natural.

But a few more miles, showed an area the government had apparently leased out for strip mining operations.  Nice, I guess, that they keep it well-hidden from most of the general public.

As we descended back down into the valley, we came across a bright green oasis of cottonwoods along the banks of the Gila River.  Spring was certainly starting to “spring” here!

As we arrived back to Roper Lake, we saw a number of fire trucks and emergency vehicles blocking the highway beyond the State Park entrance.  The wildfire had apparently jumped over the road and did indeed burn up a few dozen acres of the state park going all the way up to the lake shore.  But the fire crew was now there keeping a watchful eye on any smoldering remains.  Thankfully, none of the lake’s water fowl or any campground RVs were harmed!



We stayed on a few more days at the park so I could work. The little town of Safford seemed like the biggest town in the whole east-central region of Arizona and had just enough of the basics to meet my needs—a laundromat and a Wal-Mart!