2nd trip report

Tuesday August 9th

I wake up, Shower, go to the traditional free motel breakfast… My fellow diners are a mix of travelers from all over the world… a clean cut young kid in a suit (Mormon missionary??) is speaking Spanish to a family from Peru… Americans speaking the language of others, in America… It’s a wonderful thing to see.

Back to the room, pack up, a final email check, then off for Grand Canyon.

There are a couple of ways to get to the north rim… Most tourist probably go via Zion, and the tunnel and Kabab Utah. This time I took the more southerly road… through Pipe spring and Fredonia. I wanted to stop at Pipe Springs, an historic site, and a National Monument. I was surprised at how well the park service did at Pipe Springs… there is a nice visitors center, Shared with the local Piute tribe,
Pipe springs was a tithing ranch for the Mormon Church… It was run as a commercial ranch, making cheese and butter, as well as being a station on the desert telegraph. Members of the church would occasionally pay their tithes in cattle. Those cattle might end up at Pipe Springs… Church members would be sent there to work (for pay) or occasionally would work there as their tithe. The main building is a fortified ranch house, built over the spring. There are a couple of outbuildings, as well as gardens, some animals, and a nice short trail along the rim rock.

It took an organization like the church to establish a ranch like this in such a remote place… Yet the park service seems to want to steer away from the Mormon story… They are comfortable saying they were Mormons, but don’t discuss the churches organization and how it made this place… They are very good at preserving the site, discussing the Piute history, talking about overgrazing, but not the church.

Also, because they are the park service, the museum side of things (how objects are marked and documented, what objects they have, what paint color they chose, and interpretive signage is very good, but as the park service they also need certain security systems, more appropriate for an urban environment. You can only enter the building with a ranger, but they still have ropes across doorways.

Leaving Pipe Springs I continue east, towards the Grand Canyon… along the way I pass through Fredonia Arizona… They have a gas station, so I stop… their sign says Lotto, Ammo, Guns, Beer… I buy the t-shirt.

30 miles later I reach Jacob Lake, and the turnoff for the park… Its 40 some miles to the rim… most through recently burned forest. Soon after I pass the park entrance gate I encounter a herd of Bison… they cross the road headed east, then cross the road again headed west… (for what it is worth, Bison are not native to Arizona… they were imported as breeding stock, and are now owned by the state… I guess they make the tourists happy)

I continue, find my camp site, put up the tent, then take the trail along the rim to the lodge… I encounter the first of many deer along the way.

The lodge is a typical western National Park building… local, large spaces, logs for roof rafters… it was designed by the same architect who designed the Awannie Hotel in Yosemite. There are no accommodations in the main building, instead there are cabins surrounding it, with a few newer motel style units.

I buy a beer in the bar and sit in the grand lobby and look at the canyon while drinking it. There are three fires in or near the park, two on the south side, one on the North… All caused by lighting. You can see the south side fires from the lodge… the north side fire is visible from the road as I walk back to the camp ground. There is a road through the fire, with remains open… I will likely drive it tomorrow.

Back to camp, I deal with my feet… the Vasculitus stuff is making them peal, , subject to blisters and cracking, and I do still have some wounds. I clean them up, and apply Band-Aids as needed… I make dinner, then go back to the lodge to watch the sun go down… By now the fire has reached the ridge on the mesa across from the lodge, and is burning down the face… with flames visible. It is a spectacular spectacle… The Park Service has an Information officer, a fire fighter, and a volunteer answering questions… they have quickly made up information panels… They are doing a good job.

With darkness fast gaining hold I return to my camp site, and build a roaring fire… I sit in relative darkness and watch the stars overhead. I observe my fellow campers… They are a vaired bunch with very different camping styles…

The next morning I awake, throw a couple of logs on the fire, make coffee, bacon, and bake biscuits in a dutch oven… I burn the bottoms a bit, but all is good… While packing I hear a commotion and find that a Kabab squirrel is in the camp… He is hyperactive, quite shy, but I get a couple of photos… I break camp, load up, and am off by 7:30 to explore the neighboring mesa (the one on fire)

There is a 16 mile drive out to the end of the mesa… it passes through areas burned last week… there are hot spots visible from the road… In most areas the fire only burned the underbrush, but there were some areas where it crowned and burned everything.

While out at the point of the mesa I see a California Condor… I get one decent photo.
I leave the Grand Canyon and drive towards Monument Valley and Mexican Hat… The drive takes me along the Vermillion Cliffs, across the Navaho bridge at the head of the Grand Canyon, through Page Arizona, then across the top of the Navaho Reservation before heading north into Utah.

I go to the visitor’s center at the Monument Valley, Navajo Tribal Park… the view is good but the visitor’s center is undergoing construction, and the site was overwhelmed with tourist… The road through the park was bumper to bumper so I skipped it… I have done it before.

Mexican Hat is about 20 miles away, along the San Juan River… It’s typical marginal desert town with 4 or so motels, and the Swinging Stake… Internationally known… I have the 18 oz rib eye… It was great. The town is surrounded by red rock... there are paths down to the river... This town is growing on me.

Now back at the motel… trying to get on line reliably… So far my email web browser and the satellite connection are fighting with each other. With luck I will post this update, but photos may be beyond the connection’s abilities.