4/9/12 - Pipe Springs NM

Driving across the Arizona Strip to our next RV park, we drove right by Pipe Spring National Monument.  I'd called the Visitor Center weeks before to ask if there was parking available for big trailers.  I was assured it was no problem.  I reassured George several times that we'd be able to park the RV!

An oasis in the desert near the Vermilion Cliffs, the monument is part of the National Park Service.  I was a little confused by the sign to the the Visitor Center--it's an unexpected joint effort between the NPS and the Kaibab Bank of Paiute Indians. 

The Paiutes lived in the area for hundreds of years.  These are examples of their dwellings, or kahns.

The museum has some cool Paiute artwork.

In 1871 Mormon pioneers built a ranch/fort, called Winsor Castle, over the springs.  We went on the tour to see how the settlers lived.

 

Look closely at this settee to see how it opens out to form the original Hide-a-bed!

Outside are replicas of stuff you'd find on an old ranch. I liked the Longhorn cattle. 

Check out the link for more pictures:  Pipe Springs NM

4/8/12 – Wahweap & Horseshoe Bend

The weather had been lousy for the last few days--lots of wind and even some rain--so there were a couple of "must see" places for the last day in Page. 

First we headed north back across the Glen Canyon Dam to Wahweap on Lake Powell.  If you squint, you can see the bridge across the canyon and the dam. 

Wahweap Marina is in the other direction.  It looks like a city of the biggest house boats you'll ever see!!!  And they're definitely NOT in our budget!

Next stop was back across the dam to the Horseshoe Bend outlook south of Page.  When you get to the parking lot, you'd never guess there was a river nearby--all you can see is a trail of people heading off across the desert!

It’s a ½ mile hike out to the canyon which lets you get lots of sand in your shoes.  At the start of the trail, there’s a cautionary sign that tells you there are no guardrails and the rocks aren’t stable.   (I could already tell that acrophobia might become an issue.) 

There were lots of wildflowers along the way.  In order:  Canagre Dock, Scorpionweed, Desert Dandelion.  And, no, I didn't know what they were when I took their little pictures.  Well, I did say that the yellow one looked like a dandelion--I was a bit surprised when I found out that it was!

Acrophobia--which I prefer to define as "extreme caution in high places"--works a lot like guardrails, except there’s nothing to hold on to.  I sat down, then crawled a little closer, but not as close as the woman in the 2nd picture.   It’s a long, long way down! 

George was a lot braver than I was.

AND he got better pictures!

Click on the link for more pictures of Wahweap:  Wahweap
Then click on this link for more pics of Horseshoe Bend:  Horseshoe Bend 

4/7/12 – Cathedral Wash Trail

We'd taken a leisurely walk at Lee's Canyon but I wanted something a little more interesting. The ranger told us the Cathedral Canyon trail was considered a Class 3 hike.  That means there's a moderate scramble across rocks and some climbing, but you don't need ropes.  I wouldn't know what to do with a rope if I found one anyway.  (George heard "moderate". )

The old trailhead was pretty crumbly, so we walked down the road to find a better place to go down. The wash starts off sandy and wide, but quickly narrows.  The cliff walls are layers of Navajo sandstone and other rocks.

Sometimes you have to climb up on the rock wall to continue. 

Sometimes it's really narrow, and there are water tanks you have to go around. 

Sometimes you walk back down in the wash.

Sometimes you go under great big rocks or overhanging ledges.  (This part was easier for me than for the big tall guy.)

At one point, we were walking along a ledge on the wall, and it got pretty scary.  We couldn't figure out which way to go.  There was another couple in front of us, and I figured if they could do it, we could too.  The fact that they were 30 years younger was irrelevant.  (George would have been perfectly willing to turn back then, but I just kept going on.  Isn't it wonderful that he followed me?  After all, he had the truck keys...)

 

There's one place where there's a 30' drop for a waterfall, which was thankfully dry this time of year.  You have to go down, then around.  (Oh, did I mention I'm afraid of heights?)

At the end of the trail is the Colorado River. 

Of course, eventually we had to turn around and go back up the canyon.  I'd built a few little cairns so we could tell where to go up and down, and most of the time we found them.  Remember the 30' waterfall?  Once we'd climbed back up, we got the water bottles out of the pack.  I dropped the lid to mine...and it bounced all the way to the bottom!  (Of course I had to climb back down to get it--it was the Panasonic bottle I got when I retired--besides people, one of the few positive momentos I got from there!)

Now George knows the difference between a walk and a hike.  And since we handled this one successfully, I should be able to talk him into more hikes.  See you on the trail!

Altho I've probably included most of the good pictures here, you can see larger pictures of Cathedral Canyon by following this link and running the slideshow:  Cathedral Canyon hike