10/14/12 – West Fork Trail Hike

You never know when or where you’ll meet a new friend.  We went to Ace Hardware last week, and started talking to an employee, comparing notes about retirement and travel.  John invited us to go on a hike on the West Fork of Oak Creek with him and his wife Mary.  Between us, George and I’ll talk to everybody! 

The West Fork Trail is a popular one—especially in autumn—so you need to get there early to get a parking place.  We met at 8:30; George had to get up earlier than he has in quite a while!  It's good for him occasionally.

 

 












Near the start of the trail is where the Mayhew Lodge used to be.  It burned in 1980, so there’s not a lot left there.

We just naturally split up with Mary and I usually taking the lead.  Apparently we can walk, talk AND take pictures.  The trees are ablaze with the sound of music.  Um, no, wait!  I don’t think that’s quite right…anyway, the trees were real pretty. 

So were the canyon walls.

 Saw some interesting fungi too. 

 

We seemed to be doing a do-si-do with a woman who was taking as many pictures as we were.  Eventually we got to talking about more than just colored leaves.  Turned out she had been an avionics engineer; now she’s a medium.  (After working at PAC, I knew avionics is a stressful industry, but that’s quite a career change!)

The trail is 3 miles long.  You cross the shallow creek several times, on rocks if your balance is good.  About halfway in, John and George decided to wait for us at an overlook while Mary and I continued on to the end of the trail.  Actually, you can go farther down (up?) the canyon, but you have to wade.  We went as far as we could on dry land but since we didn’t want to get our feet wet, we turned around back to wake up the guys.

Hope we can do this again!

Click link for more pics of the hike

 

10/1/12 – Catstair Canyon Hike

The ranger at Glen Canyon Dam recommended this hike.  He said it was one of his favorite hikes.  We weren’t terribly impressed…

 

It's a short drive to GSENM (Grand Staircase-Escalante Natl Monument).  Once you find the right guardrail on the right curve, just open the gate and drive through, the trail goes right up the Catstair Canyon wash.  (Don't forget to close the gate.)



When you actually get to the canyon, there are lots of petroglyphs and pictographs up on one section of the wall. 

Some pop out; some are really hard to see.   Some have been obscured, and some are just plain grafitti.

  

My favorite was the deer reflected in water, but you need to know what it’s supposed to be and then use your imagination a bit.  I have a really good imagination. 

There were some flowers I hadn't seen before alongside the trail, so of course I took pictures.  Don't have a clue what it is, but I like it!

 It was a mighty short hike.

 Click to view a few more pictures of the Catstair Canyon hike 

9/23/12 - Grand Canyon NP (North Rim)

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon gets only 10% of the visitors that the South Rim does.  We were at the South Rim last November.  Let the crowds go south--we headed to the North Rim!

It's about 10 miles across the canyon, "as the crow flies", though I've never seen one fly a straight line.  By road, it's 215 miles; not a lot of bridges across the Colorado River. The North Rim is about 1,000 feet higher so it's cooler than the South Rim.  And I think it's a lot prettier.  (Of course, that could be because there are fewer people and you can actually see it--see paragraph 1.)

The approach to the park is through open range and a high meadow surrounded by forest.  Various signs warn to be on the lookout for cattle, elk, deer and bison (only they're not buffalo--it's a beefalo herd...which we also didn't see).  I think we saw a cow or two, but none of the good stuff. 

After checking out the Visitor Center, we headed out behind the Lodge to Bright Angel Point.  If anybody asks, it's really a long way down! 





While we were having our picnic, I saw a condor looking for his own lunch.  Just imagine a really ugly bird with a 9 foot wingspan flying in lazy loopy circles cruising for carrion.  George thinks it was a raven.  It was a condor!!!  But I didn't get a good picture.

We took the Scenic Drive to Cape Royal.  There's a little detour to Angels Window--check out the Colorado River through the window!  The trail leads right out to the top of the arch. 

We stopped at Walhalla Overlook, and waited for a rain squall to go past.  It was definitely worth the wait!

From the Vista Encantada overlook, you're supposed to be able to see all the way to the Painted Desert.  Of course, it requires a clear day, which we definitely didn't have.  The vibrant red canyon walls are from iron oxides.  (Since we've been on our trip, I've decided that half the country is rusting away--and the other half is blowing away!  See it while you still can!)

We ended at Point Imperial--this is the highest viewpoint at the Grand Canyon.  Even without bright sun and blue skies, I really liked this one.

 Link to more pics of the North Rim