Sarah’s Grad and Northern Arizona Trek - May 2013

4 days
3 nights
791 miles by truck
110 miles by boat
324 digital images
1 Master’s Degree celebration
1 Slot Canyon
1 Natural Bridge
1 Vintage Mary Colter designed hotel
1 Mother’s Day
Priceless!

With my daughter Sarah’s graduation from ASU with a Master’s in Clinical Speech Pathology, my parents made the trek down from Canada to celebrate the achievement. Considering that Mother’s Day would be over the weekend, a road trip was in order

Friday May 10th
11am to 3pm Sarah’s grad @ ASU
3pm drive from Ahwatukee to Flagstaff – 161 miles, 2hrs 26min per Google Maps
Fairfield Inn Flagstaff, 2005 South Milton Road, Flagstaff, AZ – Confirmation #85054171 & 85054171
5pm – 9:30pm Lowell Observatory 2nd Friday Science Night, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, Arizona
ASU Clinical Speech Pathology http://shs.asu.edu/pg-mas
Marriott Fairfield Inn, Flagstaff AZ http://www.fairfieldinnflagstaff.com/
Lowell Observatory http://www.lowell.edu/
Beaver Street Brewery http://beaverstreetbrewery.com/

After Sarah’s graduation ceremony held at Wells Fargo Arena on the ASU main campus, friends and family gathered at our Ahwatukee home for some good eats and an opportunity to personally congratulate Sarah. As the day wound down, it was time to head out on a road trip to Northern Arizona to take in some sights my parents only thought they could view through other people’s photographs. First destination – Flagstaff AZ to catch the “2nd Friday Evening Event” at Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill. The evening event was just about to wrap-up when we arrived 9-ish, but we still were able to walk the grounds and see the various telescope installations. Checked into the Marriott Fairfield Inn – rooms were scarce since NAU grad ceremonies were also on this weekend! Had time for a late evening stroll to Beaver Street Brewery – a Flagstaff visit requirement…



Saturday May 11th
8am drive from Flagstaff to Page AZ – 192 miles, 3hrs 15min per Google Maps (note Hwy89 closed at Echo Cliffs)
Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas, 100 Lakeshore Drive, Page, AZ 86040 - Confirmation # 80002356H
Upper and/or Lower Antelope Slot Canyon guided or self-guided hike
Mars Hill http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=921
Hwy 89A Kachina homage http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=274911
Tuba City Dinosaur Tracks http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=1042
Upper Antelope Canyon http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=763
Glen Canyon Dam Overlook http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=409
Horseshoe Bend Overlook http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=410
Wahweap Marina Walk – Glen Canyon NRA http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=17716
Lake Powell Resort & Marina http://www.lakepowell.com/accommodation ... tions.aspx
Big John’s Texas BBQ, Page AZ http://visitpagearizona.com/activities/ ... beque.html

After our complimentary breakfast at the Flagstaff Marriott Fairfield Inn, we checked out and returned to Lowell Observatory to trek around the grounds in daylight – quite the contrast from the previous evening’s “stumble in the dark”… We met “Big John” performing some of the morning chores around Lowell and he invited us into the Pluto Observatory for a private tour prior to the official visitor opening at 9am. “Big John” was a fount of information giving us the history of the site, including all the construction obstacles and the competitive nature of the academics in the race to discover planets in their predicted mathematical location. Once we’d had our fill of astronomy, we hit the road towards Page AZ. After an obligatory stop at my favorite Kachina site http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=338650 (kicking myself that I failed to take a geocoded photo with my iPhone), we bounced our way up Highway 89 towards the detour around the sinkhole (check out http://www.azdot.gov/us89/ and http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... lapse.html ), via Hwy 160 through Tuba City to Hwy 98 near Cow Springs to approach Page AZ from the SE. This detour easily adds another hour onto your drive from Flagstaff to Page. We elected to do the Upper Antelope Slot Canyon tour rather than the Lower Slot Canyon, only because of the flat terrain. I recalled multiple ladders and rock butt slides when exploring the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon. Our Navajo Guide, Frankie, was full of facts about the canyon formation and pointed out the mostly unnoticed features within the slot canyon. Unexpectedly, Frankie is quite the digital photo buff and helped set up shots for most of the visitors. He knew my Canon cameras beyond any of my abilities. After Antelope Canyon we drifted into town to find a late lunch/early dinner joint – Big John’s Texas BBQ fit the bill. We checked into our rooms at the Lake Powell Resort and Marina (NPS Annual Pass came in handy once again to gain entrance into the Wahweap section of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area), freshened up prior to some sunset exploration around Glen Canyon Dam and Horseshoe Bend Overlook.



Sunday May 12th
7:30am to 1pm boat tour to Rainbow Bridge – confirmation # 80002356O
2pm drive from Page AZ to Winslow AZ via Hopi Lands – 241 miles, 4hrs 22min per Google Maps
La Posada Hotel, 303 E 2nd St, Winslow, AZ 86047 - Confirmation#72185 for Rm115, #72184 for Rm125
7:30pm Mother’s Day dinner reservation at Turquoise Room in La Posada per Jonny
Lake Powell boat tour to Rainbow Bridge http://www.lakepowell.com/play/tours/bo ... idge-.aspx
Rainbow Bridge via Lake Powell http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=16011
Walpi Hopi Village http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=32451 and http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=15635
La Posada Walking Tour http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=17717
Turquois Room http://www.theturquoiseroom.net/ Mother’s Day, 3 people, $235 including tip…

Mother’s Day – Up at dawn to catch an early breakfast and check out of our hotel rooms prior to boarding our Rainbow Bridge tour boat at 7am http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=338686 . Besides our Captain’s Derek and Theresa, I think I may have been the only other Arizona resident on that boat that day. Had a chance to chat with visitors from France, Germany, and England – many who had seen the bridge on previous vacations. Interesting that there was instant recognition by our fellow boaters – we all were on the Upper Antelope Canyon trek the day before and were all staying Saturday evening at the Lake Powell Resort! I failed to note the time extension for the tour “The Castle Rock Cut is currently closed due to low lake levels. This tour will last approximately 7 - 7.5 hours total.” Hopefully this won’t impact our 7:30pm dinner reservation at the Turquoise Room in Winslow AZ… The lower lake levels also tacked on an additional half mile for the hike to Rainbow Bridge (hope I didn’t burn out my parents’ wheels tackling Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend the day before). Mission accomplished http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=338832 . Upon returning to Wahweap Marina, we grabbed some cold refreshments and jumped in my F-150 for the backcountry tour through Navajo and Hopi Lands. Didn’t have enough time to stop at Coal Mine Canyon ( http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=980 ), but we did have just enough for a drive-by of Old Oraibi and Walpi on the Hopi mesas. We arrived at La Posada in Winslow before 6:30pm – plenty of time to freshen up prior to another gastronomic gem served up by Chef John in the Turquoise Room http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=338695 and http://www.theturquoiseroom.net/_blog/A ... _McClendon’s_farm_prepare_for_Mother's_Day_Special_Event/ . After dinner we had a chance to explore the eclectic La Posada then sit out back to do some trainspotting…


Monday May 13th
8am drive from Winslow AZ to Ahwatukee via Mogollon RIm – 183 miles, 3hrs 16min per Google Maps
La Posada Walking Tour http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=17717

Mother’s Day – The Day After… Gathered at 8am in the Turquoise Room for morning breakfast (don’t know where I found the space for breakfast after that huge Sunday meal) and a daylight stroll around the hotel grounds before taking the Hwy 87/Mogollon Rim route home through Payson.



More photos to follow...

Took the tour boat up. Headed to the Bridge and talked with a ranger. We distracted the crowd and headed upcanyon (with the ranger's blessing) to Echo Camp. Brian had never been there before, but Megan and myself had, so this side trip was our idea. We poked around the camp (lots of frogs!) and then booked it back down to the boat. We made it back with literally one minute to spare. Phew!
The Bridge is visible from the boat at the dock, and water is almost under the Bridge. Maybe 5-10 feet more rise in the lake and it'd be under there.

Escape route via the "Desert Reflection" => http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=187200 and http://www.lakepowelltours.net/?event=o ... ferId=4752


Check out other photos from this trek => http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=15005

Rainbow Bridge 2011

I've had this iconic destination on my "wish list" since moving to Arizona in 2003. The fact that this natural bridge wasn't "discovered" until August 1909 only adds to the allure (check out => http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Tr ... idge.html# ). Organizing a trek to the bridge in present times proves fleeting as attempts in 2009 and 2010 were scheduled and ultimately cancelled. But campfire discussions during last year's treks to Grand Gulch and Chaco led to an agreement that the first weekend in April 2011 would be targeted. I blocked out a 4 day weekend on my calendar and Casa Grande Rob posted the HAZ Event => viewtopic.php?t=4650

The trek began Friday April 1st with my F-150 hitting the road on the back end of morning rush hour traffic. Stopped for a chilli bowl lunch in Flagstaff at the Beaver Street Brewery and purchased a Rail Road Stout growler (check out => http://www.beaverstreetbrewery.com/bsbeers.html ) for some post-hiking consumption. Picked up Larry (aka squatpuke) at a designated rendezvous spot at the east end of Flagstaff. I met Mrs. Squatpuke as we transferred Larry's gear into my F-150 and indicated to her that we'll see her again late Monday.

Stopped along Hwy 89 to check out the Wupatki roadside kachinas and pondered Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain significance to the Hopi. Larry and I checked into our Friday night base camp at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Page AZ and walked to our designated evening gathering spot, The Fiesta Mexicana Family Restaurant at 125 S. Lake Powell Blvd. Our group soon assembles; PageRob, squatpuke, Toad, Clanton and various Page residents (seems that everyone in Page knows each other) at our table on the front patio. Final hiking plans are made with and agreed 5am meet-up Saturday morning at Rob's house.

Alarm rings 4-ish on Saturday morning, check out of our base camp and meet up at Rob's for coffee and truck-pooling. We soon depart from Page following Hwy 98 about 50 miles towards Kayenta. At the intersection of IR16 (aka Navajo Mountain Road), we head north towards Inscription House and Navajo Mountain. I'm surprised that our drive has been confined to paved roads until we reach our IR161 cut-off (about 33 miles from Hwy 98). Our trail notes indicate rodeo grounds with water tank on the west side and signage for "Navajo Mountain School". More confidence we're on the correct dirt track when I spot an IR161 sign. We spot Haystack Rock having traveled about 5 miles and take the dirt track towards Navajo Mountain. There's a well at War God Springs where a local is filling up his tanker truck. He points out the double-track heading towards our TH at Rainbow Lodge ruins. The double track rapidly deteriorates. Rob's Explorer requires a spotter at multiple points to negotiate around tire sidewall slashing and differential smashing rocks. At another split in the double-track, we choose the right split towards a water tank (wrong turn!). We retrace our tracks and get back on course arriving at the Rainbow Lodge ruins and the elusive TH.

Having explored the ruins and posed for a TH group shot, we position those heavy packs on our backs and hit the South Trail (aka Rainbow Lodge Trail). We soon drop into appropriately named "First Canyon" and pop up onto a bench with elevated heart rates. Horse Canyon soon comes into view with a rather insane downward grade (check out photo evidence) to the bottom wash. Having exited Horse Canyon, we drop our packs for some refreshments, snacks, and photo ops.

Back on the trail again across some benches and unnamed washes until we reach Yabut Pass. My jaw drops. The shear wall drop and a trail visible in the bottom canyon leave you scratching your head - How do you get down there?

Arriving at the bottom of Cliff Canyon, I realize this is a toll trail and I've paid with my left hip and knee. Clanton is feeling the same way as we spot some cottonwood trees and begin hearing a cacophony of canyon frogs. That has to be Cliff Canyon Springs just ahead and our designated Camp #1.

As we set up camp, Rob and I share a traditional Cag => http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=187136 My hip and knee make an instant recovery without having a 50lb pack strapped to my back. As the day light wanes, we're treated to a "purple haze" sunset and a continuing cacophony of canyon frogs. The evening camp fire is toasty and comforting as the group discusses changing from "Plan A" to "Plan B" => exit via the Lake Powell water route rather than the South Trail "in-and-out". With that settled and the winds beginning to pick up, time to turn in and call it a night.

Sunday morning we break camp and head downstream towards Redbud Pass. The trail becomes confusing at the confluence of multiple side canyons into a wide basin. We make a minor detour into blind canyon, but soon correct ourselves finding the "Redbud Pass" signage => http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=187140

We spot some Basket-Maker vintage rock art on the walls of Redbud Pass. Redbud soon becomes a narrow slot with evidence of the original dynamite blasting from the 1920's. Upon cresting Redbud Pass, it's all downstream from here. We are soon at the confluence of Bridge Canyon and merge with the North Trail (aka Discovery Route named after the 1909 expedition).

As we pass through a gate into the Echo Camp Basin area, I can sense the presence of our main objective nearby - RAINBOW BRIDGE!


"Out of the shade, into the heat. I tramp on through the winding gorge, through the harsh brittle silence. In this arid atmosphere sounds do not fade, echo or die softly but are extinguished suddenly, sharply, without the slightest hint of reverberation. The clash of rock against rock is like a shot - abrupt, exaggerated, toneless.

I round the next bend in the canyon and all at once, quite unexpectedly, there it is, the bridge of stone.

Quite unexpectedly, I write. Why? Certainly I had faith; I knew the bridge would be here, against all odds. And I knew well enough what it would look like - we've all seen the pictures of it a hundred times. Nor am I disappointed in that vague way we often feel, coming at last upon a long-imagined spectacle. Rainbow Bridge seems neither less nor greater than what I had foreseen.

Through God's window into eternity.

Oh well. I climb to the foot of the east buttress and sign for Ralph and myself in the visitor's register. He is the 14,467th and I the next to enter our names in this book since the first white men came to Rainbow Bridge in 1909. Not many, for a period of more than half a century, in the age above all of publicity. But then it's never been an easy journey. Until now..." - Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire", pp240-241.


Larry, Rob, Toad, and Clanton have made a detour into Echo Camp to set up camp early in the Alcove. I press on, drawn by the magnetic allure of RAINBOW BRIDGE. I can sense it and as I cross the National Monument fence and gate exiting the Rez and rounding the bend, it's there!

Sunday evening camping in the Alcove, we recreate scenes from the 1913 Teddy Roosevelt visit as we roll out our sleeping bags on the metal bed springs that have served campers since that time. Our evening fire heats up the entire Alcove as I fall asleep under the stars.

Monday morning we break camp at dawn, photograph Rainbow Bridge from every possible angle and catch the Tour Boat back to Page AZ => http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=187200 . The Tour Boat shuttle bus takes us to Rob's house where we grab my truck and make the trek back to Rainbow Lodge ruins to retrieve Rob's vehicle => http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=187202

Thanks to Rob for pulling this all together. Good to meet Toad, Clanton, and Larry making this a truly memorable adventure! Got to have a redux soon via the "Discovery Route" aka the North Route => http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=16012

RANDAL SCHULHAUSER - April 2011