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| N. Arizona Spring Break 2023, AZ | |
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| | N. Arizona Spring Break 2023, AZ | | | |
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N. Arizona Spring Break 2023, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | | | |
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| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | A few of my occasional Happy Hour friends (we all worked together in the '80s) are amateur photographers and one proposed a trip to White Pocket, a return for him. The four of us booked two nights at Cliff Dwellers Lodge near Marble Canyon and planned some other stops along the way.
Wupatki NM: We drove through on the way up and headed to a corner I've been wanting to see. We stopped at Wukoki Pueblo which is off the main road and nice to visit. Then we continued along to Black Falls Crossing which I think is the next one downstream from Grand Falls. Lots of water there right now, but no falls.
White Pocket: Next day we met our ride at the south end of House Rock Rd (we knew that road is difficult so a guide was hired) and bumped our way up to the WP parking area. Road conditions were pretty good and private parties slightly outnumbered guided ones. I did see one all-wheel drive car (a Honda Passport) had made it to the end. Of course it's a fantastic place to walk around and a lot of fun. Scenic as heck but our mid-day experience I'm sure can't compare to the low sun pictures that can be found on HAZ.
West Bench Pueblo: I had noticed this place in the WP vicinity posted by @PaleoRob. It was a short detour for us and the road leads right to it. Pretty standard ruin and pottery scatter at the main location - I'm sure there's more to find if you look around.
Upper Soap Creek: I noticed a HAZ post by @ddgrunning leaving from Cliff Dwellers and heading up the canyon. So after WP my friends drove down to Lee's Ferry to take pictures and I walked up the canyon about a mile. A leg stretcher, not too interesting in this section.
Coal Mine Canyon: On the way home the next day we went to CMC. Several of us had been there before and knew it was a tricky place because the Navajo authorities didn't seem to want visitors there. Well things have changed. On our way up the first day, we stopped in Cameron to see if we could get a permit and were told we didn't need one (surprise #1). When we actually arrived there we found a couple Navajo surveyors studying the area (a subsidence concern associated with mining) and they "implied" the area was opening up (surprise #2). And as we walked around "development signs" were obvious, including simple hand rails making access safer and more organized (surprise #3). Interesting.
After walking around this main site we drove to another location we'd heard about (and I won't describe it here) which gave some alternate cool views of this big canyon complex.
Successful trip! |
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