JohnTheLuck's Adventures Thread

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 44:

Start point: Holbrook AZ
End point: Holbrook AZ

Distance driven: 156 km
Distance hiked: 10.3 km

For the last time off this trip we returned to Petrified Forest National Park, in the Blue Mesa area. We hiked there two other Off the Beaten Path hikes.

The first was the Historic Blue Forest Hike combined with the Blue Mesa Loop. This short hike crosses bentonite hills along the ridges and offers continuous panoramas. We started on the Blue Mesa Loop and made a round trip on the Historic Blue Forest Hike.

The varied colors of the different layers of bentonite create spectacular patterns. Clusters of petrified wood are found here and there in the hollows between the mounds. In some places, the trail crosses quite intimidating places.

Towards the end of the hike, near the park scenic road, the remains of a road leading to the site of an old visitor center are still visible. This was our point of return, a return that was just as spectacular.

Back on Blue Mesa Loop, several petrified logs presented a very wide range of colors.

After a short break, we hiked another Off the Beaten Path hike, the Billings Gap Hike. This hike runs along the cliffs of a plateau and joins a space between another plateau. We assume that the name of this place was given following the discovery of this passage for travellers of long ago. The cliffs have beautiful formations in the shape of hoodoos.

Tomorrow we will hit the road towards Flagstaff AZ.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 45:

Start point: Holbrook AZ
End point: Flagstaff AZ

Distance driven: 377 km
Distance hiked: 6.2 km

This morning, we took the road west towards Flagstaff by visiting some places along the way.

Our first destination for the day was Little Painted Desert Country Park, an abandoned park in Navajo County overlooking a region of badlands. In the distance, the San Francisco Mountains located a little north of Flagstaff were visible with their snow-capped peaks.

Although the colors were less intense than those of Petrified Forest NP, the view was still interesting.

We were intrigued by the peaks visible in the distance on the previous picture. So we continued a little further north in the Navajo Indian Reservation to take a look. The place counted several high mesas, as well as dykes, intrusion of lava in faults of the earth's crust but not having pierced the surface as do volcanoes. As the surrounding more friable rock has eroded, only the harder volcanic rock remains today. These dykes are very common in the Four Corners area

Back near Winslow AZ, we went to visit Homolovi State Park protecting the ruins of ancient villages from the ancestors of today's Hopi Indians. These villages were abandoned around the year 1200. During the great migrations towards the west, the Mormons used practically all the stones in order to build their own houses around Winslow. In addition, looters very frequently visited the site. There are very few constructions left, but the ground is strewn with countless fragments of various pottery.

Hitting the road again after a short meal, we headed for Walnut Canyon National Monument. This protected site has a large number of ruins perched on natural levels in the Walnut Canyon. We did two short hikes. The Island Trail descends from the Visitor Center along the wall of the canyon to join one of the plateau.

Normally, this trail forms a loop, but park staff were busy repairing a section. A good ten of them carried backpacks and lowered 50-pound bags of gravel onto their backs. They made several consecutive round trips. Considering the drop of almost 185 feet and the altitude of almost 7000 feet, we had great respect for them. Thanks guys!

We reached Flagstaff while we still had more than two hours before sunset. We decided to go check the condition of the O'Leary Basin Road in Coconino National Forest and described in Wells book. We originally wanted to travel it tomorrow but I wanted to check a tippy point mentioned in the book and by [MENTION=306890]MAST4R[/MENTION]. If that were to be too intimidating for me, we were to travel it from the opposite direction. We had only vague indications on the location of the place in question. We did cross a slightly more delicate passage, but nothing very complicated. We think the road has been worked since.

Finally, the conditions of the track being very beautiful, we covered it in full using the reverse direction of the book. It crosses a volcanic and wooded region of tall pines. Throughout the track, cones of volcanoes were visible.

After completing the trail, we returned to Flagstaff crossing Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, well lit by the setting sun.

Tomorrow morning we will go to the local Coconino National Forest Flagstaff Ranger District office early in the morning to check the state of the roads in the area as their website indicates that many of them are closed. Precipitation from ten days ago is believed to have affected conditions. There are still areas of snow on the northern slopes.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 46:

Start point: Flagstaff AZ
End point: Flagstaff AZ

Distance driven: 176 km
Distance hiked: 4.7 km

Today we explored the area immediately south of Flagstaff a little outside of Coconino National Forest. This region has a multitude of volcanic cones and is very picturesque. Most off-road trails are very easy.

Our first destination was the SP Crater, one of the most recent in the area.

[


A secondary trail climbs abruptly to a saddle between SP Crater and an adjacent hill.

We continued up on the adjacent hill. From this location, we could see a lava flow originating from SP Crater. We noted the road through the flow and decided to go there later in the day.

We had planned to try the ascent of SP Crater but when we saw the high slope of the side and the difficulties of two hikers during their descent, we changed our mind.

We tried to go down on the other side of the saddle by continuing on the road but the off-camber road and its deteriorated condition made us turn around and go down using the side we used to go up. We later saw a sign indicating that section was closed (but no sign going down...)

Continuing our journey, we joined Colton Crater located three kilometres further south of SP Crater. We noticed a track going up on the circumference of the crater and followed it. From this point, the view was spectacular. We then decided to walk on the circumference to an even higher point. Can you find the 4Runner in the following picture?

Back to the 4Runner, we drove a long loop in the volcanic field to eventually join the SP Crater lava flow seen in the morning. Several other cones were visible, as well as mounds of volcanic rock probably belonging to ancient lava flows buried and masked by vegetation.

We finally reached the SP Crater flow crossing.

While going south of the SP Crater lava flow, the San Francisco Mountains in the distance, also of volcanic origin, reminded us that we are very insignificant in the face of the forces of nature having created these superb landscapes by titanic chaos.

Instead of taking the paved US 89 to reach Flagstaff, we decided to continue in the volcanic field and use the FR 417 of Coconino National Forest. Along the way, Colton Crater was revealed in the distance. We have reached the crater rim at the lower section on the right of the following picture.

Other craters are located further north as the vegetation becomes increasingly dense and large as we gain altitude as we approach the San Francisco Mountains.

Tomorrow, we will continue our journey north and eventually reach Page AZ located very close to the border with Utah.
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[jrandom]

Another great tour, once again thanks for the virtual vacation eagerly awaiting more :tea:

 

[Ray Dunakin]

I've been off the forum for the past couple weeks so I'm just now getting caught up again with your epic adventure. Great photos, as usual! So much fantastic scenery, and what a treat to see the wildlife, especially that Gila monster.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Another great tour, once again thanks for the virtual vacation eagerly awaiting more :tea:

Thanks! A lot more to come but for then next few days, it might take some time because of Internet access problems. In the morning, it is a lot better.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 47:

Start point: Flagstaff AZ
End point: Page AZ

Distance driven: 335 km
Distance hiked: 10.2 km

This morning we left Flagstaff early because we had a pretty busy day. Our first destination of the day was the Gray Mountain route, starting north of Flagstaff and ending on US 64 leading to the Grand Canyon NP. The road crosses a rather arid region with a few canyons to cross.

The road gradually gains elevation, except at a place where it climbs on a relatively steep and very rocky slope towards a plateau.

At the top of the slope, the view of the canyon was magnificent, despite the shadows of the sun still low on the horizon.

Further, we crossed a horde of wild horses (supposition considering the absence of irons). In the distance, the San Francisco Mountains were visible as well as the volcanic field with SP Crater in the foreground.

At the north end of the road, as we descended towards US 64, we saw in the distance the canyon dug by the Little Colorado River. As we were tight in time, we did not revisited the Grand Canyon National Park located nearby. It will be for another time.

Continuing north, we reached our second destination of the day, the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. In the Lee's Ferry area, Nancy had identified a hike along the Paria River. This sector is particularly photogenic with its hills of bentonites with very varied colors.

In several places, we saw piles of fragments of petrified wood and also some whole trunks. They were not colored like in Petrified Forest NP but mostly natural color.

Continuing, the trail climbed up the hills as the Paria Canyon got deeper and deeper.

We had to make a few detours to bypass dry washes, many of which led to equally dry falls. We can imagine the show during heavy rain.

As this trail continues for several tens of kilometers into Buckskin Gulch, the longest canyon slot in the world, we turned around after about 5 km.

Back at the vehicle, we were on the banks of the Colorado River to admire this majestic place. The Lee's Ferry area is a preferred starting point for Colorado rafting expeditions in the Grand Canyon below.

We then reached Page AZ where we will spend the next five nights. We will take advantage of the next few days to discover new places or revisit some because we have come to Page frequently.
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[JohnTheLuck]

I've been off the forum for the past couple weeks so I'm just now getting caught up again with your epic adventure. Great photos, as usual! So much fantastic scenery, and what a treat to see the wildlife, especially that Gila monster.

Thanks so much!

Yes, after so many trips in the Southwest, this was my first ever Gila Monster!

I still have to see a scorpion and rattlesnake... It is still probably too cold.

 

[Middlefingergod]

Looks like you've been on quiet the adventure

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 48:

Start point: Page AZ
End point: Page AZ

Distance driven: 301 km
Distance hiked: 6.6 km

We got up a little late, our cell phones having decided that it need to apply daylight saving. Although we are practically on the border between Utah and Arizona, the city of Page is indeed located in Arizona which does not apply daylignt saving but Utah does.

When we left, the sky was quite cloudy with only a few sunny breaks. However, the weather forecast did not predict rain at Page.

After several hesitations, we chose our first destination, a supposedly short hike to see the The Cockscomb Wilderness Study Area located in Utah.

After climbing the first whitish hill not far away, we were inspired by what we had seen there, we decided to explore a little further to see the rock formations in vertical strips a little higher up. We then climbed on the top of the yellowish slope. The climb was a challenge, but the view was sublime. Along the way, we saw this hoodoo that made my wife smile ...

We chose another path to return to avoid obstacles in the yellowish area. We rather came back through the reddish zone on the right of the first picture. We encountered other challenges there in fairly steep sandy areas. This was not very dangerous, but our progress made us laugh a few times ...

Back at the vehicle, we went to the short road leading to Paria Movie Set, an old place of shooting western movies from the 1930s whose installations have since been destroyed. The natural decor was simply sublime with incredible colors.

We wanted to hike to the site of the ancient village of Pahreah to see the few remaining ruins. However, the Paria River flow was relatively important that we decided not to cross it. We therefore postponed this visit to another time.

Rather than returning on the same route in reverse, we took the Paria Breaks Road (584) along the cliffs. There were less colors but the textures were still very beautiful.

This road has suffered some damage due to recent precipitation and we had to negotiate with some obstacles, many deep gullies and deep wash crossings.

A little further on, a large cloudy area approached and the rain started to fall steadily. We were not worried about the flash floods but rather the fact that the earth on which we circulated became a slippery mud making the road completely impassable. We had in mind our previous episode on the road to Superstition Wilderness near Phoenix. Luckily, the cloud moving quickly (and so are we ...), the ground did not become completely soggy before we joined the paving. Ouff.

As the sun had returned, we returned to Paria Canyon Wilderness for a few moments to enjoy that the sun was now shining on the east wall of the canyon.

Finding that the sun would be present a long time before another cloud band arrived, we went to cover a section of the Cottonwood Canyon Road which is one of the most spectacular road in the region.

The landscapes sometimes resemble those that we imagine seeing on the moon.

A little further, while we were walking among some rocks, I was savagely attacked by a stone monster having sprung from the ground... :wink2:

As the cloud band got very close and part of Cottonwood Canyon Road crossed a bentonite area also problematic in the rain, we wisely returned to the paved road. On the way back to Page, a huge cloud caught our eye. Further on, a very large rainbow became visible in the distance.

Approaching Page, the immense cloud showed strange, rather rare shapes.

Very close to Page, we humbly celebrated the 100,000 km of my dear 4Runner. We wished him a long life and great adventures without mishaps ... !!! :cheer2:

Tomorrow we will also have to check the forecast as we have some destinations quite far from the paved roads, hoping that the forecasts really come true.
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[MAST4R]

Fantastic!

I really like the Sonoran Desert but Southern Utah/northernmost AZ is my kind of terrain.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Fantastic!

I really like the Sonoran Desert but Southern Utah/northernmost AZ is my kind of terrain.

Wait until you see today's post! Awesome!!!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 49:

Start point: Page AZ
End point: Page AZ

Distance driven: 263 km
Distance hiked: 8.9 km

We got up very early because, again, we had a long day ahead of us. The goal of the day was to travel a long loop through Vermillion Cliffs National Monument to explore the southern portion of the Paria Plateau in Arizona. It is a very remote place and the tracks are extremely sandy.

We reached the plateau by taking Pine Valley Road, the easiest access but the most distant. Then we looped through Pinnacle Valley. This place has multiple pinnacles made up of very colorful sandstone rocks.

Then, we continued to reach Joe's Tank, an old residence located in a more picturesque alcove. Behind the few wooden constructions and the reservoirs to retain the rare rainwater, extends a vast area of ​​white rocks with brain cells patterns. We spent some time exploring the surroundings.

Further down the road, we made a brief stop at Middle Reservoir, another place to catch the waters. Again, the rocks were white brain cells. Although the region is quite arid, we crossed several corral for cattle.

Continuing our journey, we made a final stop at White Pocket, one of the most fascinating places we visited during our trip in April 2013. We had then recruited the services of the guides of Paria Outpost & Outfitters. Now, our 4Runner allows us access this kind of remote places by ourselves. Great! Drive far away, then hike nearby; This is what we wnt to do.

White Pocket is undoubtedly one of the most photogenic places in the region, but certainly not the easiest place to access. We wandered here and there for more than three hours, going from one wonder to another.

This spectacular place was also populated by natives over 700 years ago. They left a few traces near a cave, including a few petroglyphs.

We returned to Page too late, well after sunset. Tomorrow, if the weather is clear, we will return to Cottonwood Canyon Road in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
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[16RedRunner]

Love your pictures thanks for posting them!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Love your pictures thanks for posting them!

Thanks! You are welcome!

 

[MAST4R]

Thanks! You are welcome!

Haha, yes, the White Pocket is one of my favorites. I have some awesome pictures from there.

That was back in my Outback days. There was a Dodge Journey trying to get to the White Pocket. They were losing some plastics along the way, hope they were picking them up, too I had to maneuver pretty awkwardly in deep sand to let them pass because they could not leave the tracks without getting stuck.

That's not the only grotesque Dodge Journey or other Dodge episode I have seen. The funny thing is that I normally see Subaru drivers giving up on stuff they can easily do but don't know they can and Dodge drivers doing things they think they can but cannot.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Haha, yes, the White Pocket is one of my favorites. I have some awesome pictures from there.

That was back in my Outback days. There was a Dodge Journey trying to get to the White Pocket. They were losing some plastics along the way, hope they were picking them up, too I had to maneuver pretty awkwardly in deep sand to let them pass because they could not leave the tracks without getting stuck.

That's not the only grotesque Dodge Journey or other Dodge episode I have seen. The funny thing is that I normally see Subaru drivers giving up on stuff they can easily do but don't know they can and Dodge drivers doing things they think they can but cannot.

Yes indeed, there are not a lot of places to pass another vehicle and the deep sand makes you stick to the tracks. We were lucky because we saw no other vehicles yesterday. The sand was deep in Pinnacle but mostly near Joe's Tank, and a bit before White Pocket but nothing to serious. Back in 2016 when we went on Pine Valley Road and Pinnacle, if I remember correctly, the sand was not as deep as yesterday.

I avoided Paverty Flats because I read this is the worst section of deep sand. On our way out, we hesitate a bit to take that route but decided to stick to our original plan, for safety reasons. We were also the last vehicle to leave White Pocket so in case of problems, we were on our own.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 50:

Start point: Page AZ
End point: Page AZ

Distance driven: 388 km
Distance hiked: 2.5 km

When we left the hotel this morning the clouds were covering the sky entirely. The forecast was not very encouraging with showers expected in the morning, and a cloudy sky in the afternoon.

So we decided to stay wisely on paved roads because most of the attractions that we had planned were on roads that could be problematic in the rain. So we decided to go to Zion National Park in Utah.

We entered the park by its east entrance on the Zion-Mt Carmel Scenic Byway (UT 9). This spectacular road winds between hills made up of sandstone originally formed by dunes. These landscapes are simply majestic even in the light rain.

We also saw some bighorn sheeps with their young of the year grazing quietly, seeming little disturbed by cars passing on the road.

After the showers subsided, we stopped at a few places and walked a bit to explore the surroundings, like towards these pretty colorful hoodoos located a little higher on a gentle slope.

On the way back, we explored a bit of a road along the Virgin River crossing Zion NP. We had identified this route as a possible entry point for hiking in the region. This road runs along the Parunuweap Canyon Wilderness Study Area which has superb colorful cliffs and the enchanting scenery offered by the Virgin River that we had to cross several times.

Some private properties are located on that road. They really have a nice backyard!

The rain will start again overnight and complicate our activities. Tomorrow, we will then take the opportunity to do our last laundry session of the trip.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 51:

Start point: Page AZ
End point: Page AZ

Distance driven: 38 km
Distance hiked: 4.2 km

True to yesterday's weather forecast, the rain was falling this morning. We took the opportunity to recover a little from the long previous days, to do another laundry session, and to revise the plans for the next few days.

As the sky started to clear in the afternoon. we took the opportunity to go for a short hike in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area located very close to Page. On two mounds close to each other are located two points of interest, a wave formation in sandstone nicknamed The New Wave in reference to the famous The Wave in Vermillion Cliffs NM, and the other named Radio Tower Rock.

The north end of the trail gave us a nice view towards Lake Powell. This inspired us for our second destination of the day.

Returning to the 4Runner, we headed for Lake Powell and drove Lakeshore Drive along the lake. The setting sun lit up the whitewashed cliffs when the reservoir level was much higher than it is now.

Tomorrow we will try to return to Cottonwood Canyon Road in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, hoping that the road has had enough time to dry out and not be too slippery.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 52:

Start point: Page AZ
End point: Page AZ

Distance driven: 106 km
Distance hiked: 15.0 km

Today, we wanted to return to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to take a long hike, a long creation by my wife. However, after about a kilometer, we reached a still muddy area and we wisely decided to turn back. As indicated, Cottonwood Canyon Road is impassable when wet!

We then tried to reach the starting point of another long hike, again a creation of my wife. The access road rather crosses a large sandy area which has proven to be passable. We were therefore able to reach the starting point without any problem.

This hike in Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area begins on an old road before making a long loop. Like many other Wilderness, this place does not have maintained trails and we must therefore navigate according to landmarks on our hiking GPS.

The first waypoints were rock formations of sandstone from ancient sand dunes with beautiful erosion patterns created by the wind. There were also beautiful colored lines as well as strange reddish dots and spots.

Continuing, we reached another place where the harder rock was dug by the water and formed multiple cavities catching water during precipitation, called water pockets.

Further on, we reached a very large area called Thousands Pockets for the countless number of holes dug by the water. With the rains of the past few days, several of these holes still contained water.

Then, the objective was to go to two viewpoints in elevation and overlooking the Paria Canyon near Lee's Ferry in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Due to the rugged nature of the terrain still composed of sandstone, our climb was very slow. We have had to turn back on several occasions because we could go any further. At some point, we decided to reach an intermediate point rather than the two originally identified bymy wife. We were finally able to reach the edge of the canyon. Our efforts were fully rewarded by the sublime view of the region over almost 300 degrees, and timely breaks in the clouds.

Toward the north, the cliffs near Lake Powell were lit up.

Toward the east, Page and the Colorado River Canyon, as well as part of Horseshoe Bend nearby.

[/url]2020-03-12 14-50-53 IMG_1653_1024px by Jean Lachance, on Flickr


Also towards the east, we saw the plateaus that we explored a few days ago a little before our arrival at Page. Also visible is the Colorado River.

Towards the southeast, the intersection between Paria Canyon and the Colorado River, with the great plain leading to the Grand Canyon, all serving as a backdrop for meditation for my wife.

img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49653819606_539c65ae11_o.jpg[/img]


Finally towards the southwest, the continuation of Paria Canyon leading towards Buckskin Gulch, with the Paria Plateau against the light.

After a long pause contemplating Mother Nature's creation, and a generous snack to give us energy after this long ascent, we resumed our way back. We followed the same route as for the outward journey until we left the steep area. We then followed a dry wash.

At first, it was very easy to navigate but as secondary washes joined here and there bringing more water during precipitations, the obstacles became more and more difficult to overcome. We had to bypass several dry falls a few meters high.

We even had the surprise of having to cross a short canyon slot that was probably completely submerged a few days ago.

We finally returned safely to the 4Runner, with our heads filled with beautiful memories. Tomorrow is likely to be somewhat wetter with heavy precipitation expected tonight and tomorrow morning. As usual, we will notify in due course.
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