test_2 (second week, Grand Canyon etc)

XC_text_2.doc
Mt Carmel UT (near Zion National Park)
Thursday Sep 20, 5 AM

Writing this after three days at Grand Canyon.
Stunning !!!
This trip just keeps getting better and better.

Sat 9/15 we continued west on US 64 through
more spectacular Northern NM scenery.
This is high mesa country… broad flat expanses
punctuated by volcanic uprisings and dramatic
escarpments revealing layers of geologic formation.

Then down US491 to pick up I40 near Gallup,
then west to Chambers, Arizona. Along the way stopped
at Salmon Ruins, a pueblo site with a substantial archaeological
display center attached. The site had
the ruins that were in a horseshoe shape with over 100 rooms.
There is another active archaeological dig nearby.

Next day Sunday 9/16 we spent in Petrified Forest National Park
in the Painted Desert area of northeast Arizona.
Along this stretch we encountered severe thunderstorm activity
with REALLY impressive lightning displays.
We tried to get pictures but taking pictures from a moving
vehicle and a sporadic flash didn’t work for us.

Spent the night in Winslow AZ, a Route 66 town making a
big thing out of a line in the song “Taking It Easy”…
“standin’ on a corner in Winslow Arizona”

Early start Monday 9/17 to make miles to Grand Canyon.
Off the interstate now; AZ 87 north through Painted Desert
and Indian reservation country, AZ 264 west from
Second Mesa to Tuba City, US89 north, then
US 89A west past Vermillion Cliffs then down AZ67
to Grand Canyon North Rim National Park.

67 went through a large recently-burnt area.

We arrived at Grand Canyon Lodge about 2:30 PM.
We were staying in a log cabin right at the North Rim.
After settling in we drove to Cape Royal; this road
took us through an active forest fire. It was a really
strange feeling to drive through an area in which trees
were burning on both sides of the road. We were stopped
and instructed not to stop and that he would recommend
putting the top up because of the smoke.
The Roosevelt burn was started by lightning a couple of months ago;
the Park Service is letting it burn as a managed fire.

Tuesday 9/18 we did a 10-mile (round trip) hike on
a rim trail to Widforss Point. The trail is mostly in the woods
with frequent viewpoints into the Canyon. Total elevation
change is only a couple hundred feet as it meanders
in and out of side canyons.
We finished our hiking with a short walk to Bright Angel Point.
Length was not an issue but Rosemary had some difficulty
with sheer cliff drop-offs on both sides of the trail.

Wed 9/19 we started down the Kaibab Trail which
descends into the canyon (actually goes all the way (14 miles)
down to the Colorado River then back up to South Rim).
Rosemary turned around after our lunch stop at
Coconino Overlook(she was still spooked by “Bright Angel);
Dan continued down to Supai Tunnel at 6840 feet,
1410 feet below the trailhead at 8250, in 1.8 miles.
Not extremely steep,but unrelentingly steep;
coming back up, there is not one step that isn’t uphill.
Really awesome.!

Tues Sep 20 10 PM MDT (Utah Time)
ZION = ZOWIE !

We drove as far as Mt Carmel Junction (just east of Zion) yesterday.
Today we visited Zion National Park.
Really beautiful place.
Route 9, through the park, is an awesome feat of engineering
including many tight hairpin turns and a mile-long tunnel.
Rosemary was glad Dan was driving!
The main Zion Canyon road is off limits to private cars;
they have a really good free shuttle bus system. A bus comes
along every few minutes, and you can get on and off as much as you want
so you can pretty much go anyplace, anytime. This keeps the area quiet
and enables a lot of short point-to-point hikes which would keeps the area quiet
and enables a lot of short point-to-point hikes which would be
impractical to do as roundtrips back to your parked car.
We spent the full day bus-hopping and hiking.
At Grand Canyon, you start at the top and look down into,
or hike down into, the canyons; here, you start at river level
and look UP… WAY up… at the scenery. You’re really
inside the scenery. Took lots of pictures, but this scenery is really
too big to fit in the camera.

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