Scenic Drive – Page 12 – ON THE ROAD with Maria + Stephen

Flagstaff, Arizona

29/10/201806/09/2022 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Cities, Coffee, Dining, Hiking, National Park, Scenic Drive

We spent a couple of nights in Flagstaff or “Flag” as the locals refer to the city. This city of approximately 70,000 sits at 7000 feet above sea level in the Coconino NF with the San Francisco Peaks as the backdrop. The town still boasts a lively and well preserved downtown with local merchants, restaurants and most importantly good coffee. Flag is home to Northern Arizona University (The Lumberjacks). We have found that many of the towns we have visited that have a nice vibe like Flag have a university or college located within the city or town.

We visited three coffee roasters while in Flag. All were legit but our favorite was Firecreek Coffee Company. We have included photos from all three below.

While traveling our focus is to see new places, meet new people, try new adventures, however, as we wander we do need to deal with the mundane. For one of us that means doing laundry, for the other it means getting a haircut. Pictured below is Hermanis Ulibarri. A haircut from Mr. Ulibarri turned out to be anything but mundane. Mr. Ulibarri is 77 years old and has been “barbering” since his return from serving in Vietnam over 50 years ago. He has given haircuts to tourists from all over the world and has quite a following of French clients that spend time in Flag on a regular basis. Lots of interesting stories. Oh, and cash only if you stop in for a haircut on your next visit to Flagstaff.

Just a few miles east of Flag is the Walnut Canyon NM. We spent an afternoon there viewing some of the extremely well preserved ancient cliff dwellings. These dwellings were constructed by the Sinagua People during the 12th to 13th centuries. The dwellings sit 300 feet above the canyon floor and provided protection from the weather, animals and rivals. The Island Trail has been constructed so that visitors can descend 200 feet down into the canyon and actually go inside a number of the dwellings. Amazing to think of an entire community raising families, growing crops, hunting, storing water and food while living 300 feet above the canyon floor.

We are off to Sedona for some hiking in the Red Rocks and perhaps to experience the energy of the purported vortices!

8A0288E7-50B0-47B3-B7A9-C9505C6B8A05 — **Mr. Hermanis Ulibarri**

6DF55235-B78A-4B51-B639-28045BB015EA — **Walnut Canyon**

Page, Arizona to Flagstaff

25/10/201828/10/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Coffee, Dining, Scenic Drive

In order to watch game three of the World Series, we spent a night in a hotel in Page. Go Sox! Page was established in 1957 to support the thousands of workers and their families during the construction of the massive Glen Canyon Dam, which took over ten years. The dam is over 700 feet tall and 1000 feet wide. The construction of this dam created Lake Powell which provides water and electric power for western states. The lake and the surrounding area are now a significant tourist draw for boating and OHV riding.

Leaving Page for Flagstaff, we journeyed through the Navajo Nation Reservation which spans 27,000 square miles across Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The population of the reservation is about 350,000. We have never been on a reservation without feeling a measure of sadness. The housing on reservations consists of trailers and ramshackle cabins. The poverty is obvious. What we saw within the Navajo Nation in Arizona was no different. The B+W photos in this post were taken on the reservation. I did not include any photos of tribal housing as it would be disrespectful. You will also see the issue of uranium mining being addressed in the art below. Navajo tribal members have significantly higher rates of cancer and other illnesses from exposure to uranium that was mined within the reservation; slag was left on the surface for years and mines were not sealed.

Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch Slots

25/10/201825/10/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in 4WD Drive, Hiking, Scenic Drive

Today we hiked from the Wire Pass Trailhead through the Wire Pass Narrows to the intersection with The Buckskin Gulch and then east in the Gulch until the water made progress impossible without hiking through the pools. These slots are located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area managed by the BLM. There are a number of petroglyphs where the Wire Pass meets Buckskin Gulch. The Buckskin Gulch is where the famous “Wave” slot is located but access is limited to 20 permits a day! The Wave became famous when Microsoft 7 added a photo as an option for their desktop wallpaper. I have included a photo of the Wave directly below.

3F1EF553-4E47-4BC7-9FEC-65DE870504EA

0C189372-8F67-458B-B0AC-4107BC2A4872 — **Wire Pass Narrows**

22F932A5-A85D-4066-B9B1-D6557C0134F4 — **Buckskin Gulch**

05E8EA15-6529-4888-B419-43EA4E9946E6 — **Intersection of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch**

Kodachrome Basin

23/10/201824/10/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Camping, Hiking, Scenic Drive

We were hoping to head to Arizona via the Cottonwood Canyon Scenic Backway, unfortunately, heavy rains have made the road impassable. We have extended our stay in Kodachrome Basin for a couple of days. Kodachrome Basin is the first “step” of the Grand Staircase and has a bounty of impressive spires and great hikes. If Cottonwood remains impassable tomorrow we will travel east towards Lake Powell before turning south and working our way to Sedona, Arizona. 0076,0077

Southern Utah Part 2

20/10/201802/12/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in 4WD Drive, Boondocking, Coffee, Hiking, National Park, Scenic Drive

We have been taking full advantage of the great weather to boondock and hike in the Hurricane area and Zion NP. We also had an great afternoon on the dunes in Sand Hollow. We have arived in Kanab after about a four hour wait as a section of the Smithsonian Butte was impassable due to a strom that passed through early this morning. Fortunately the Sun appeared with a light breeze to help the road dry out enough for us to make it through the clay section. If the weather remains dry over the next several days we will be able to hike in several exciting slot canyons in the nearby Vermillion Cliffs area.

8966DFAC-2918-418F-8D93-1CB74C66E16B — **Pizza Night**

EF59E057-DC82-4654-8BBC-39D190931706 — **Boondocking on Grafton Mesa**

14740F96-9AF3-4A14-943B-9E8D205D5F8C — **Zion NP from Rockville Mesa**

E5161E30-9C5D-479D-88BD-F14D5E708C97 — **Boondocking on Rockville Mesa**

964016DF-A1FF-41E7-B54A-943C0F2D7FFC — **Sand Hollow**

Southern Utah

15/10/201815/10/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in 4WD Drive, Boondocking, Camping, Coffee, Hiking, Scenic Drive

We have journeyed to Southern Utah near the Arizona border and we are enjoying the beautiful weather. Enjoying Fika with our old friends at River Rock Roasting in La Verkin. Camping in the Dixie NF under breathtaking night sky. Phenomenal scenery, hiking and scrambling! Not sure what else to say…..life is good. 0065,0066,0067,0068,0069

Red Cliff Recreation Area

09DA180B-231B-4FB4-B059-C8F2079480C4 — **Red Reef, Leeds, Utah**

Dixie NF, Silver Reef, Utah

Fish Lake NF, Kanosh, UT

C7AD9FE6-38BA-4804-88F4-B2DCDF3643D5 — **La Barba Coffee, Draper, Utah**

Craters of the Moon National Monument

06/10/201809/10/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Camping, Caving, Hiking, National Park, Scenic Drive

We did an overnight at CMNM which is in Eastern Idaho about 20 miles west of Arco. This is a 752,000 acre monument and wilderness area. This massive tract was once an area of significant volcanic activity and features huge lava fields, spatter cones and the remnants of a number of smaller volcanoes. This monument is so otherworldly that NASA sends astronauts to train here for Moon and Mars walks. We also did some caving in several lava tube caves which were formed by underground molten lava flows. 0058,0059

Grand Teton National Park

05/10/201804/10/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Camping, Hiking, National Park, Scenic Drive, Wildlife

GTNP is a small NP compared to YNP. The dozen or so peaks that exceed 12,000 feet are a spectacular sight rising straight up from the floor of the Jackson Hole with no foothills. The park is abundant with Elk and Moose feeding along the Snake River.

Over the last several years hundreds of miles of mountain bike trails and paved trails have been added all around the Jackson Hole. You can ride your bike from Jackson all the way to and through way the park. This area is really becoming a biking meca. Aditionally, there are a number of excellent hiking trails of which we were able to take advantage of with the mild day time temperatures and dry conditions.

The town of Jackson has become very touristy and pricey. There has been a considerable influx of foreign tourists coming in large bus convoys. The good news is that despite all the crowds you can still find relative solitude on the trails since most of these groups hop on and off the buses to take photos and then move to the next scenic look out. Can’t help but feel sometimes that the more popular parks feel Disney like in the way they now have to manage transportation and crowds to accommodate up to four million visitors a year. Some of the parks are way to small to handle these numbers and now have waits of hours to get a shuttle into the park.

Excited to be heading west into Idaho to spend some time at several unique national monuments that require backcounty travel capability.

678346A2-3289-4571-BA5B-680F91D13932 — **Taggert Lake**

FEDBF5BA-A00E-49B6-8D55-95714D1B1AB4 — **Bald Eagle Snake River**

EDDB4A44-4385-4DBC-B4D4-EE972EE41F65 — **Bird Watching at Snake River**

Big Horn National Forest and Yellowstone National Park

01/10/201820/05/2020 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Camping, Hiking, National Park, Scenic Drive, Wildlife

We traveled through Big Horn NF on our way to Yellowstone NP. The weather in Big Horn was cold and windy but we managed to hike out to the Medicine Wheel. The Medicine Wheel is a sacred site for Native Americans, constructed by Plains Indians between 300 and 800 years ago. The various spokes of the circle align to astronomical events.

The weather at Yellowstone NP was cool but mostly dry, so we were able to complete a number of hikes and drive the park loop roads.

We made the obligatory visit to Old Faithful Geyser to see the eruption which we have to say is pretty cool. The thermal activity throughout the park is spectacular, especially in the morning when the air is cool.

Grizzly Bears were out and about while we were in the park. Many folks seem disappointed not to have seen a Grizzly up close however, they clearly do not understand the danger of an encounter with a Grizzly. We did have a terrific view from a safe distance of a female Grizzly by the lake. We also had to wait on one trail while park law enforcement drove off a Grizzly by firing blank shotgun rounds – a little too close for comfort.

The night time temperatures are dipping consistently under freezing so we are heading south towards warmer weather.

3777E09A-C589-4F74-A2E8-9057AA67ABE4 — **Medicine Mountain**

Medicine Wheel

Medicine Wheel

664432D7-7D4A-4A2B-A0BA-D351072191B6 — **Yellowstone Canyon**

DE3665F6-108C-4BE2-BF07-CEEFFC9C84E8 — **Lower Falls Yellowstone River**

Sheridan, Wyoming

28/09/201806/09/2022 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Camping, Cities, Coffee, Dining, Museum, Scenic Drive

Enjoying great weather as we journey west towards Yellowstone National Park. We spent a couple of days in Sheridan. This is truely cowboy country. Saloons abound along Main Street along with sellers and manufacturers of everything related to horses – saddles, bridles, bits, blankets, etc. This is ranch, horse and rodeo country.

We were fortunate to be able to stay at the Sheridan Inn while in Sheridan. The Inn first opened in 1893 and was home to Buffalo Bill Cody for a number of years. Cody would audition potential new acts for his wild west show on the large expanse of front lawn at the inn.

Western towns typically have alleys and narrow lanes running behind store fronts. We have learned to wander around in these spaces as they often are art spaces and living spaces. Sheridan proved productive in that regard. 0050,0051