More Lee’s Ferry

We took another great hike down the lower Cathedral Wash trail, which is actually in the Grand Canyon National Park.

It is a fairly gradual grade down the wash to the Colorado  River. Much of it was easy walking but there was quite a bit of rock scrambling. We nearly turned around when we came to at least a 20 foot drop, but we saw another couple coming back up the wash and watched how they climbed up to where we were.

We were able to get down without too much trouble and made it to the river. Jim lost a little skin on one knee but it was worth it.

Yesterday Jim and I rode our bikes to the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado. The old bridge is a pedestrian bridge, so you can walk out over the river.

Last year we saw several California condors there, but we only saw one this year, and we still haven’t seen one fly.

We did see a crowd of people at the far end of the bridge, and as we got closer realized they were bungee jumping. I’m sure it is quite a rush, but I could barely watch. Jim got some pretty good pictures of one of them.

Today we left Lee’s Ferry for a beautiful drive to Zion National Park. We got a really early start for us (before 8), and the sun was shining just right on the Vermillion Cliffs along the way.

We forgot what a climb it was to Jacob’s Lake, at almost 8000 feet, where you intersect the road to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. And there was lots of snow at that elevation, so the road was still closed for the winter. May be another month or more before it is open.

Zion is every bit as beautiful as we remembered and we’re looking forward to spending the next two weeks here.

You Gotta Love the Weekend Campers

Need I say more?

Lee’s Ferry Hike

Yesterday we hiked up the Spencer trail, supposedly a 2.2 mile climb to a plateau with great views. The views were stunning, but we never made it to the top due to chickening out as the trail got steeper and rockier after an hour an 15 minutes of climbing. It still looked like a long way to the top, we were getting tired, and we knew it was going to be tricky getting down some of the steep parts.  Jim went up a little farther than I did. You can barely see my hat in the foreground. We were really high up!



The climb was definitely worth the effort for the views of the Colorado and the colorful rocks.

 

And we got to see our first Gila monster, and  a few other lizards.



After we got back, we watched the rafters go by in front of our site. We liked these with the umbrellas.

Lee’s Ferry, Marble Canyon, AZ

We left Dead Horse this morning and had an interesting drive north to Lee’s Ferry. It was quite a climb to Flagstaff, and really cold there when we stopped for gas. The San Francisco peaks kept coming in and out of sight as we neared Flagstaff.

We spent a couple nights here at Lee’s Ferry last year in early May but it was much more crowded and we didn’t have a very good site. When we arrived this afternoon there were only a few people here and 2 of the prime sites by the Colorado River were open. I think this has to be one of our best campsites yet, next to Muley Point in Utah. We can not only see the river but can hear the rapids below us. These are our views. It looks much better in real life.

We walked down to the raft launch for the Grand Canyon trips and were amazed at all the preparation and gear it takes for a 3 week raft trip. Looked like way too much work getting everything loaded.

This is really a beautiful place, even better than we remembered. Unfortunately we have reservations at Zion on the 18th, so we can only stay a few days.

One Last Sedona Hike

The wind was too strong for outdoor activities yesterday, but today was calm and pleasant so we took one more trip to Sedona. For those of you who think we eat nothing but pizza, we decided to branch out and eat at Mai Thai in Cottonwood. It had been recommended by some people in the bike club, and they were right. It was excellent Thai food. We had a stir fry of cashews, tofu, and veggies and Debbie had the Pad Thai. Jim even raved about it, and he doesn’t usually like Asian food.

Then we hiked the Coffee Pot trail, which starts in a  modest, older Sedona neighborhood. You quickly get away from civilization and the views begin. We saw lots of interesting rock formations, including Coffee Pot rock. Again, it was a stretch of the imagination, but it sort of looked like a percolator.

We’ve seen balanced rocks before but they are always fascinating.

I didn’t even see the tree at the top until I looked at the pictures.

Somebody had some fun with this one, lining up little rocks to make teeth.

As usual, the trail seemed to just end, unlike the trail guide said, so we had to turn around. It was still a nice hike, and we will definitely be back to this area.

More Hiking and Biking

Yesterday was a bit overcast when we hiked the Schuerman Mountain Trail near Sedona High School. It was a short trail but a pretty good climb and you could see all of Sedona. The picture isn’t good but you get the idea. The views were really breathtaking.
  Today we went on another bike ride with John the camp host and a fellow camper, Ed, who rode with us Friday. We toured around Cottonwood and the nearby town of Clarkdale. John was a good tour guide and we stopped at some overlooks where he told us a lot of  the history of the area. We forgot the camera so no photos today. We rode 22 miles and climbed lots of big hills.
This afternoon we had a visit from our Lazy Daze friends, John and Linda Leach, from Prescott, about 30 miles from here. We met them last year at the Southwest Lazy Daze get together in Tucson and again this year at Usery Mt.  Could be we’re prejudiced, but there are so many nice people who own Lazy Daze!

Goatheads

John, our camp host, invited us to the Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition’s Friday morning ride. This is a conversational ride that begins and ends at a coffee shop and is mainly made up of   a bunch of retired folks with various kinds of bikes: recumbents, road bikes, mountain bikes, etc.  And they ranged in age from the 50’s to the 80’s. They only ride 12-16 miles and there is a slow and fast group. We rode with the fast group and Debbie stayed with the slower group.
It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, and we forgot how much we missed our Saturday morning rides with the Blackwater Cyclists when we were living in Pensacola. After about 12 miles we stopped to regroup and use the restroom at the Cottonwood airport. Several people noticed they had “goatheads” in their tires. We quickly learned what they look like, and why they can so easily puncture a tire. We had stayed on pavement the whole time, so we weren’t sure where we got them.



We checked ours and sure enough I had one in my front tire, which I pulled out. Jim pulled out a couple from his, and when he got the last one out of his rear tire, air hissed out. Not a sound you want to hear.  As it turned out, I think 5 or 6 people had flat tires, so we changed and patched tubes.

Turned out mine was leaking slowly but I made it home before it went flat. They ended up cutting the ride short in order to get back to the cafe for some food and socializing, which is an important part of their ride. They also do some hiking together and invited us to meet them Sunday morning at 8, which is a bit too early for my dear husband.
It was a really nice group of people and  we enjoyed the lovely scenery. Coming down the long hill before the airport we had a great view of the heavily snow covered San Francisco peaks in Flagstaff.  Also enjoyed talking to a guy named Dennis, who actually designs and builds recumbent bikes. What a fun morning, in spite of all the flat tires!