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Mexico had been our Spring destination for the past five years, but family plans focused our thoughts on staying in the United States. Snow at higher elevations kept our plans from including a new altitude goal. Instead, we would experience the backcountry wilderness of Northern Arizona and Southeast Utah's canyon country. Our warm up hike was a climb up Camelback Mountain, the famous landmark just north of Sky Harbor in Phoenix. The 90 minute climb of the Cholla Trail produced spectacular views.
We were off Camelback by 9:00, stocked our cooler with provisions, bought stove fuel at a local camp store, and were off for canyon country by 11:00. Our objective was to make Monument Valley before the gates closed at 4:30. The 17 mile drive through this Navajo park could take hours and sunset is early in mid-March. Thankfully there is very, very little traffic in Northern Arizona and we paid our admission with minutes to spare. Our only stop was to gawk at the vivid contrast between the red of the desert soil and the blue of the sky. The "road" in this shot leads out to a homestead that hasn't changed for a hundred years.
If you've been to Monument Valley, you've seen this shot. If you've read about Monument Valley, you've seen this shot. If you've read about travelling in Utah, you've seen this shot. I've seen this shot a hundred times and it still moves me.
This would prove to be the best sunset of the trip. It was hard to tell if the barbed wire kept the horses, donkeys and cattle off the road, or us out of Monument Valley. Either way, it created a feeling of the Old West that helped unwind the mind.
One of our goals for this trip was to expand on our backcountry experience from our San Juan Trip. We traded mules for backpacks and a topo map and headed out onto Cedar Mesa. The Grand Gulch Wilderness is a mecca for backpackers, but once we left the trailhead, we might as well have been on the moon. Judging from the map, it was 20 miles to the nearest humans. The wind blew that night, but a roaring campfire kept us warm until bedtime. Our first night of unsupported backpacking was a success.
After a breakfast of toasted bagels, oatmeal and coffee, we hiked out and drove to Natural Bridges National Monument. This relaxing 9 mile hike passes under three of the highest natural bridges in the world. After a 400 foot descent into the canyon, the trail winds past ancient ruins and petroglyphs along the creek that formed the bridges.
We made it back to the Jimmy in time to avoid an afternoon shower and drove on to Moab, Utah. Once the home to Butch and Sundance's Hole in the Wall Gang, Moab is now a collection of rafters and slikrock bikers. We followed local advice and hiked the Negro Bill Canyon trail to Morning Glory Arch. This easy 5 mile round trip should be part of any visit to Moab.
Another Moab icon not to miss is Arches National Park. We had been here back in 1996 and I had always wanted to get a photo of Delicate Arch with the snowcapped La Sal Mountains as a backdrop. If it looks familiar, it should: Delicate Arch adorns the Utah license plate and a recent Rand McNally Atlas, among other things. For a few days around the Spring Equinox, the sun sets on Delicate Arch in a way illuminates both legs of the arch very uniformly. You have to climb a few hundred feet of slickrock along a 2 mile trail to get there, but it's worth it. To add to the experience, getting the sunset shot means hiking back to the truck after dark. Again, it's worth it.
