The American Southwest - Part 1
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(43 votes)
Published: May 02, 2000 12:00 a.m.
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Wednesday 22 June 1994: Awoke in a Phoenix hotel room; the TV forecast a high of 105, which explains why the hotel was empty - most sensible tourists visit in the cooler days of Autumn and the Spring. After a non-too interesting walk around the airport area (lots of dust and litter), we were driven by the Cruise America representative via a rather long and complicated journey to the suburb of Mesa, to collect our vehicle - a small camperhome-type RV with the living area fixed to the back of a pick-up truck. Full instructions were given, then we hit the road, stocked up with provisions ($100), left the city limits and drove north along AZ88 into the Superstition Mountains, home of many and varied legends about lost mines and lost miners. Here we saw our first saguaro cacti, and other exotic desert plants. There were several small lakes along the route which were pleasant enough, but full of noisy children and jetskiers - too close to the city.
The 25 mile road, known as the ’Apache Trail’, gradually became more scenic, with less traffic, but also deteriorated in quality, with many sharp bends and narrow stretches. Still, it provided a good test of the RV’s suspension. The accommodation part of the vehicle was secured to the pick-up truck only by 4 chains at each corner, and it tended to bounce alarmingly after only moderate bumps on the road. The trail culminated at the impressive Roosevelt Dam, which was undergoing some kind of reconstruction; a little north on AZ188 there was a good (free) campsite, near Roosevelt Lake, where we stayed the night. There was a full moon and stars overhead, with no other lights nearby - very relaxing.
Thursday 23 June 1994: A brief walk to the lake was rewarded by the sight of one heron and several jumping fish. Continuing north on AZ188, the terrain changed quite quickly from the relatively barren cacti country (which was still very striking) to thick fir and pine forests around Payson. Roads 260 and 87 and led us to the Indian cliff dwelling of Montezuma Castle National Monument, one of those places I had seen before in photos, but never known where it was. Its really impressive, especially the scale of it (five storeys), but climbing up is not allowed, so after looking for a few minutes, there is not much else to do. Naturally, the place is commercialised; entry is through the obligatory gift shop. However, there is quite a good small museum as well, with specimens of preserved insects, Indian relics and geology.
After getting temporarily lost in Campe Verde (a very sleepy Indian village, where the roads soon turned into dirt tracks), we came to Montezuma Well, actually a collapsed flooded limestone cavern, which was free. Saw some turtles and a tame squirrel but not much else. Apparently the ’well’ is really deep (over 100 feet?), but swimming isn’t allowed. On the other side of IS17, the town of Jerome was reputedly a well-preserved mining town with the distinction of having mainly wooden houses which were built on stilts. I found it a bit disappointing - lots of souvenir shops selling ’Indian’ artefacts and expensive ear-rings, and I couldn’t see any stilts. Still, the view acrosss the valley below was good. We passed the Tuzigoot National Monument (more ancient dwellings) on US89A without paying a visit and turned off towards Red Rock, probably one of at least 100 places with such a name. After a mile or two, the road became a rocky track to Nowhere, but we managed to find a parking place for the night, with an uninterrupted view of the red hills around. Surprisingly, several other cars did go by - must have been some party somewhere, but nobody seemed to mind we that were camping there.
Friday 24 June 1994: We woke up at 5.30, not having completely adjusted to American time, but woken by the sound of someone jogging past. Continued north to Sedona, beyond which the valley became dramatically narrower as we entered Oak Creek Canyon - very scenic. Near the head of the canyon, on the left, is Slide Rocks Recreation area (not free), where Oak Creek flows down a series of smooth rocks with some deep pools, which is ideal for swimming and, of course, sliding, in the water. A good place if you don’t mind sharing with thousands of other noisy people. If possible, climb up the canyon walls a bit - after 100 metres or so there is a flat area with magnificent views of the Creek (and people) below. I didn’t see any black bears though. Road 89A twists and turns up at the end of the canyon, and our vehicle was reduced to 15 mph in some parts. Luckily there are some passing points At the top there is a viewpoint of the road down, which is probably more spectacular if first seen when travelling south; the road between here and Flagstaff is relatively flat and tree-lined.
Flagstaff, Arizona is seen (in England at least) as being an archetypal distant, desert town far from anywhere, which one will never visit. So it was good to pass through, even though it seemed a perfectly normal place, although with a railway which divides the town in half and quite a few one-way streets, making navigation rather difficult. As with many towns in these parts, there are high mountains as a backdrop to the buildings, which looks quite spectacular. Before driving to the Grand Canyon, we visited Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, about ten miles NE. This was a real contrast to the surroundings, with great expanses of black twisted lava flow, with the cone of the an volcano rising above. A signposted half hour walk passes identified various features of interest around the foot of the volcano, including the Ice Cave. This apparently remains below zero all year, and the air coming from it certainly seemed very cold, in contrast to the 100 degrees outside. At the time, entry to the cave was not permitted. A little further along the road, there was a view of the Painted Desert in the distance, but we turned back before Wupatki National Monument (lots of ruins), went through Flagstaff again at Rush hour (listening to the Limbaugh show), and then north on US180, through Alpine-like meadows and forests of Ponderosa and Maripose pine. Parked at the Grand Canyon RV site, too late for sunset over the canyon, but in time for a meal at Denny’s.
Saturday 25 June 1994: We tried to get up early enough to enter the Grand Canyon National Park without paying, but were just too late, arriving at the entrance point just after 8 am. The approach road seemed to go on a long time, but eventually we arrived. I had been here the year before, but still the sight was awesome. Yavapai Point was our first viewpoint, along with a coachload of elderly Americans who had managed to walk the few yards from their transport to the edge of the abyss, but were keen to get back to their coach for a rest. We progressed westwards along the perimeter road, parked near the railway terminus, picked up more water supplies from a handy public tap and went to the Bright Angel trailhead, where a chipmunk conveniently posed for a photo. Strolled past the signs warning of heat exposure and death, laughing at all the exhausted climbers struggling back up, and began the journey down. After 2 hours, we had passed Rest Station 1 and the temperature had risen at least 10 degrees since the top, so it was time to return - this took at least 3 hours and was much harder than we expected. The Lodge at the bottom of the canyon recorded 115 °F that day.
Bright Angel Trail
A more relaxing way to see the Canyon is to take the free shuttle buses; the West Rim bus, which travels on a road closed to public traffic, takes about 30 min to reach the farthest point west of the main road, Hermits Rest. We alighted the stop before (Pina Point) and had a pleasant, flat 1 mile walk through to the end, arriving to be congratulated by onlookers on our achievement, which was nothing! In the evening, we watched the sunset at a place on the East Rim drive with 999 American tourists, one of whom insisted on talking to us about English beer.
Sunday 26 June 1994: Next morning, another hot cloudless day, we went along the east rim drive - road 64, and stopped at Desert View to View Desert. This was the best place to see the canyon that we found; long vistas west and north along the Colorado, and east to the Painted Desert. There was a curio shop selling the usual cheap souveniers, an old stone-built watchtower (more money to go up) and the last gas station for a while. The road veered away from the Colorado, passing through forests at first, then across hilly scrubland, before descending towards US89, and back to barren desert. The Little Colorado River Gorge is worth a visit; most of the land is completely flat, but the river cuts a twisted narrow canyon across the plain.
A left turn at Cameron, and due north took us through the centre of the Painted Desert. Along with an area of southern Utah, around road 24 west of Hanksville, this part of Arizona looks most like another planet, with the multicoloured earth sculpted in many strange forms and stretching for miles and miles. About the only signs of any civilisation were the regular Indian jewellery stalls, many abandoned, but some with bored-looking Indians waiting for a chance visitor. As we approached the Colorado river crossing at Marble Canyon, the distant cliffs on either side came closer and more scenic. The bridge across the Colorado was being rebuilt at the time, but it was still spectacular. On the other side of the river, the road doubled back, and continued with the incredible Vermilion Cliffs to the right. Cliff Dwellers is a useful stop to fill up with gas, and to marvel at its setting.
The temperature here was 102 °F. Later, US89 turns away from the cliffs and becomes perfectly straight for about 10 miles, before climbing abruptly towards the Kaibab Plateau. A viewpoint gives magnificent views eastwards towards the flat desert towards the Colorado; soon after this the surroundings change once again to forest as the elevation steadily increases. We turned left at Jacob Lake (no sign of either Jacob or a lake) passing through thick pine forests and across grassy meadows and reached the north rim of the Grand Canyon by early evening. This I found a little disappointing, the view was only of a side-canyon, and the weather was not ideal, being a bit cloudy. At least there were many fewer people than at the south rim - the guidebook says that only one in ten visit the north.
Another road continued for 25 miles to the Cape Royale viewpoint but the journey took almost an hour due to the sharp bends and hills. A short walk led us from the carpark to the canyon edge, in the company of many people waiting hopefully for a sunset. In the distance, the watchtower of Desert View on the south rim was just visible, and beyond the San Francisco mountains north of Flagstaff could be seen. This would have been the perfect place to watch the sun go down alone, with majestic views in both directions, but there was no sun, lots of people, we were tired and were not allowed to park our RV overnight within the National Park. After a speedy (as possible) trip back up the entrance road we found a logging track leading into the forests where we could stay the night, in the company of some other campers and quite a few deer. |
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