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Tag: historic route 66

The Grand Canyon: Pipe Creek to Diamond CreekThe Grand Canyon: Pipe Creek to Diamond Creek

The Grand Canyon: Pipe Creek to Diamond Creek

Wednesday – Wednesday, April 8-15, 2026 | Low CFS: 8,030 – High CFS: 8,660

Less than a week after returning from a great rafting trip through the Grand Canyon from Lees Ferry to Pipe Creek Beach at the bottom of the Bright Angel Trail last year, I called up and booked the second half of the trip for April of this year so Diane and I could finish what we had started. Although Arizona River Runners wasn’t running their usual Hiker’s Special trip this spring, their sister company Grand Canyon Whitewater was offering the same trip, so we booked with them since it’s the same company- just with a different name on the sides of the rafts. On this trip we would be hiking down the Bright Angel Trail and then following the current of the Colorado River all the way down to Diamond Creek over the course of seven days, and we were looking forward to seeing this part of the canyon! However, as I have mentioned in the previous two Trip Reports, I had been battling a pretty bad cold for the past week and a half and was finally getting over it right as we left to drive to Arizona on Wednesday, so I was a little concerned about the hike down into the canyon since I hadn’t been able to do much hiking for the past couple of weeks, but I figured it would be OK since the hiking was all downhill…

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Walnut Canyon National Monument & Keyhole SinkWalnut Canyon National Monument & Keyhole Sink

Walnut Canyon National Monument & Keyhole Sink

An Easy Day Around Flagstaff | Thursday, April 10, 2025

After spending the last five days on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and then hiking out via the Bright Angel Trail yesterday, it was time for a rest day out of the record heat that had arrived in the southwest. When I first booked this river trip I had originally planned to drive home today so we could get back to work on Friday, but earlier this year I managed to get us signed up for another Crack-In-Rock Pueblo hike at Wupatki National Monument on Saturday, so we needed to stick around Flagstaff for a couple more days instead. Although we mainly wanted to rest and relax today, we had a few hours in the afternoon while we were between check-out and check-in times at different hotels, so we headed out on a few easy local hikes to pass the time.

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Tapamveni: Rock Art of the Petrified Forest & BeyondTapamveni: Rock Art of the Petrified Forest & Beyond

Tapamveni: Rock Art of the Petrified Forest & Beyond

Presidents Day Weekend | Thursday – Monday, February 13-17, 2025

This year for the extended Presidents Day weekend I took an extra day off from work so I could spend four days in and around Petrified Forest National Park hiking and searching for petroglyphs. As I was driving across the Navajo Nation through a storm on Thursday evening I was a little bit worried that the rain would muddy up the roads I needed to drive and alter my plans, but I lucked out and all the roads were somehow completely dry during the remainder of the weekend. The only weather I would only have to deal with was a constant and brutal wind on Friday that made holding my binoculars and camera steady a real challenge at times. Aside from hiking to new places and finding many new petroglyphs along the way, I also revisited a couple of sites that I wanted to search more thoroughly. These are some photos from my holiday weekend in the Palavayu.

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The Painted Desert: Land of Light and ShadowThe Painted Desert: Land of Light and Shadow

The Painted Desert: Land of Light and Shadow

Homolovi State Park & Petrified Forest National Park
Saturday – Monday, January 13-15, 2024

For about a year now, Diane and I have been making pretty solid plans to spend most of the upcoming week in Grand Canyon National Park. Since we would be passing right through the Painted Desert on our way there, we were also looking forward to spending a couple of days in the Petrified Forest along the way. We certainly could never have predicted that after our first visit to Petrified Forest National Park in 2020 we would fall in love with exploring this amazing place and have now returned each year for the past five years. With so many places still left to explore in the park, we are hoping to keep the trend going well into the future!

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Petroglyphs of the Painted DesertPetroglyphs of the Painted Desert

Petroglyphs of the Painted Desert

Petrified Forest National Park | Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit
Tuesday – Wednesday, May 24-25, 2022

After our half-day Jeep tour in Canyon del Muerto on Monday, it was time to spend a pair of days hiking in the backcountry of Petrified Forest National Park, which has quickly become one of our favorite places to explore over the past couple of years. Since the park does not open until 8:00am, we were able to sleep in a little later this morning before leaving Holbrook and driving over to the entrance. Once we arrived, the first thing we did was stop in at the temporary Painted Desert Visitor Center and grabbed a backpacking wilderness permit, since it’s a great place to spend the night. Then we headed off in search of petroglyphs for the rest of the morning and early afternoon, and we found a lot!

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