Last year while I was reading A Canyon Voyage by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh about the second Powell Expedition that went down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1871 and 1872, the text also spoke of their time spent reconnoitering and triangulating throughout the strip of land that is found north of the Grand Canyon and south of Utah state line, which is what motivated me to return to the Arizona Strip this year so I could could explore some of the peaks, plateaus and highpoints of this expansive region for myself. I also figured that this would make for a great extension of my exploration of the High Plateaus of Utah by continuing south through the Grand Staircase to the plateaus of the Grand Canyon District. So after leaving the Kaibab Plateau behind, Jared and I took off south across the Kanab Plateau from Fredonia on Monday afternoon and set out to spend the rest of the week making our way across the Arizona Strip. However, with temperatures much warmer than usual for this time of the year all over the southwest, we ended up taking it easy, relaxing in the shade at higher elevations as much as possible and having to cancel some of our hiking plans that it was just too hot for. Still, this was a great introduction of the plateaus of the Grand Canyon and I look forward to returning in the future to finish the hikes we couldn’t do this time around.
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Fall Colors along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Saturday – Monday, September 28-30, 2024
After spending the preceding week on an amazing rafting trip through the Canyon of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument, our group got off the river in the early afternoon on Friday and I made it home a few hours after that. Then I spent the rest of the evening unloading all my river gear and packing up my car-camping gear into the Jeep so I could leave on Saturday morning to spend a full week along the Arizona Strip and North Rim of the Grand Canyon with my friend Jared. Although we typically spend this first week in October wandering around Southern Utah, every so often we like to change it up and venture a little further south into Arizona. Thankfully we decided to begin our trip with a couple days on the Kaibab Plateau because it happened to be very warm all over the southwest this week and at least it was a little bit cooler up at these higher elevations. Plus, we got really lucky with the timing of our trip and managed to see the peak of the fall colors on display while we were up on the Kaibab Plateau, too!
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Veterans Day Weekend | Wednesday – Saturday, November 10-13, 2021
I can hardly believe that it’s been over three years since I last set foot on the Esplanade in 2018! Back in 2019 Diane and I took the year off from visiting the North Rim so we could finally go see the Waterfalls of Havasu Canyon on the other side of the Grand Canyon, and then in 2020 we cancelled our planned trip due to the weather forecast and other things we needed to get done at home. I’ve been looking forward to getting back and was happy to finally return this extended Veterans Day weekend with Jerry. It felt great to be back on the Esplanade! The sky was clear and the high temperatures were in the 70’s while the lows at night were very comfortable in the 40’s. We even found some water in a couple shallow potholes. As usual, I’m not going to get into all the specific details of this trip, but I will share plenty of photos below. We found everything we were looking for and had a pretty great time, until we started climbing out of the canyon on Friday…
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Canyons of the Paria | Southern Utah Wanderings
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Over the years I’ve driven down the Cottonwood Road along The Cockscomb many times and have always skipped stopping at the Cottonwood Narrows along the way since I was usually on my way elsewhere and most likely in a hurry. However, after visiting the Paradise Slot in the morning and then returning to the Cottonwood Road, Jared and I both decided that it was finally time to stop and check out the Cottonwood Narrows! I have to wonder why I’ve never stopped here sooner because this narrow canyon was very nice with easy access, too. It’s no wonder that it’s such a popular place! There’s really not much else to say about this hike, so here are a bunch of photos I took as we hiked from the northern trailhead to the southern trailhead and then back again. It was a great little hike through this narrow section of Cottonwood Creek!
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The Hades Site | Veterans Day Weekend
Thursday – Sunday, November 8-11, 2018
Over the past couple of years I have been trying to spend a long weekend during the late fall searching for Grand Canyon Polychrome Pictographs on the Esplanade in the Grand Canyon. This year Diane and I met up with our friend Jerry and went on a three day – two night backpacking trip in search of the Hades Site. Diane and I left after work on Wednesday evening and spent the night in St. George so we could see if the ancient mug I found earlier this year was on display yet. Unfortunately, it was not on display when we stopped by the BLM Visitor Center on Thursday morning since it’s apparently in Cedar City right now for some reason, but at least we were able to sleep in later and not have to drive very far this morning.
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