Sedona - Feb 2014 | Zion & Cedar Breaks - June 2014 | Lots of parks - Feb 2015 | Sedona - May 2015 | Lots of parks - August 2016 | Things to do in Sedona |
In June, I finished work at the
flight-line and drove north after work, heading for Zion National Park.
I stopped for a few hours in Las Vegas that evening, and then
made it as far as a hotel in Mesquite, Nevada, which is about an hour
and half from Zion. I woke up and immediately drove to the
Kolob
Canyons visitor center (B), with the intention to hike to Kolob
Arch.
Kolob Canyons is to the west and separated from the main
section
of Zion National Park. The hike out to Kolob Arch is 7 miles
one-way, and while the 14 mile round-trip hike can be done in one day,
I wanted to break it up into two days. There are a bunch of
campsites along the trail, next to La Verkin Creek. I made reservations
for one of them, and then drove north 30 minutes to Cedar City (C) to buy
some food for the overnight trip. I returned to Kolob Canyons
(D) and
hiked 5.5 miles to my campsite that evening. I set up my
tent,
had dinner, and spent sunset walking along and through La Verkin Creek
in my flip-flops to cool off. The next morning, I pulled out my day-pack from my main pack, left the campsite set up, and hiked the last 1.5 miles to Kolob Arch. I spent a couple hours exploring and taking photos from different angles, and then returned the 1.5 miles back to my campsite. After putting my tent away and eating a quick snack, I hiked 5.5 miles back to my rental car. I arrived back to my car just after noon. |
I drove north to Cedar City, had lunch, and then drove up into the mountains above Cedar City to Cedar Breaks National Monument (E). Cedar Breaks is at the very top of the Grand Staircase, up at 10,000 feet. It can best be described as small version of Bryce Canyon, but it has much more vertical relief in relation to its total area.
After spending some time at several viewpoints, I headed east and down off the top of the plateau, then south to Mt Carmel Junction (F), and finally back west into the main section of Zion National Park along the Mt Carmel road. The views are always incredible in this section of the park, and I took lots of photos, before heading down into the main canyon through the tunnel.
I had dinner in
Springdale (G) right outside the park entrance, at
Pizza & Noodles, a restaurant our family found many years ago and
have always tried to visit whenever we are in Zion.
The view while
eating on the front porch of Pizza & Noodles is almost as good as the
food. I had planned to hike the
West Rim Trail from Lava Point all the way down to the Grotto the
following day, but the overnight hike to Kolob Arch had given me enough
blisters that I cancelled the West Rim hike plans. I spent the night at
a hotel in Hurricane and the next day in Las Vegas instead.
The blisters had done me in, and that was it for the Grand Staircase on
this trip. I thought with a little more planning and a lot of driving,
I could see much more on my next flight test to Yuma. I got my chance in
February 2015, over President's Day weekend, to make a longer driving
trip to a bunch of parks.
Zion
National Park (B), Saturday, 14 Feb 2015 - night photos in Zion Canyon - camp in car - Friday night - Angels Landing hike, GoPro video of climb and descent - Mt Carmel Road Bryce Canyon National Park (C), Saturday, 14 Feb 2015 - Inspiration Point - Sunset Point for sunset (!) - Bryce Canyon Inn - Saturday night Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument (D - E - F), Sunday, 15 Feb 2015 - passed by Kodachrome Basin State Park on the way to... - Grosvenor Arch (D), then to Escalante - Escalante River Canyon Head Of The Rocks Overlook and drive across the canyon (E) - across "The Hogback" into Boulder, UT - Burr Trail Road from Boulder, UT to Long Canyon (F) to ... Capitol Reef National Park (G - H), Sunday, 15 Feb 2015 - switchbacks down into Waterpocket Fold (G) - north along Waterpocket Fold to Notom (H) Then north and east to Hanksville, UT (I) and south to ... Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (J), Sunday, 15 Feb 2015 - Colorado River viewpoint high above the river across from Hite - sunset on Sunday evening - across the Colorado River and southeast to ... Natural Bridges National Monument (K), Sunday - Monday, 15 - 16 Feb 2015 - night photos of stars looking through Owachomo Bridge - camp in campground in tent - Sunday night - morning photos of all 3 bridges - Sipapu, Kachina, Owachomo Then south to Moki Dugway on Utah state route 261. GoPro video of descent. Valley Of The Gods (L), Monday, 16 Feb 2015 - GoPro aerial video from my BlueWing flying wing, two flights Goosenecks State Park (M), Monday, 16 Feb 2015 - entrenched meanders of the San Juan River To Mexican Hat, then past Monument Valley - took the famous photo along the road entering Monument Valley driving south, continuing on to ... Grand Canyon National Park (N - O), Monday, 16 Feb 2015 - East Rim - Watchtower (N) - Grandview Point - West Rim - Hopi Point - sunset on Monday evening (O) |
Google Maps Route |
Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, Grosvenor Arch
Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, Escalante River Canyon - Head Of
The Rocks Overlook
Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, Escalante River Canyon - Calf
Creek Overlook
Then I drove
to
Natural
Bridges, and set up my tent in the dark around 7:30. After I
was
set up,
I drove to the third bridge in the monument, Owachomo Bridge, where I
hiked down to the bridge and spent about and hour
and half
taking night photos of the stars through the bridge from all angles. I
was very
neat to be sitting under the bridge in the total dark, all by myself
with
nothing but the bright stars above. Natural Bridges is listed
as
the darkest place in the continental United States, perfect for
star-gazing. The moon did not rise until well into the morning, so the
stars were very bright that evening and there was no light pollution.
Finally
I made it back to my tent, and into my
supposed -20 deg sleeping bag. It is a new bag, and I had not
tested that
temperature rating yet; I don’t think it is actually -20, as I got a
little
cold. The outside temp dropped into the low 20’s, so it was a
bit
nippy.
Natural Bridges National Monument, Kachina Bridge Overlook - bridge at
lower right
Grand Canyon National Park, Grandview Point Overlook
So now I was at the South Rim on Monday evening, and had to be back in Yuma for work on Tuesday morning. I drove and drove, and finally made it to Yuma at about 1:30 AM. I got a few hours sleep, and was at the flight-line at 6 AM. Thanks goodness I was at work – now I could rest.
I had flight test for almost three months in April, May, and June 2015, and Tami flew out to join me for two weeks in the middle of the trip. She flew into San Diego, where I met her and we spent the first weekend. She came back to Yuma with me, then we went to Phoenix and Sedona for the second weekend, before going back to Yuma again. Finally we drove to Las Vegas for the third weekend and then Tami flew home from there, while I returned to Yuma for several more weeks of work. We rented an ATV for one afternoon in Sedona, and had fun on the northwest side of town on a couple off-road tracks, before driving up and down Schnebly Hill Road. On our first trip to Sedona in 2009, we took our personal Acura MDX up Schnebly Hill Road, but would not do that now. The road seems to be a lot rougher than it used to be. The map to the right shows our route for the 4 hours we had the ATV, taken from a Google Tracks .kmz recording done on my phone. Here is a YouTube video link to the last portion of our off-roading adventure; down Schnebly Hill Road. |
We picked our hotel in Sedona partly for its close proximity to the Elote Cafe, so we could walk home after consuming lots of incredible food and margaritas. On our very first trip to Sedona, the owner and chef delivered the Elote appetizer, but that has not happened again until this trip on our second night of dining at Elote. We stayed at the Inn Above Oak Creek; the inn is right on the water at Oak Creek, just down a short distance from the traffic circle that branches off for Schnebly Hill Road. If you stay in Sedona, you can't go wrong with that place - the people who run it are friendly and it seems like home while you are there. There are only a dozen rooms; a couple of the views below are right from our balcony. We kept running into the inn keeper around town (we were not following him) and every time we happily greeted each other by first name.
August 2016 - Lots of parks (again) in southern Utah and Sedona
This trip was very similar to the February 2015 trip, but I hiked totally new paths at all locations, and visited new places that I had never been in each park.
Zion National Park, Utah -
Saturday, 20 August 2016 Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah -
Saturday, 20 August 2016 Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, Utah - Sunday, 21
August 2016 Capitol Reef National
Park, Glen Canyon National Rec Area, Utah - Sunday, 21 August 2016 Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
- Monday, 22 August 2016 Muley Point - view from Cedar Mesa
overlooking San Juan River Sedona, Arizona -
Monday, 22 August 2016 |
I headed north after work on Friday and made it to Zion National Park in the late evening. I took some night shots and camped in the park that night.
On Saturday morning, I woke up to find the moon hanging low over the canyon walls, and a mountain goat up the rocks a short distance from the road.
I hiked almost five miles (one-way) up The Narrows along the Virgin River, then turned around and hiked back out.
I then drove to Bryce Canyon National Park for sunset at Sunset Point, but there were lots of clouds so the sunset colors were not great.
I had decided to hike Peek-A-Boo slot canyon on Sunday, so I drove to Escalante and then about 26 miles down Hole In The Rock Road and camped Saturday evening at the trailhead for Dry Fork. I was all by myself in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the beautiful open skies and absolute silence. I got up on Sunday morning and hiked down to Dry Fork, through the Dry Fork slot canyon, back up along the opposite rim, and then down through Peek-A-Boo slot canyon. I should have done Spooky slot canyon while I was there, but missed that, so I will do that on my next trip.
After returning to the car, I drove 35 miles more southeast to the end of the road, all the way to Hole In The Rock. I also stopped at Dance Hall Rock. I had a high clearance 2 wheel drive SUV rental car; it was just barely up the task of making it to the end of the road and back. I headed north, back to Escalante and then through the Escalante Canyon to Boulder and finally to Torrey.
I had dinner in Torrey watching sunset across the rocks of Capitol Reef above Fruita. I then headed east and south, through Capitol Reef National Monument and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on the way to Natural Bridges National Monument, where I camped for the night. There was a thunderstorm in the distance as I reached the viewpoint high above the Colorado River across from Hite, Utah.
I got up on Monday, and drove around to the three bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument, hiking down to Owachomo Bridge.
I drove south down the Moki Dugway, first driving out to Muley Point for some incredible views of Monument Valley and the San Juan River meanders. After passing through Mexican Hat, by Monument Valley, and through Kayenta, I drove south to Sedona, where I spent a few hours. I continued south to Yuma, all the way across Arizona. I had work the next morning, so I did not stop anywhere else on the way back.
http://chrisgood.co/summer_2009/index.html - 24 - 25 July – stayed for two nights, Pink Jeep Tour – Broken Arrow, Elote Café
http://chrisgood.co/parks/Grand_Canyon_August_2011/index.html#Sedona – passing through on the way from Grand Canyon to Pheonix, short hikes
http://chrisgood.co/summer_2012/index.html - 3 - 5 Aug 2012 – stayed for three night, short hikes, rented a dune buggy, Elote Café
http://chrisgood.co/parks/Grand_Canyon_September_2013/index.html#Sedona – passing through on the way from Grand Canyon to Pheonix, driving around for short hikes
http://chrisgood.co/Grand_Staircase_2014-2016/index.html - two visits
http://chrisgood.co/parks/Grand_Canyon_March_2017/index.html – stayed for two night through on the way from Grand Canyon to Pheonix, rent some ATVs (from the same place we rented the dune buggy in 2012), Elote Café
Do you see a pattern here for the Elote Café ?
Dune buggy and ATV rental : we have rented a 5 person dune buggy and 1 person ATVs from here:
We rented a 2 person dune buggy from here:
If you rent a dune buggy, try some trails out to the northwest of town, one route goes out to the Honanki Heritage Site, which has some neat ancient cliff dwellings:
Schnebly Hill Road – need a good high clearance 4WD, probably not worth it for Pink Jeep Tour but try it if you rent a dune buggy, great views of east side of town, off-road section starts here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.8659279,-111.7484532,376m/data=!3m1!1e3
Schuerman Mountain hike – starts at Sedona High School , great views of Cathedral Rock, about 3 miles round trip
Pink Jeep Tour – Broken Arrow (!), tours start here:
Broken Arrow route starts here:
Elote Café – fantastic food and margaritas, order the Elote appetizer (very good, sometime the chef brings it out to your table), pork carnitas and margaritas are great, Tequila flight with tomato juice chaser (!) – it might not sound quite right but the tomato juice chaser makes it extra good:
We also like the food at the Coffee Pot Restaurant (breakfast all day):
Slide Rock State Park – slide down a natural water slide, 6 miles north of town along Oak Creek Canyon
Bell Rock hike – go as high as you want, 1 – 2 miles + light climbing, great views, hike begin at Courthouse Vista parking area
Airport Saddle Viewpoint (“Sedona Airport Vortex”) – hike of a couple hundred yards – great views
Airport Sunset View - great views to the west at sunset
Main shopping area:
We have stayed at several places, and all were very nice:
Our favorite place to stay is the Inn On Oak Creek and our favorite restaurant is the Elote Café.