Vermillion Cliffs and Marble Canyon

Leaving McHood park on Oct 25, we drove north toward Kanab, Utah.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

We had the intention of signing up for the lottery for a permit to hike to "The Wave", the very colorful Paria canyon of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National park.

North from Flagstaff, AZ US-89 swings east toward Page, AZ.  We chose to travel west on US-89A.  We had already been through Page a couple of times on previous trips.  While US-89 travels on the top of the plateau; US-89A travels along the base of the Vermillion Cliffs through Marble Canyon crossing the Colorado River downstream from Page at Lees Ferry.

Lees Ferry is named after the ferry boat service that was there circa 1890-1910.  The ferry was replaced in 1928 by the Navaho bridge (an engineering marvel at the time).  Until the bridge and dam were built at Page in the 1970s; the ferry and its bridge successor was the only way to cross the Colorado river for over 150miles in either direction.

After touring the bridge, we enjoyed a quick lunch in the parking lot of the bridge visitor center.

Driving on the west we found a trail head parking lot on a National Forest road a few miles east of Jacobs Lake. We spent the night there with virtually no passing cars of fellow campers.  Very quiet, very dark.

The next day we stopped to do some laundry in the small town of Fredonia, UT.  Going on to the BLM visitor center in Kanab, UT; we found that the lottery for "the wave" was only issuing ten passes each morning for approx 130 applicants.  We decided that our chances of a permit was slim and that it was not worth the wait (of likely many days) to get our names drawn.

We found a nice RV park about 17mile to the west on the Kaibab-Piaute reservation.  Full hook-ups at $25 per day.

Petrified Forest National Park

After resupplying in Farmington, we headed south toward Gallup NM.  In Gallup, we found a super Walmart and spent the night in the parking lot along with many other trucks and RVs.  It was a fairly comfortable stay, but noisy since I-40 was very close.

In the morning we paid a visit to Petrified Forest National Park.  We had passed by this park two or three times on previous trips, but never took the time to stop. The park spanned by a twenty mile road with a number of pull-outs.

The road passes through the Painted Desert, a red soil badlands area..  We took some pictures. But the light was not  right to really show the bright colors.

There were several pull-outs with areas littered with huge petrified wood logs. Two of the stops had nice walking trails where you could see the wood close-up.  One nice thing about this park is that it is dog friendly.  Most national parks do not allow dogs on the trails.

 One would think they are wooden logs.  All are solid rock.

 Mya wants to check out the raven.

 200 million years ago many of these trees had to be at least 100 feet tall!

 The logs that are full agatized  can be quite colorful polishing into great looking gemstones.  Many retain the pattern of the growth rings appearing like real wood.

After touring  the park the, we rejoined I-40 and drove to a city park near Winslow, Arizona.  Since it was late in the day we bypassed the turnout for Meteor Crator which will have to await a future trip.


 

The McHood park just south of Winslow is located on the shores of a small lake.  The park is free for a stay of up to 14 days.  The sites are roomy with at least 30 no hookup sites.  It's a perfect price if your rig is equipped for boondocking.

We spent two days at McHood campground.

Angel Peak New Mexico

The Angel Peak area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  The no hook up campground is at the end of a 7 mile gravel road.  Like most BLM areas, the camping is free for up to a 14 day stay. There were only three other rigs parked when we arrived.

The peaceful desolation and stark beauty of the these badlands is spectacular.

We stayed three days.  I would have liked to fly the drone and to hike along the ridge toward the peak.  However, it was too windy for the drone and uncomfortably cold to enjoy the hike.

 It was otherwise a pleasant stay with almost total silence at night.  The stars at night were really bright with virtually none of the urban light pollution we've grown used to in metropolitan areas.

Mya really had fun since her leash was unncessary.

On October 21st we left Angel Peak for Farmington to top up on fuel, propane, and water.

Tent Rocks

After over a week of boondocking at the Balloon Fiesta, we spend several days at the Cochiti Lake Army Corp of Engineers campground.  It was a comfortable concrete site with 30amp electric and water hookups. A bargain at $10/da (with senior discount).

 We visited nearby Santa Fe twice, but did not do much of  the tourist-type of exploring.  We simply walked the old town area taking a few pictures and did some shopping to resupply our pantry.

 

 The St Francis of Assisi church.

While at Cochiti Lake we also visited the nearby Tent Rocks National Monument.  The monument, in addition to its unique rock hoodos, is considered a spiritual place by native americans.

There are two short trails in the monument.  We picked the more difficult 1.5 mile slot canyon trail.  The slot canyon required several scrambles over rock obstructions and a climb of about 600feet.

 Trees cling to life in the washed out canyon.

 One of the many rock scrambles.

The canyon narrows in several places, but was dry.

Not an easy climb for two people in their seventies.

The view from the top made it worth the effort.  You can see Cochiti Lake in the distance to the north.

After several days at Cochiti we broke camp and headed north toward Farmington, New Mexico.