We took a spur of the moment mini road-trip to Sedona over the weekend for a bit of hiking and relaxation. Our first hike was short, about 3.4 miles, to Devil’s Bridge. This is a popular hike and parking is nearly always full during the weekend. This would have been a shorter hike for us if we hadn’t had to park so far away. The trailhead is actually .7 miles away from the bridge & should have been a 1.4 mile round trip hike.
Part 6 of our Bryce Canyon Road Trip (View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)
Tuzigoot (Apache for “crooked water”) National Monument is a 2 story pueblo built by the Sinagua people around 1125 AD and occupied until about 1400 AD. Artifacts & info on how these agricultural people lived are contained in the small museum next to the ruins.
Part 5 of our Bryce Canyon Road Trip (View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6)
One of our overnights on our way back home from our roadtrip was again, Page, AZ. We took this opportunity to visit Horseshoe Bend for the second time (first visit to Horseshoe Bend), although this was the first time we got to see it while the sun was setting.
Part 4 of our Bryce Canyon Road Trip (View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6)
There are a couple places in the Southwest that we’ve visited that have made us say “Holy moly, is this place for real?” Like Antelope Canyon, the Grand Canyon, the Chiricahuas, Monument Valley, Sedona, Zion… now we can add Bryce Canyon National Park to that list!
Scenic byway to get into the park.
For our time spent in this surreal park, we chose to hike 2 trails, the Navajo Loop & Queen’s Garden. These 2 trails, from what we read, are considered the best way to see Bryce Canyon as it takes you up close to the national park’s significant view points. We ended up missing the trailhead because we ventured onto the Rim Trail and hiked a mile into it before realizing what we were doing and had to back track… so we had a warm up hike before our real hike. Here are views from our warm up hike:
Continue reading “Navajo Loop & Queen’s Garden in Bryce Canyon National Park” »
Part 3 of our Bryce Canyon Road Trip (View Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)
William Tecumseh Barbee was one of the earliest people to prospect for silver in southwest Utah and made one of the most significant discoveries. His initial claims in Silver Reef were staked in 1875, and with a large rush of prospectors and miners brought in, the mine and mill were in full operation by 1878.
At its height, Silver Reef had a population of 2,000. There were hotels, 9 stores, 6 saloons, a bank, several restaurants, a hospital, 2 dance halls, 2 news papers, a china town and 3 cemeteries.
As the price of silver dropped, mines gradually began to close. By 1884, most were closed and by 1901, most buildings had been demolished. The old Wells Fargo bank still stands today and now houses a small museum & gift shop of the once bustling mining town.
Part 2 of our Bryce Canyon Road Trip (View Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)
Grafton was one of several settlements established along the Virgin River, in 1859, to grow cotton. This was part of Brigham Young’s plan for Mormon self-sufficiency. Crops were planted, irrigation ditches dug and homes built. 3 years later in 1962, a flood destroyed the young town but the town was quickly rebuilt. By 1864 the town had grown to a population of 168 but constant raids by Navajo raiders & the outbreak of the Black Hawk War forced the town’s residents to move to Rockville for protection. The Grafton farmers would return daily to tend to their homefields, and by 1868, Grafton was resettled and the residents back.
To escape years of bare subsistence on limited acreage and loss of fields from repeated floods, Grafton’s men helped build a canal to deliver water to a wide bench 20 miles downstream. When the Hurricane Canal was finished in 1906, many Grafton families packed everything, some even their houses, and moved to Hurricane.
The last resident left in 1945.
Grafton is said to be the most photographed ghost town in the West, it has been featured as a location in several films, including 1929’s In Old Arizona and the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Part 1 of our Bryce Canyon Road Trip (View Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)
Under the guise of a Christmas present for my husband (yes…. gift for me my husband), I gifted him with a road trip to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Of course, our road trips are always packed with many stops and adventures. Our first adventure along the way: Lower Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona!
We’ve always been told that Finger Rock is one of Tucson’s top strenuous trails. We finally hiked it today… and we’re not really sure about what we were told. Reviews online said this trail takes 4-6 hours but we finished it in 3 with breaks & exploring another trail. This brings me to the conclusion that those Oreo cookies we had last night gave us super powers!
Just kidding. Just kidding (tummy ache is more like it)…
2014 is going to be a great year for travel & adventure! We’ve just booked our flights to the United Kingdom for the early summer. On our list of things to explore there and in the states the rest of the year:
We kicked off our first adventure for the new year with an AWESOME hike near Phoenix (Apache Junction), Siphon Draw to the top of Flat Iron in the Superstition Mountains!