Back to Flagstaff

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With the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta over, we headed to a KOA in Grants New Mexico about 85 miles to the west. We had booked this campground for just two nights in order to get caught up on chores like laundry and dumping and flushing our holding tanks after boondocking for 11 nights at the fiesta. We had figured it would be far enough from Albuquerque to avoid the potential crowds of people doing the same thing closer to town. We really hadn’t picked Grants because we wanted to see or do something nearby so we really didn’t do any exploring of the area. The surrounding area is full of lava rock from ancient nearby volcanoes. It makes much of the land unusable but not quite as pretty as it was up in Idaho at Craters of the Moon.

Beside the chores needed in the motorhome, we had a bigger task to accomplish while we were in Grants. Namely, where are we headed next? We had left our three month stay in Hudson Florida back in early April and in the intervening 196 nights, we had made reservations for about 80% of those nights as we did what turned out to be our six and a half months of touring National Parks on our way to the balloon fiesta. We got in some of the big ones: Badlands, Teddy Roosevelt, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Arches, Canyonlands, and Mesa Verde. We had found early in the planning process, that we were needing to have reservations in place in order to have a place to stay. And while we had done a good job of planning for the whole trip, we really hadn’t given much thought as to what was on tap after Albuquerque other than to assume we would stay in the desert southwest for the winter months.

Since the end of May, we have been camping at over 2300 feet in elevation and had an average camping elevation of 4800 feet. Being the middle of October at this point, and Grants NM being at nearly 6500 feet, we realized staying at elevation much longer may be problematic from a weather standpoint. I had stumbled upon a really interesting website called weatherspark.com a year or so ago. It shows the historical average weather for a given city all over the world. They provide lots of plots that are helpful in identifying what the typical weather is like for any time of year. We were thinking about heading towards Desert Hot Springs California for the December to January timeframe but we were curious how quickly we would need to head there and still be reasonably sure of decent weather.

We briefly considered heading back towards Santa Fe NM. We could probably squeeze in a week or two there before the weather turned bad. But this seemed to be a lot of extra travel to see a place we would prefer to spend more time exploring, so we decided to concentrate towards the west of us. Flagstaff would be the first major city along I-40 and we had stayed there back in May of 2017 but only for 2 nights. Back then, we were disappointed we didn’t have the time to stay there longer so we set that as our first destination. Of course, it is close to an elevation of 7000 feet but the extended forecast for Flagstaff looked promising with potential overnight freezing but in the upper 50s to low 60s for highs - just about perfect hiking weather. If the weather continued to hold out, we hoped to then head to Sedona and Prescott Arizona as we work our way west.

The drive from Grants to Flagstaff was almost 250 miles. Not terribly higher than our typical goal of less than 200 miles but there was something along the way we really wanted to see. The Petrified Forest National Park is right along I-40 about 50 miles from the NM-AZ border. We have visited before but it was right after graduating college back in 1985. Let’s just say, we didn’t remember a whole lot from that visit.

There isn’t camping in the park and there really isn’t much camping in the vicinity of the park either. The town of Holbrook just to the west of the park has a couple campgrounds but they also have an Elks Lodge. We figure we will just tour the park on our drive thru and stop at the Elks on our way out. We pulled into the main visitor center on the north end of the park and talked to the ranger about driving a big rig towing a car in the park. She told us that most of the pullouts and parking areas would accommodate us but there would be a few we couldn’t fit in. We decided we would enjoy the visit more, if I didn’t need to worry about whether we could get into and out of a parking area. So we disconnected the Jeep and grabbed all our gear and lunch and left the motorhome in the north lot and headed into the park. We wanted to see the bulk of the park but did need to get back to the northern entrance to get out before they close the gates at 5 PM.

To help reduce the chance of getting stuck in the park after hours, we decided to drive the full 28 mile road to the southern end of the park without stopping along the way. This will permit us to do a better job of managing our time at the many stops and short hikes we hoped to do as we drive back north. There is a second visitor center at the southern entrance so we check this one out and walk the short paths amongst the Giant Logs. A few of the large logs inside the visitor center have been polished to a glass-like surface and are incredibly beautiful. The weird thing abound most of these longer logs is that they aren’t one continuous log. Instead they seem to look like some ancient lumberjack cut the trees into sections to be split later but they got petrified first. In reality, the petrified logs over hundreds of thousands of years have been moved around as the ground lifted and shifted and the logs act much like a stick of chalk would when pressure is applied and snap across the petrified log leaving the log in sections.

Large Polished Petrified Log

Visitor Center at South Entrance

Strange Animal Fossil

Broken Giant Log

Desolate View

Giant Log

 Just up from the visitor center is a trailhead to the Long Logs and Agate House Trails. These trails are 1.6 and 2 miles long, but can be combined into a 2.6 mile walk. Some of the trail seems to be along what must have been an old park road that has been closed and repurposed as a walking path. The landscape often has a similar appearance as to what we saw in Badlands NP in South Dakota but more colorful and with lots of petrified wood scattered about. The colors in some of the petrified chunks are quite vibrant and the park has the trail follow around some of the longer logs. At the far end of the one trail is the Agate House. It is a 7 room, reconstructed pueblo building made of petrified wood rocks. It’s a rather pretty construction material.

Petrified Wood Slides Down Hill

Agate House

Colorful Badlands

The next stop is at Crystal Forest. A three quarter mile loop winds thru a very pretty section of the park. It’s amazing how much petrified wood is present in the park. At first glance, the pieces might all look the same, but if you take the time to look at each piece along the trail, it’s clear they are all unique.

View at Crystal Forest

Long Log Along Path

There were a few other stops as we head north, but we were realizing we couldn’t do everything in the park with our limited time. The ranger had told us that Blue Mesa was one we should see, so that was our next stop. There is a 1 mile loop that heads down into a beautiful area where you are surrounded by very colorful hills. It is a rather steep path down for the first few hundred feet of the trail, but it is paved so footing isn’t a problem. There are still large chunks of petrified wood here, but that isn’t the main feature of this walk. The real attraction are the purple and gray layers that have eroded into these fairly smoothed hills that are typical of badlands. The walk is almost magical. My mind has a hard time comprehending that these color variations are naturally occurring. They look more like some gifted artist conceived and created these as artwork.

Blue Mesa Area

Our time was starting to run short but we did a quick stop at Puerco Pueblo. There is a short walk thru some ruins of an ancient puebloan village with a few petroglyphs on rock faces.

Petroglyphs

More Ornate Petroglyphs

A few more pullouts on the north end provide for a great view of the painted desert area of the park. We got to the beautiful Painted Desert Inn about 15 minutes after it closed. We weren’t aware that it’s hours of operation were shorter than the park itself. We got to walk around the outside of the building and even peek in some of the windows. It looks like it would have been a good place to explore. There was even a geocache hidden inside the building but we couldn’t get to it. We cannot recall any other National Park that allows actual physical cache containers inside their boundaries. It wasn’t clear how the several caches within the park came to be, but we were happy to find most of them. We got back to the motorhome and hooked up the car and were out of the park before it closed. It didn’t take very long to get to the Elks Lodge in Holbrook. We were surprised to see two other motorhomes already in the lot. The lodge wasn’t open so we don’t know what it’s like inside.

Painted Desert

Painted Desert Inn

Upper View of Inn

The drive to Flagstaff was about 90 miles. Along the way, we drove into Winslow with the idea of checking out the now famous corner from the Eagles song “Take It Easy”. But the parking lot we were planning on using wasn’t accessible so we just drove thru town and continued on our way. We got to Greer’s Pine Shadows Campground and got our rig setup with the plans to stay for a week. This is the same place we had stayed a couple years ago and it worked out well so we just came back for a longer stay.

After getting the Jeep serviced on our first day in town, we headed to Fort Tuthill County Park just south of town. We had done some hiking here during our last visit to the area but it’s a big park and there was more hiking (and geocaches) to be had. The Highland Trail is on the south side of the park with its own small parking area by the trailhead. There were a series of 10 caches along the trail and in each one would be a digit to the coordinates for a puzzle cache. We really like the park and the fact there are “real” trees. It isn’t heavily wooded but it was nice having the big pine trees to walk around with the scent we haven’t experienced what seems like months. We only found 8 of the 10 initial caches so we were missing 2 digits of the coordinates to the location of the final puzzle cache. It wasn’t looking good, but with a couple educated guesses we narrowed the location to one of four spots. The fist spot had lots of good hiding spots but we couldn’t find any container. The second spot really had no good hiding spots and after five minutes of searching we were almost ready to move on. But then I noticed a wire running up the side of a severely bent tree. As I released the wire and slowly let out some slack, a container appeared from the branches of the pine tree and was lowered into Chris’ hands. Very cool hide.

Pines in Fort Tuthill Park

The next day we thought we should try out Arizona’s second highest mountain - Agassiz Peak. It’s just  a few miles outside of Flagstaff so it doesn’t take long to drive to the base. The problem is this peak and it’s neighbor, Humphreys Peak being about 300 feet taller, are both off limits to hikers. The reason is because of some rare plant that only grows on these two mountains so hiking is outlawed except when there is a couple feet of snow. So how do we plan to get to the top? The one side of Agassiz Peak is a very popular ski resort. The Snowbowl operates one of its chairlifts during the warmer months to bring people to the top for sightseeing excursions. It’s $19 per person for the ride up and down.

We had checked the weather conditions up top and knew it was going to be clear but also cold - just below freezing when we arrived. So we came prepared with heavy clothing and hats and gloves. We saw a few people bring along a blanket to cover up during the open chairlift ride to the top. That probably would have been a good idea. We really had to question the sanity of the few people we saw heading up in shorts. Down below, we saw the snow making machines scattered along the slope and there was bit of snow in front of each one. I suppose they need to make sure everything is in working condition for the upcoming ski season.

Bottom of Chairlift at Snowbowl

Snow Piles

Aspens in Full Color

Apparently they have the lift running at a slower speed for sightseers. The lift takes us up 1900 feet to an elevation of 11,500 feet which is still over 800 feet lower than the peak. The ride took about forty minutes. Part of the reason for the long ride is the slow speed. The other reason is that some people would need additional assistance to get on or off at the bottom or top. The crew helping visitors at the lift would occasionally need to stop the lift to safely handle those unable to board the lift while in motion. I suppose that’s better than having accidents. Fortunately it was a gorgeous view and not too windy so we survived the ride up.

At 11,000 Feet

More to Go

Once up top, there are a few areas to check out. Next to the one building up top is the “highest toilet in Arizona”. The views of the landscape down below is great. At this elevation, we are just above tree line. The pines cover most of the slope of the mountains but near the base there is a mixture with large aspen trees near the peak of their fall color.

At the Top of Lift - 11,500 Feet

Highest Toilet in Arizona

There is a path that winds up above the top of the lift which provides even better views. There wasn’t snow up here, but there was a very heavy frost covering the various small trees and shrubs. In the presence of the bright morning sun, it was starting to melt and fall off. We stayed up top for some time just enjoying the view. Admittedly there isn’t much to actually “do” up here since hiking beyond the signs would cost us $500 but it was just a pleasant spot to be. We got in line to wait our turn for the ride back down. By then, the chairs coming up were almost all full of people so our timing was good to avoid too much of a crowd. We grabbed our lunch and took a spot at the tables in the picnic area near the lodge and chair lift and just enjoyed the much warmer conditions at 9400 feet.

Frosty Trees

Distant Clouds

More Heavy Frost? or Snow?

On the Lift Coming Down

After lunch, we drove part way back down the road from the lodge to one of several large parking areas full of cars. This is definitely the place to come for viewing the fall colors. Okay, with predominantly only aspen trees, there is really just the one or maybe two colors - yellow and a hint of orange. But it is still very pretty especially with the contrast between the yellow leaves and the blue sky or dark green pines.  The trailhead we start at is named Alfa Fia Tank. There are hundreds of people out to check out the trees near their peak. Initially the trial is rather crowded but once we get into the more open valley area, the density of people diminishes greatly.

Aspens Near Alfa Fia Tank

Old Barbed Wire

After checking out the beautiful scenery, we decide to follow the Arizona Trail to the north. This section of the Arizona Trail is mainly thru a open meadowland with the two massive mountains to the east. Occasionally we enter a more wooded section most with vibrant yellows although some pockets of trees had already shed most of their leaves. We ended up going 3.5 miles up the trail to Bismarck Lake. A geocache located next to the lake was our main draw. It turns out that the lake we were expecting was a bit of a disappointment. It might be full of water in the spring but was simply a large depression in the ground this time of year. The Arizona Trail runs from the border at Mexico to Utah and is 800 miles long. We only came upon a few other hikers and a couple of cyclists.

View Along Arizona Trail

Distant View along Trail

Utah 189 Miles - Mexico 611 Miles

Bismarck Lake?

The next day we went for a hike right out of the campground. Yep, our campground backs up to a section of the Coconino National Forest. A gate in the rear fence around the campground opens us up to miles and miles of hiking and biking trails. When we had stayed here the last time, we didn’t get the opportunity to check this out but wouldn’t pass on the chance now. The number of trails is almost overwhelming. We used some geocaches placed in the woods as our tour guide for the hike. Our loop ended up at a spot just a few blocks from camp called Elden Pueblo. It was the home to the Sinagua people back in the 1070 to 1275 AD timeframe. The structure are in reasonably good condition and is a fairly large complex.

Moon Sets Over Mt Elden

Remains at Elden Pueblo

The following day was going to be back in the same forest but this time with a more purposeful hike in mind. While we could have possibly gotten to the Fatmans Loop Trail from camp, we figured with the large number of unmarked trails, we would be better off just driving the mile or so down the road to the trailhead parking near Peaks Ranger Station. It was a crowded lot, but it was a pleasant Sunday morning so probably not too unexpected. The trail starts out combined with the one that heads up Elden Mountain but splits off after a half mile or so. It was a nice 2 mile walk and not too challenging.

We headed to the Lowell Observatory on Monday for what was intended to be a full day of programs. The observatory is just a mile from downtown Flagstaff which seems a bit odd compared to other observatories we have visited that are out in the middle of nowhere. Of course this one was established back in 1894 so I suspect town was dramatically smaller back then. There are multiple programs that are offered throughout the day as well as several guided tours. We look at the schedule and decide what our game plan will be for the day. Most of the buildings are older looking stone structures that are very pretty. Not everything here is old though, the Giovale Open Deck Observatory just recently opened. The building has a unique design that allows the front half of the building to roll back and out of the way to expose the six telescopes that are used on clear nights.

Beautiful Rotunda Museum at Lowell Observatory

The Brand New Giovale Open Deck Observatory

A Tarantula Crosses the Path at Observatory

We attend a couple of the tours and get a good sense of the history of the place. Possibly the observatory’s biggest claim to fame is that Pluto was discovered by astronomers working here back in the early 1900s. All the volunteers still hold the opinion that Pluto is still a planet! The gift shop has lots of shirts, hats and other things with a Pluto theme. One of the buildings holds a whole hosts of artifacts from the early years including the founder’s old car. They used an interesting design for the rotating roof on one of the observatory buildings. It uses 32 wheels and tires as the bearing surface that the dome turns on.

1911 Stevens-Duryea Model Y

Very Fancy Telescope

Astronomical Slide Rule

Alvan Clark 61 cm Telescope

Chair for Using Telescope with Tires for Roof Bearings

Percival Lowell's Mausoleum

Very Cool Chandelier

Pluto Observatory Building

Pluto Discovery Telescope

We took breaks during the course of the day to head back to the car to grab our lunch and then dinner. An hour or so before sunset, we headed out to the walking trails they have around the property to get a couple of the geocaches hidden on the grounds. As we were searching near a fallen tree for one of the caches, I felt something fly into my mouth. I couldn’t tell what it was but I wasn’t able to get it out with my tongue or spitting. As I reached in with my fingers to get rid of it, I got stung on the inside of my upper lip and again on the back my hand that was up near my mouth. I ran away from the location fearing there was a swarm of hornets or wasps or something, but I never spotted any. Chris wasn’t aware of what was going on and came over to check on me. She in turn got stung on the back of her neck and me for a third time on the back of my head.

Obviously we decided to give up on that cache - even avid geocachers like us know when to call it quits! As we headed back to the car, my lips and cheeks expanding rapidly. I was actually able to feel the skin on my face stretching. We were only a couple minutes from the car, but when we got back whole face was swollen and looked like I was attempting to shove dozens of nuts into my mouth like a chipmunk might do. Luckily, my tongue and airway were not impacted so I was breathing just fine. By then, the whole area was numb much like the feeling of novocaine at the dentist’s office. The backside of my right hand had also swollen so much that I was unable to see my knuckles and looked as if I were wearing a boxing glove.

We drove back into town to a drug store to pick up some Benadryl. After evaluating the situation, we headed back to the observatory to do some of the night programs. I figured with them being in the dark, my swollen face might not be too noticeable. We managed to catch some of the programs but I really wasn’t feeling great so we bailed and headed back to camp. The next morning, I awoke to find my one lower eyelid swollen and partially closing my eye. It turned out that was likely caused by sleeping with that side of my face on the pillow and the swelling having nowhere to go. It took between 48 and 60 hours before I was about back to normal.

At Night

Roof Retracted at Open Air Observatory

Clark Telescope at Night

We only had one more day left in Flagstaff, so we headed back towards the woods near the Snowbowl since the area was so pretty with the fall leaves. This time we stopped at a small parking are at the Viet Springs trailhead. There was a school bus and dozens of little kids running around blocking our path in. One of the parent chaperones told us they were just finishing up their field trip and would be boarding the bus. It turned out to be another beautiful hike. We extended the hike a bit by searching for a few of the nearby caches that weren’t hidden near the trail. The route was only about two miles long but very scenic. This ended a very eventful week in Flagstaff. We had a few nights that dropped below freezing but for the most part the weather was great. From here we are heading back to Sedona.

More Aspens along Viet Springs Trail