Our 2000 vacation was designed to be less busy than last year's (again). Did we succeed? Read on and find out.

Day 1 (29 Jul 00) Corrales to Flagtaff, AZ

We stopped at Homolovi Ruins State Park near Winslow, AZ (yes, that Winslow (we didn't stop- but I have been to the corner in Winslow in the past)). This is a great ruins site. There are several sets of ancestral Hopi ruins- including pre-Spanish contact adobe. Very good site- except that many areas have been dug up by pot hunters.

We also stopped at Meteor Crater, AZ.

This was worth the stop, but as it is privately owned, quite expensive. There is a hike around the crater rim available, but as it was over 100F we decided to simply view it from the observation platform.

We usually camp at Flagstaff- at the campground associated with Sunset Crater Volcano. Since we were only staying 1 night (due to soccer camp preventing an earlier departure) we decided to stay in a motel

Day 2 Flagstaff to North Rim of the Grand Canyon

We had reserved a campsite at the north rim (but not right on the edge!) We arrived early enough to do the Visitor Center thing and get our Jr. Ranger books. We did a Ranger program on geology and got to see fossils and the Great Unconformity. This was our first introduction to a recurring geological theme this vacation - uplift. The program walked out to the end of Bright Angel Point (this hike is listed in Best Hikes With Children in Arizona, hike 1). Unfortunately, the views were limited by haze coming from numerous forest firesin the Four Corners area.

There was no campground program- and we didn't feel like driving to the lodge, so we hung out at the campground after dinner. We walked to an overlook to watch the sunset.

Day 3 Still at the Grand Canyon

We got up early and did the Cape Royal Drive. We walked out to the end of the point and could actually see the river (this is one of the few points on the north side where you can.) We did several small hikes during the drive, including at the end of Cape Royal (BHwCA #2) and the very short walk to some Anasazi ruins (BHwCA 3).

We finished early enough to brave the canyon itself. We went down the North Kaibab trail for about 1/2 hour. This took us down to the Coconino sandstone (and the trail goes to a nice overlook). We probably dropped 600 vertical feet and hiked about a mile (of the 14 mile long trail). After admiring the view, we turned around and trudged back up, taking about twice as long to do so. The weather was still very hot and the heavy haze remained.

We finished our ranger activities and got our badges and patches. After dinner, we walked to a diferent viewpoint to watch sunset. All in all, the campground was pretty nice - not too crowded and with many spectacular viewpointswithin walking distance.

Day 4 (Tuesday, 1 Aug 00)

Today we drove from the Grand Canyon to Cedar City, UT, stopping along the way.

Our first stop was at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park and yes, they are quite pink.

They have a nice nature trail or you can just play in the sand. (Best Hikes with Children in Utah #45)

(BTW, the map on the Utah State Park Page is great!)

Our second stop was Cedar Breaks National Monument .

This is a less-visited national park. We attended another geology talk and the kids did their Jr. Ranger workbooks. We hiked to an alpine pond (Hike 46 in BHwCU) (the elevation is 10,500 feet) and looked out at some of the view points.

Cedar Breaks is related geologically to Bryce and Zion, but uplifted more. The fault that caused the uplift is between the park and the city of Cedar City (elevation ~5000 feet). From one of the overlooks you can see not only the very weathered rock formations, but also the drop into the valley beyond.

No camping tonight. We stayed in a motel in Cedar City and as usual, the boys enjoyed the motel pool.

Day 5 Just a short drive took us to Zion National Park .

Many people are unaware that Zion has two parts. The Western part is called Kolob canyon and is quite near Cedar City. There is a scenic drive up into the canyons. We also did a hike into a canyon (BHwCU #41). We didn't make it to the end- but we did go past two old cabins from homesteaders. We also crossed Taylor Creek about a zillion times good thing the water was low. This part of Zion has its own Jr. Ranger program and we did it. (This view is of folded rocks.)

We then drove around to the main entrance. We had again reserved a campsite (5 months ago!), although the campground did not appear to fill. It was very hot- 109 the day before and 105 and 100+ the days we were there. Zion does not let visitors drive into the canyon- they have a (very nice) shuttle bus system instead.

After setting up camp and eating lunch, we checked out the visitor center and got the Jr. Ranger workbooks.

This is the view of the Watchman from our campsite.

We attended the ranger program at our campground- a survey of info about the plants, animals, and geology of the park.

Day 6 found us still at Zion.

We got up very early to get onto the 6:30 am shuttle bus. (Later in the day they run every 6-8 minutes but this early they only run every half hour). We made the 7 am bus. We took it out to the Lodge and did a hike to the Emerald waterfalls (#42 BHwCU). We hiked to the bottom and middle falls (which did have some water) and then came back via a different route which took us back to the road farther up the canyon. We caught the next bus and took it to the very end. We did the river trail (#43) hike (a paved path) which goes up the canyon until it is too narrow to have room for the path. Water from far above seeps out of cracks and fissures in the rock and makes hanging gardens.

Some people then hike/wade up the river, but we didn't. We did throw leaf and twig boats on the water and watched them float downstream.

After lunch, the kids went to a kids- only ranger nature program. This junior ranger program is one of the best ones we've encountered. The kids really enjoyed it. The adults went to the lodge and looked around and then just relaxed on the lawn in the shade of a very large cottonwood tree. The shade was very welcome as it was still very hot.

To get some added relief from the heat, we took a dip in the Virgin river just a short walk from the campsite.The cool water was very refreshing. Ryan really enjoyed swimming with the current. Dylan is not a good enough swimmer to do this just yet.

After dinner we went to the ranger program on Bats- in spite of lots of thunder and lightning and the threat of rain. Fortunately, the lightning was just on the other side of the mountains and the rain held off.

Day 7

Today we moved our campsite to Kodachrome State Park . We are mostly using it as a base to explore Bryce Canyon .

On our way to Kodachrome, we stopped at Red Canyon (state park?), which is sort of a miniature Bryce and did a short walk (#48 BHwCU) Red Canyon has similar formations to Bryce, but on a smaller scale. It is well worth stopping there for a few hours.

From Red Canyon, we proceeded to Bryce, just to get the lay of the land. At Bryce, there was a little rain, and some lightning. They had a shuttle system, but it wasn't as well organized as the one at Zion so we didn't use it. We made the obligatory stop at the visitor center an then drove halfway out on the scenic drive, and stopped at several of the overlooks on the way back. We skipped some of the more exposed overlooks because of the lightning threat.

At Cedar Breaks we looked at the eroded canyons from above. At Zion, we walked through it. At Bryce we both looked from above and walked through it.

After our brief exploration of Bryce, we proceeded to Kodachrome where we had reservations at the campground. Kodachrome gave us a great campsite- complete with a bridge. Also, the campground had showers, which were very welcome. The geology of the park is interesting itself- it has these spires which are (one theory) springs that filled up with minerals. The result is harder than the surrounding rock, so they remain after the surroundings have eroded away.

Day 8 (Sunday, 5 Aug 00) Still at Kodachrome.

We got up fairly early and drove the 25 miles back to Bryce. We got to the Visitor center just as it opened at 7:30. We signed the kids up for an afternoon Jr. Ranger program, and then drove out for our first hike. It was the Bristlecone loop (#50 BHwCU) and is at the very end of the scenic drive (Rainbow and Yovimpa points). The trail is mostly in woods until the very point, where there is a nice viewpoint and the oldest tree in the park (a bristlecone pine).

After the hike, we drove back toward the visitor center, stopping at several of the viewpoints we had missed the day before. We then hiked a trail that took us into the canyon, the Navajo/Queen's garden loop (#49 BHwCU). We started at Sunset point. The Navajo trail splits, and we took the less crowded path. We did not go back up Navajo, instaed we walked across the floor of the canyon and used the Queen's Garden trail to come back up. The trail ended at Sunrise point, about 1/2 mile from our start. There was a nice flat paved path back to the other outlook, but Dylan refused to go. So he and Gorbo waited while Ryan and I walked back to the car and drove to the Sunset point.

After lunch and a couple of more viewpoints, it was time for the junior ranger program. This was on Ancient Hunters. The kids played a role-playing game , Ryan was a dog and Dylan was flint-maker. They got to throw an atlatl (like a spear) and generally had fun. Afterwards we got our Jr. Ranger badges and headed back to the camp.

Day 9

Still at Kodachrome. We decided not to go back to Bryce.

We did a hike to a small arch (Shakespeare's arch) in the park (described in An Outdoor Family Guide to the Southwest's Four Corners, p192), then a short hike into a small canyon (OFGttSFC, pp 192-193) and then a short nature hike. Later, after lunch we did a 10 mile (dirt road) drive into Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument (no web site yet) and found Grosvenor's Arch- a very rare double arch.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the campsite, except when the kids went and played on the slickrock in the campground.

Day 10 (Monday). We drove from Kodachrome to Capitol Reef National Park, stopping at Anasazi State Park along the way (OFGttSFC, pp. 195-196)

Anasazi State Park had several displays of ancestral Puebloan artifacts. They also had a couple of pithouses partially reconstructed and under cover. Not a bad hour.

Capitol Reef is a big monocline (fold ) in the ground. Much of the upper portion has eroded away, but what is left is still impressive. It is about 100 miles long and rough enough that it is a barrier to traffic. Hence, the name reef. the capitol comes from domes of eroded Navajo sandstone that look like the capitol dome.

We did not have reservations at the campground at Capitol Reef (they don't take them) but we had been assured that we would have no trouble on a Monday. Indeed, there were plenty of campsites available so we set up and ate lunch.

We drove the scenic drive, picked some pears (There are orchards in the area by the Fremont river, near the Visitor Center and campground. The orchards were planted by Morman settlers.), and then did the hike to Hickman bridge (BHwCU #56). We started by the river, but climbed up. The view was very nice, and after a mile os so walk, we came to the natural bridge. Along the way, we saw pithouse remains, the remains of a grain storage area (pre-historic) and lots of basalt rocks- which were rounded. They had been carried down from nearby volcanos by streams (back when the area had streams).

Here are the kids in front of the old schoolhouse.

We listened to a ranger talk on the geology of the reef and returned to camp. After dinner we went for a walk along the river (BHwCU #54). We decided we were too tired to go to the evening ranger talk.

Day 11. We got up fairly early to do one more overlook and to turn in our junior ranger workbooks. Then, we drove from Capitol Reef to Bluff, Utah , stopping along the way at Natural Bridges National Monument

Natural Bridges has three bridges plus some ancesteral puebloan ruins. There is a trail to hike between them, but we opted for the scenic drive. We had views of all the bridges. There were trails down to each bridge, but we only went to one. (We started on the trail to Sipapui bridge, but when we got to the ladders, Dylan balked so we did not continue. The rangers warned us off the Kachina trail- it was too hot to do a trail totally in the sun.) The trail to Owachomo (OFGttSFC, p. 185 was neither too long nor steep. We could go right under the bridge (see below).

After getting our Jr. Ranger Badges, we headed to Bluff.

We stayed at the Recapture Lodge- more like a B&B than a motel. It has been around for a while, and is even mentioned in a Tony Hillerman novel! Showers, a pool, laundry, food not cooked over a campstove , real beds, and .... not having to get dressed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!!!

Day 12 Bluff, Utah

Today we went white water rafting on the San Juan River with Wild Rivers Expeditions They do one day and multi-day rafting trips. The office was just down the street from our motel- so we walked over. Our trip was from Bluff to Mexican Hat (we stopped just above the start of the Goosenecks).

The river was so low, that the boat had a motor so we could cover the 26 miles in one day. Only one other couple joined us on the trip. We stopped to look at the petroglyphs at Butler Wash (the pictures didn't come out well enough to post), and then to do a short walk to some pueblo ruins preserved under a cliff overhang. The petroglyph panels were some of the most extensive and varied that we have seen.

We stopped a while later for swimming and lunch. After lunch we stopped twice more for swimming

and went past Chinle Wash (mentioned in another Tony Hillerman book). We made it to the take-out only about an hour late. Our ride back to town was still waiting. (Good thing!)

All in all, a great time. I would like to do one of their multi-day trips, esp. through the Goosenecks.

Day 13 Cortez, CO via Hovenweep National Monument . This is one of those waaay off the beaten path monuments and so not so crowded. It was actually not out of the way for us, but did involve some dirt roads. (Actually, the visitor center can be accessed solely on paved roads, but to get to some of the outlying ruins requires driving on dirt.)

The structures here are different from other ancestral puebloan ruins in the southwest. We did a hike around (and across) the small valley that the main ruins are near and ini (BHwCU #75). We walked with a ranger down into the valley to see one of the ruins up close and to visit the spring that had been the water source.

We drove to two of the other sites and did the very short walk required to view them. There were archeologists working at these sites, but no tourists. According to the guest books, about one group a day drives to these.

We headed on into Cortez, to stay at a motel. We got in early enough to use the pool, which was the highlight of the day for the kids.

Day 14 Home!!!!

But first we stopped at the 4 corners monument. After 5 years in NM, we thought we should visit the spot. Not really much to see- just a marker and some craft-selling booths. We took the obligatory photograph of the kids with one appendage in each state.

A long driving day, we got home mid-afternoon. The kitties were glad to see us, and the house and plants had survived.

For more information, contact karenann@unm.edu

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