My Trails

Oh Yeah!

Through the trees I can see the San Francisco Peaks with the formidable prow of Humphreys Peak standing proudly in the middle. Humphreys Peak, the tallest mountain in Arizona at 12,600 feet, beckons me to climb, and if I were a little younger, I would welcome the challenge. When I was here a couple of weeks ago the mountain tops were white with snow but now the tundra in the alpine region is only the color of… tundra?

You can almost set your clock to the afternoon thunderstorms. Today’s storm was not as violent as usual but it brought a little hail with it. This is probably not the best time to be climbing in the mountains because you would reach the top about the same time as the afternoon storms.

It has been nice to have pleasant temperatures to ride my bike. I rode into Flagstaff yesterday for a visit to Walmart and today I rode a few miles north to check out more forest roads. This motorcycle will do just about anything I ask of it. It eats up the rough and rutted back roads like a champ and accelerates up mountain roads with no problem. I still go pretty slow on unfamiliar dirt roads and haven’t got “big air” on any jumps so far. I may be a little to old for that foolishness.

There were several trucks on the side of the road as I drove towards Flagstaff. I asume that most of them were in some stage of mechanical distress because many had their hoods up and they were stopped in places normally inappropriate. It is tough on a vehicle to climb several thousands of feet onto the Mogollon Rim and even tougher to do it in hundred degree heat while working air conditioners to the max.

A few miles from Flagstaff a big class A motorhome flew by me going at least 80. A while later I came to men putting up signs that there was an accident ahead. When I came to the wreck It looked like the motorhome had blown a front tire, slammed into the guardrail, slid across the road, and plowed up several feet of earth down on the median. High speed, hot weather, and old tires are a bad combo.
I found a forest road 5 miles north of Flagstaff off of highway 180. The road was filled with ruts but I was able to straddle all of them until I found a nice boondocking site within a mile of the main highway. I setup camp, unloaded my motorcycle, and set out to explored the area. I guess I was lucky because most good spots on the roads I checked were taken. I didn’t travel far because storm clouds were moving in fast. Just after I got back home, the sky opened up with buckets of rain and close lightning.

The temperature here is pretty good. I even had to pull another blanket over me in the night. I would like to move a little closer to the Grand Canyon – 70 miles from here – but I’m reluctant to find a new place until after this big weekend. If I can find a boondock that has good cell and places me a reasonable distance to outrun thunderstorms, I will stay and explore the Canyon next week.

A violent thunderstorm came through this afternoon, and along with torrential rains, dumped a coating of hail on the ground. The temperature went from 65 to 45 in just a few minutes. Heavy rain is loud on Minnie’s roof but hail is deafening. I was listening to some music on my laptop and finally had to give up and turn it off. I should look around for my earphones in case it happens again.

I keep writing for my blog but there is no way to post. Everywhere I ride on my motorcycle I check for a cell signal and so far have come up empty. This camp is still 50 miles north of Grand Canyon. There may be service there but I don’t think I will go and find out.

It has been almost too cold here. The temperature rarely gets above 70° and the nights can get downright chilly. I built a rack for my propane tank so that I can carry it on my motorcycle. I use a little propane for heat in the mornings, and not wanting to run low, ran into Jacob Lake yesterday to fill my tank.

With all the cloudy skies it has been a challenge to get a full charge on my batteries. Even on sunny days the trees block all but the midday sun. I don’t like running the generator to charge so I have been rationing somewhat by recording shows in the evening and watching them during the day, or just reading more.

My plan is to drive back to Phoenix next week. I think I heard 107 degrees come out of the mouth of some weatherman so I hope to get my errands done quickly.

I’m now 20 miles north of Flagstaff.

Day two of cellular blackout found me doing a little exploration of the surrounding area. I rode several forest roads that branched off highway 67 out of Jacob Lake and each of them had a few nice, dispersed campsites. Several times while exploring these roads I would come to a parking lot where the Arizona Trail crossed. Apparently, the AZT parallels highway 67 through the Kaibab National Forest on its way to the Utah border.

I built a fire in the evening. It has been quite some time since I’ve had a campfire, mostly due to the fact it has been too hot, and partially because I didn’t know if there was a rule against it. With all the rain moving through the area fire danger is pretty low right now.

Hotdogs were on the menu, so what other way is there to eat a wiener than roasted over a fire on a stick? I ate two dogs and enjoyed the warmth of the fire until bugs drove me back inside. Even sitting directly in the smoke from the fire would not deter these tiny nits from diving at my head and neck. They must have been desperate for human blood and held their breath as they attacked.

A lot of my blogs posts end up on some point I have been pondering. Today I have been debating the pros and cons of traveling with a dog and whether I should get one or not. A dog can be a great companion for the single traveler. They can also hinder some of the things I like to do. If I wanted to take a long ride on my bike, they would have to be tied or locked in, if I wanted to tour an attraction, dogs are usually not allowed; if I wanted to take a cruise or fly to Hawaii (granted, this is a stretch), I would have to find a dog sitter.

On the other hand, a dog can be a great companion. I can see myself in rapt conversation with Fido, conveying my opinion on many subjects pertaining to itinerary and activities. But more importantly than deep subject matter like, “Go get the stick!”, when you have a pet it is essential that you become a good listener.

I carried on a lot of intimate dialogue with Wilson on the AT, but man’s best friend doesn’t need or want any of that. They are just thrilled with the simplest of questions: Do you want to go for a walk? Do you want your supper? Do you need to go out and poop?

Dam

At a place called Navaho National Monument, sometimes referred to as the gateway to Monument Valley, is a marvelous park and campground. What makes it so good is the fact that it is free. There are actually two campgrounds, one with water, flush toilets, and paved parking, and the other high on a ridge with great views into the surrounding canyons. I chose the one on the ridge, even though it was more primitive, and spent four days there.

There was some heavy rain that came through on Saturday so I didn’t do much the first day. I found out on Sunday that they have a guided tour to the cliff dwellings every morning so I signed up on the Monday list. Back at camp I met a nice couple traveling in a VW campervan. They had also signed up for the tour and we had a nice visit that continued into a nice friendship for the next two days.

The tour to Betatakin cliff dwellings was quite a hike. It is only 3 miles round trip but you descend over 700 feet into the canyon on I don’t know how many 100’s of steps to the bottom, until the trail delivers you to the front of the ruins. No one is allowed in the ruins but they do take you close to the site. The guide was very good and interesting. Betatakin is the second largest cliff dwelling in AZ., the largest being Keet Seal, which most people hike to from the campground as an overnight backpacking trip.

Today I stopped at Glenn Canyon Dam to take the tour. The elevator was broke so all they had was a walking tour of the top of the dam. It was really quite interesting to hear the history of the construction and mind boggling numbers of tons of concrete, miles of shoreline, volumes, watts of power, and politics of water distribution to the various states. The whole area around Lake Powell and the recreation area was swarming with tourists so I decided to go on over to the west to find a campsite. Just outside of Page AZ, I found a Walmart with several RVs already parked for the night. So I joined them.

It is amazing how many people are traveling in rental Class C’s. A lot of the travelers are from overseas. They fly into LA, pick up their rental motorhome, tour the southwest and return the rig to someplace on the West Coast a few weeks later. I’m sure they could rent a car and stay in motels a lot cheaper, but I guess they want the experience of roughing it American style.