After two days and more than 25 miles backpacking across Grand Canyon Esplanade, where temperatures exceeded 95°F, we were ready for something a little less strenuous. And cooler. What better way to get both of those things than wandering - or in our case, hobbling - into a lava tube that's often sporting a little ice in the back corners, even on the hottest of days! Having made the decision to high-tail it out of camp in search of a soft bed, warm shower, and nachos at one of our favorite eateries, we had several hours of wheeled travel ahead…
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It was a little windy when we closed our eyes on our own little patch of slickrock sandstone, but sometime during the night - after air temperatures equalized a bit - it calmed down and there was barely a breeze when our alarm went off about 20 minutes before sunrise. Our new-to-us Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 3 tent worked so much better than the semi-self-standing tent we had previously. Unlike most mornings where we might hit the snooze button once or twice, we were up and about almost immediately. Knowing that the forecast was for even hotter temperatures than…
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It's been more than a year since I visited my first Grand Canyon Polychrome site out on the Esplanade and I've been very curious to get back and look for more of these wonderful pictographs. Naturally, being rock art - and a relatively rare variety at that - the locations of the sites are a closely guarded secret by those lucky enough to know them. I'd hoped to finally meet and head out on a hike with of adventr.co - one of the foremost rock art enthusiasts I know - but family matters came up and he was unable to…
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I'd pulled into my camp site just south of the Utah - Arizona border a little after 10:00pm. At an elevation of 2,700 feet, even with a little breeze, it was balmy compared to what I'd experienced the last couple nights in Nevada. Orienting the truck so the morning sun would act as a natural alarm - spilling into the tent as I slept - I soon drifted off to sleep, excited for the easter-egg-like hunt that I envisioned when I awoke. Little Black Mountain My wake-up plans were foiled when I awoke naturally before sunrise. Knowing that I'd have…
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From Rainbow Canyon, I'd planned to drive a couple hours east - through the darkness - to a fantastic petroglyph site that I could enjoy when the sun crested the horizon the following morning. But, as is often the case, I was easily distracted as I set up the navigation system and noticed that my route would take me right by Cathedral Gorge State Park. We'd briefly stopped at Cathedral Gorge for breakfast on a previous trip south to explore the eastern Mojave, but we hadn't spent much time there and I knew that what we'd seen at Miller's Point…
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