Pictures of the Week 2008-24
Hello All,
Since we stayed in the Page, AZ area for 12 days to avoid traveling over Memorial Day weekend it gave us an opportunity to really explore the area. And, there is no end of places to see and things to do in the area.
Our next venture took us to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument north of Page into Utah. We wanted to see the 152 foot high double arch named Grosvenor Arch. To see the arch we had to travel 30 miles up the remote Cottonwood Canyon Road. The road is dirt, not gravel, and is often wash-boarded and full of ruts. In dry conditions it can be driven by 2-wheel drive; but 4-wheel drive is recommended most of the time, and the road is impassable when raining.
Some of the colors and formations we traveled through would make a person think they were on another planet. It was a truly awesome experience.
Since we stayed in the Page, AZ area for 12 days to avoid traveling over Memorial Day weekend it gave us an opportunity to really explore the area. And, there is no end of places to see and things to do in the area.
Our next venture took us to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument north of Page into Utah. We wanted to see the 152 foot high double arch named Grosvenor Arch. To see the arch we had to travel 30 miles up the remote Cottonwood Canyon Road. The road is dirt, not gravel, and is often wash-boarded and full of ruts. In dry conditions it can be driven by 2-wheel drive; but 4-wheel drive is recommended most of the time, and the road is impassable when raining.
Some of the colors and formations we traveled through would make a person think they were on another planet. It was a truly awesome experience.
After creeping along for about 4 hours we
reached our target destination, the Grosnevor Arch. We thought it was pretty
neat but honestly it was kind of anticlimactic after the awesome landscapes we
had just traveled through.
On another adventure out of
Page we went back into southern Utah near the town of Kanab. Our destination was the Coral Pink Sand Dunes
State Park. On the drive over we traveled through more of Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
The monument is huge--about 3 thousand square miles of some amazing
country.
At Coral Pink Sand Dunes Park there were 1200 acres of colorful, sweeping dunes dotted with juniper and pinon pines. The park is a popular place to ride off-highway and dune buggies. About ninety percent of the park is open to these off road vehicles. The campgrounds were full of families enjoying the holiday weekend riding the dunes. You can also hike on the mountains of shifting sand. All riders are instructed to stay at least 100 feet from hikers. However, we kept alert for riders. We weren’t sure how they would know we were on the other side of a dune they were flying over!!
At Coral Pink Sand Dunes Park there were 1200 acres of colorful, sweeping dunes dotted with juniper and pinon pines. The park is a popular place to ride off-highway and dune buggies. About ninety percent of the park is open to these off road vehicles. The campgrounds were full of families enjoying the holiday weekend riding the dunes. You can also hike on the mountains of shifting sand. All riders are instructed to stay at least 100 feet from hikers. However, we kept alert for riders. We weren’t sure how they would know we were on the other side of a dune they were flying over!!
We spent about an hour
wandering through the dunes and then started climbing to the top of the largest
dune in the park. About half way up it
started to rain so we called it a day and headed back to the truck.
On the drive to the sand dunes
we had passed some unusual rock formations in Grand Staircase-Escalante
National Monument. There was also a
trailhead there. Since we got run out of
the sand dunes by the rain shower we decided to stop and investigate this area
of the monument.
A sign at the trailhead indicated it was about a mile hike into an area of “toad stool” rock formations. A toadstool is a spire-like feature with a boulder perched atop a pedestal rock like a mushroom, or a toadstool. That sounded interesting so we hit the trail. Once again we found the rock formations in the National Monument to be truly fascinating.
A sign at the trailhead indicated it was about a mile hike into an area of “toad stool” rock formations. A toadstool is a spire-like feature with a boulder perched atop a pedestal rock like a mushroom, or a toadstool. That sounded interesting so we hit the trail. Once again we found the rock formations in the National Monument to be truly fascinating.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns