Cottonwood Canyon Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

 The Cottonwood Canyon Road follows the Paria River through a desert environment surrounded by towering cliffs of sculpted sandstone...

Johnson Canyon–Welcome to the Wild West

Driving through Johnson Canyon takes you into the real wild of the west and past the old Gunsmoke movie set plus...

Our World–Buckskin Gulch slot canyon Part 1

Our first real play day on vacation took us hiking from Wire Pass into Buckskin Gulch slot canyon. They are other worldly and not for the claustrophobic.

Our World–Buckskin Gulch slot canyon Part 2

The Wire Pass trail starts in a wash and continues 1.7 miles to junction with Buckskin Gulch. Along the way the trail winds through...

SWF–A mixed bag and sad goodbye

As fall turns to winter at the North Rim it is time to move on and say a sad goodbye...

Going to town through landscape diversity

Thanks to Berta’s mail forwarding my electrolytes arrived in time for the river trip  (Note the beautiful new necklace Mike recently bought me. Go ahead, enlarge it. Please look at the necklace, not at me. ;)

For a change I drove and Mike took photos, documenting our drive to town.

Through ponderosa pine and aspen forest…

…over meadows…

 

…of wildflowers.

The subtle rise in elevation introduces fir and spruce into the mix.

Reflecting on how the cycle of forest life should be,

including a five year old lightning strike fire.

Dropping off the Kaibab Plateau into the juniper/pinyon woodlands,

offers a peak at what lies below and…

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

…beyond.

From a different perspective down in the valley.

Welcome to Fredonia, Arizona

Today, a hike to Cape Final is in the plan. Oh yea, and packing for the River Trip!