Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon, Sedona, & the Southwest
It is vacation time again, and people are hitting the roads in huge numbers. I was just talking to a friend about Capitol Reef and my own adventure last summer. That reminded me that I never finished my journal of last year’s “Epic Journey!” So here’s the…rest of the story! After the badlands of Dinosaur …
Day One On October 17, 1999, our fearless group of Grand Canyon Field Institute hikers converged upon Jacob Lake Lodge near the North Rim of Grand Canyon. We ate some lunch in the restaurant, bought some homemade cookies and muffins from the bakery (yummy!), and headed out to Monument Point. With plenty of sunshine and …
After our night in town, we all headed to a lovely bay that Brad and I had discovered earlier in the spring—Agua Verde. The road in gets pretty interesting in spots; there are steep, blind corners that only one vehicle can fit through. You constantly look ahead to see if you can see anybody coming …
The following day, we made our way to Loreto. On a previous trip, while Brad was out in a kayak, I had discovered a fabulous campsite with a view to knock your socks off! It was located right at the base of the rugged La Giganta Mountain range, and looked down on one of the …
On a previous trip to Baja, we had taken a drive from the highway south of Santa Rosalia. You can follow a rough dirt road for 75 miles, looping back to the highway near Mulegé. We had read about it in a book called Backroad Baja: Maps, Logs, Trip Information, (Trip Eight) and the area …
After camping off of a road leading into the San Francisco de la Sierra mountain range, we continued south to Guerrero Negro. The town is located on the 28th parallel, which separates the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. There is not much to be said for the area as far as scenery …
Bahia de los Angeles is known as the poor man’s Galapagos because of the richness of marine life found there. Shortly after arriving at the bay and setting up in a campground, we headed to the Museo de Naturaleza y Cultura, a wonderful little museum located in town. We had visited it on a previous …
Our first destination was Cataviña-Parque Natural Del Desierto Central and Bahia de los Angeles. Cataviña is located in the northern part of the peninsula and sits in the middle of a huge granite boulder field. Besides the incredible rock formations, the Sonoran Desert surrounding us included a strange and wonderful array of cardón cactus (similar …
After a hectic season of work for Brad, it was time to head back to one of our favorite places—Baja California! The combination of desert and ocean makes it a great vacation choice for us, the sailor and the desert rat. And it doesn’t hurt that it is warm even in the middle of winter! …
Our Grand Canyon Field Institute hike started out very pleasantly, if not a bit warm. Heading down the South Kaibab Trail on March 29th, the sun shone brightly and the air was calm. Temperatures got into the eighties, but starting out early we were able to avoid most of the heat. Unfortunately that wasn’t the …