Arizona October 1999
A short vacation out west
- Phoenix
- Grand Canyon
- Squaw Peak
Saturday October 23, 1999
Arrived in Phoenix AZ and went to the new Phoenix Pubic Library to look at the Austria Bike Tour Web Page and look up info on Mary Colter, Architect for many of the Fred Harvey buildings at the Grand Canyon. Ate lunch at a large Mexican Restaurant in Phoenix. Later we went to Marrie Callander's restaurant for a late night snack.
Sunday October 24, 1999
Went to church at Grandma's Methodist Church in Phoenix and came back to the Beatitudes to have Sunday lunch with Aunt Beatrice in the Arizona Room. Afterwards Mom & I went to the Heard Museum of Native American Artifacts and also took in a Festival of the Dead which I guess is a Mexican festival where kids make death and skull face masks and celebrate dead people (?). We then drove east to the Pueblo Grande Museum and ancient Indian ruins, which are inside the city along the Grand Canal. We walked along the trail on top of the platform mound.
It was near sunset so we drove up to the city overlook
on South Mountain to watch the sunset, moon rise and
lights of Phoenix. On return we discovered that the
reservation for the lodge room at the Grand Cannon was
for Monday and not Tuesday as I had remembered.
Monday October 25, 1999
Early Monday morning we headed out north to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. We arrived at about 1 p.m. and stopped at a few lookouts Mather Point and Yavapai Observation Station before reaching the Grand Canyon Village.
We stopped at the El Tovar Hotel to make reservations for dinner and the earliest we could get was 9 p.m. just before closing. The 100 room Hotel was built in 1905 and named after Pedro de Tovar a Spanish explorer. The lodge was constructed of large logs and stained very dark. We walked around the village checking out all the wonderful gift shops and sights along the rim of the Canyon. After a small snack at the Bright Angle Lodge Café, we checked into our room. We returned to the village to watch the sunset over the Canyon. Unfortunately we hadn't read the voluminous reading material we had collected about the Canyon and didn't see that the best place to view the sunset was at Hopi Point on the west rim drive. But the view from the Canyon Village behind the Tovar was till pretty nice. The Tovar was fully booked months ago so we couldn't stay there but had dinner in the 4 star restaurant Mom had roasted lamb shank while I had Salmon with blackened with blue corn crust.
Tuesday October 26, 1999
After breakfast I headed down to the trailhead for the Bright Angle Trail
that is used by hikers and mules to reach the floor
of the Grand Canyon nearly 5,000' below the rim of
the valley.
I hiked down about 1,200 feet in elevation
in 1.5 miles and reached the first rest stop in about
˝ hour.
The trail is a soft dusty trail as is well worn by the
mules taking riders down to the Phantom Ranch at the
bottom.
I got stuck behind a mule train and stopped to take some pictures to let the fine dust settle before moving on. If one ever takes the mule ride down the canyon (it requires about a 1-year advance registration) don't get in the back of the train unless you have a dust mask. The first part of the trail was in the shade and was pleasant at 8 am with a temperature around 70 degrees. After October 17 they don't stock water at the rest stops so I took a lot of water but didn't need that much as it only took about 45 minutes to return back up to the top. It was a beautiful view going down into the canyon and made me wish I had more time and a reservation to stay at the Phantom ranch so I could have hiked all the way to the bottom (about 9.3 miles) and hike back out again the next day. Perhaps next year! After I returned from the little hike and showered we checked out and headed out on the West Rime Drive. This drive is closed to automobile traffic in the summer due to the tremendous crowds so it was a great opportunity to tour this portion of the park. We stopped at
Trailview Overlook, Maricopa Point and then Hopi Point.
The latter point was a tremendous view of the valley
in 270 degrees and would have been great to see it at
sunset.
Then we headed out to the East rim stopping at
Grandview Point, Moran Point and finally at Desert View
and climbed the Watchtower giving a 360 degree view of the area.
Continuing on 64 east we dropped down a couple
thousand feet to the Little Colorado River and then
turned south to Flagstaff and reclimbed back up to
7,000 feet. From Flagstaff we followed 89A down the
Oak Creek Valley through a red rock canyon which had
a very winding hilly road through a dense wooded
forest of pines and oak trees. We reached Sedona near
5pm but the sky had turned dark and clouds and rain
moved in so we headed back to Phoenix for dinner at
Marie Callanders's.
Wednesday October 27, 1999
Early I drove out to Squaw Peak Park just north of
Glendale Blvd. And hiked up Squaw Peak. The trail is
1.2 miles long to the peak and rises about 1,400 feet.
The trail is rocky and much is carved out of rock in
the form of rough uneven steps. I was glad I had my
new hiking boots with vibrum soles and good ankle
support. It was fairly cool (70-80 degrees) but sunny
so I was glad I hiked the trail in the morning.
After I returned we went to Old Glendale and then to
Sears to get Mom's tires balanced. Afterwards we went to a newly established Greektown restaurant for a wonderful Greek dinner.
Thursday October 28, 1999
Flew back to Cleveland.
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Email: parrybike@stratos.net
