Route66 Arizona – RIM TO RIVER TO RIM

21-23 June 2013: Days 38-40 of 43 – Petrified Forest National Park, Holbrook, Winslow, Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon National Park South Rim ARIZONA (State 21). 

Route66: Days 9-11 of 13. 

Overnights in Flagstaff ARIZONA. 

Period 996km, Route66: 307km for 3,187km, Total 15,545km. 

For me the highlight of the trip up to this blog was my 6hr trek from the top of the Grand Canyon South RIM to the Colorado RIVER and back again to the top of the south RIM – more on this later! Friday 21 June was convoy day – Thelma and Louise followed Bubba Gump in a two car convoy along Route 66 out of New Mexico and half-way across Arizona to Flagstaff. Most of the original Route 66 over this section is buried under the I40 freeway so we only got to see it at the beginning and in each old town. Arizona is mainly desert, canyons and

escarpments but it looks spectacular. It is a flat sea of yellow green scrub and bright blue skies with wispy high clouds – fabulous photo scenery. We drove 28 miles through the “Petrified Forest National Park” just over the border from New Mexico in Arizona and once again offered a very unique landscape of colour formation and features. “Tepees” and petrified wood dominate this landscape. Tepees are sudden slope, volcano like mountains with coloured layers of sediment, deposited by river systems some 200 million years ago. The layers of blue, purple and grey are caused by iron, carbon and manganese. A huge forest also covered this area, died and fell into the river systems to be covered by silt so that instead of decaying, the tree's cellulose tissue crystallised and was

replaced by silica giving it that petrified look. You can still see the rings and bark but the silicas are multi-colour so there are cross-sections that look like marble or polished gemstone. We visited two main areas (Crystal Forest and Giant Logs) containing thousands of specimens from small pebbles to 
giant trunks. We also visited the Puerco Pueblo, remnants of a 100 dwelling village that housed 200 Pueblans from 1250 to 1380. An interesting feature was a type of sun-dial formed from a natural split in a huge bolder that casts sunlight onto another rock with a marking on it indicating the summer and winter solstice when the light hits that mark. Today was the summer solstice and we actually saw the sun light descending towards the Pueblan marking – they used this to work out when to plough and sow their crops. We then visited “Newspaper Rock”, a huge bolder with hundreds of

Pueblan petroglyphs on telling many stories rather like a newspaper. In the town of Holbrook ARIZONA we visited the “Wigwam Motel” which comprises huge concrete “tepees” as hotel rooms complete with bed and bathroom inside. We also had coffee in a typical Route 66 Café Diner across the road. Holbrook was another example of a town on Route 66 that was once thriving and now stands as a reminder of a glorious past. Sadly, most businesses, especially motels are gathering weeds… Winslow 30 miles (48km) further along Route 66 is an example of a tow that is still functioning. 

This is mainly due to the BNSF Railway and the famous “La Posada Hotel”, a restored hacienda with elaborate interior of tiles, glass and tin chandeliers, Navajo rugs, pop artwork and plenty of wood. The hotel attracts many US visitors. Add the small park where the Eagles performed “Take It Easy” and you have a formula of preservation for the town. The hotel and streets had many people, certainly more than the other “kitsch” Route 66 towns we had already visited. From here it was off to the giant “Meteor Crater”, 35 miles south-west of Flagstaff. This is a crater, 4,000ft (1,219m) across and 550ft (168m) deep formed by a

150 foot (46m) wide iron-nickel meteorite slamming into the earth, 50,000 years ago at a speed of 26,000 miles per hour (41,850 Km/h or 18 km per second). The energy dispersed at such high speed was the equivalent of 20 million tons of TNT and throwing up 175 million tons of material at speeds of 500 miles/hour (805 Km/h). The crater was formed in only 10 seconds but it took many years for “the dust to settle”. The crater was originally 700ft (213m) at formation but has since filled with material due to weather. It was discovered in 1871. Our last stop before

Flagstaff was the “Walnut Canyon National Monument” which is a rocky granite canyon covered in pines and containing many cliff dwellings belonging to the “people without water” or Sinagua Indigenous peoples that lived here more than 800 years ago. Many dwellings are in good nic and you can walk inside them. These guys must have been extremely fit given the severe slopes. These guys were hunters and gatherers as opposed to farmers due to the geography. It is only now, after seeing so many different tribes, dwellings and geographical areas that we realised the diversity of the many indigenous peoples of North America (USA).

 

The Grand Canyon truly lives up to its name – “Grand”. Even though it is the fifth largest canyon in the world (taking into account, depth, length, width and volume) it is regarded as the most impressive to look at and photograph and for this reason is registered in the “seven natural wonders of the world”. I agree. The first glimpse we caught of the Grand Canyon through the trees as we arrived there at 10am on Sat 22 June, we gasped. It took us 2hrs to get there via the scenic route from our hotel in Flagstaff on Sat 22 June and 1.5hrs to return via the freeway. We visited the “Southern Rim”. The Northern Rim is 356km away by

road but only 14km as the crow flies and very visible from the south. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet or 1,800 metres). The southern rim is at an average elevation of 7,000ft (2,100m). The set up at Grand Canyon is exactly like Zion National Park. You park your car in one of 8 car parks and catch free shuttles to all the major viewing points along the southern rim. The best and most popular is the 9-stop Hermits Rest “red” route. You simply get on and get off the 65 person shuttles passing every 8min. We went nuts with dag dancing

and golly-gosh photos. They took ages because Bubba would take ages to walk to the edge of the cliffs because of his fear of heights. Add the time to switch from sun glasses to reading glasses, retakes for glare and a number of other excuses under the sun and I could have made my movie in that time. At least we got to enjoy every part of the glorious canyon which I will not describe here but let the blog photos do all the talking. It was not too crowded and there were accents from all over the world. The Colorado River was visible from a number of specific points. It flows from the Rockies

to the Gulf of California, 2,250km away. It is responsible for carving out the Grand Canyon some 17 million years ago. Several indigenous tribes have lived here for thousands of years (exact timing not agreed) and the Spanish were the first whites to visit here in 1540. Whilst we were here, temperature reached 85F (29C) and dropped to 49F (9C) at night – typical desert weather. I ran 12.5km at 7,000ft (2,100m) along the entire Hermits Rest red route and it was easily the most scenic run  have ever done. Bubba Gump then visited the red routes “Hopi Point” to watch the sun set and solstice moon rise over the canyon along with 200 others at

7:47pm. What a site. One of those “world experiences” and what they say about the canyon walls changing colours as the sun sets is true – much like Uluru but on steroids because of the sheer number of spurs and cliffs and escarpments. The temperature also dropped very quickly after the sun set and the moon light was so strong it created a shadow behind you! As a matter of fact, Flagstaff, where we stayed, is officially part of an elite group of cities around the world described as “Dark Sky Cities” making them the best places for Astronomy Observatories and as a result, the Planet Pluto was discovered from Flagstaff in 1930. 

The town was only founded in 1912! Our drive to Flagstaff that night (22 June) was our first night time drive in the Mustang – I almost drove off the road since there were spots on the highway with no line markings – you should have heard Bubba scream – it was louder than Dr Smith from Lost in Space!!! My highlight day on Sunday 23 June began at 5:30am! I crept out of bed and drove by myself, 1.5hrs back to the canyon and by 8am I was prancing at almost jogging speed down the “Bright Angel Trailhead”, a trek of epic proportion starting at 7,000ft (2,100m) above sea level at the top of the south rim and descending down to the raging green Colorado River down at 2,400ft (732m) exactly 12.4km away through one million steps and twists and turns BUT scenery and silence to die for!!! I made the descent in 2hrs 15min with an extra 60min on top for photo, film, water and pee stops. I left the rim at 8am and along the way I kept seeing signs warning NOT to walk from the rim to the river in one day due to risk of exhaustion. I arrived at the river at 11:15am – it was a site for sore legs! I stripped down and went for a swim in what I figured was 12C water. As I swam, I gulped down many mouthfuls of clean, sparkling fresh water – it was like I was swimming in a river of Evian!!! The Colorado River is fast and furious. It is surrounded by the huge cliffs of the northern and southern rims making it seem like it is hidden from all civilisation.

The journey back was one of the greatest physical challenges of my life – a rise of 4,600ft (1,402m or nearly 5 Centrepoint Towers!!!) up over 12.4km – an average incline of 20 degrees – this is what a boy from Bondi will do for a swim!!! I made it in 2hrs 45min with another 30min for photo stops. As I walked onto the rim at 2:30pm all I could do was think of a cold beer. It took me a total 6hrs to do the whole trek: Rim to River to Rim - the brochures said 9-12hrs and NOT to do it in one day but over two. What a nut. It took me another 15min to film my victorious arrival due to the large number of tourists congregated around the start/end of this epic trek.

I was surprised by the number of people that walked up to me to ask me Those après-Angel beers were probably amongst the best of my life – it could have been Fosters but boy – did it go down in an instant! By the time I arrived back to the hotel to greet Bubba I was dreaming of Chardonnay and chicken! I was not as sore as I expected but it was great to soak in a tub and reflect on a day that will go down in my “great memories hall of fame”…

 

STOP PRESS: During our 3 night stay in Flagstaff ARIZONA, 1.5hrs from the Grand Canyon, we decided to eat natural in our rooms – there was a terrific huge deli-supermarket called “Bashers” across the road that did delicious BBQ chicken, sliced meats, smoked salmon, unprocessed real mature cheeses, fresh salads/fruits and of course plenty of wine. The only thing they did not have and I did not see it in any Walmarts was canned lentils – none! Why?