17 OFF ROAD WHEELS

From my campsite on BLM land SE of Fredonia, I watched the sun set over Snow Canyon country where I had hiked and camped the day before. After the sun went down the stars came out and I could see the distant lights of Fredonia and Kanab, twinkling like light islands in the distance.

I left my campsite at Snow Canyon Friday morning (14 May 2010 - Day 3 of my 8 day road trip) and headed to Fredonia by the most direct route (after buying a Kaibab National Forest “north” map from the BLM office in St. George.

I stopped and talk to a friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable BLM ranger in Fredonia, who even looked up the weather forecast for me for the elevation on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, where I was headed. That ranger was probably in his late 30’s or 40’s and was in a wheel chair. How easy it is to forget how fortunate we all are. I’m certain he liked his job of helping folks like me, but I also knew that he would love to be able hike as well. One of the moments which properly make us “stop and think”.

I followed the ranger’s directions up FR # 22 (beautiful country); then FR 425 & FR 292B to Crazy Jug Point; then 292A on out to Monument Point. Crazy Jug offers nice views of the Grand Canyon and at Monument Point; I took a short hike along the rim on the Bill Hall trail, then down the over the rim on the Bill Hall trail, just to get a feel for it. I was doing some scouting and reconnaissance work for our youngest son, who has always been interested in the Tapeats and Deer Creek backpacking trip.

After the visit to Crazy Jug and the short hike at Monument Point, I backtracked to FR 232 and drove it to the Thunder River trailhead. It turned out that the Thunder River trailhead was 1/2 mile beyond the three campsite Indian Hollow camp. I actually secured the last of the three campsites (the other two were occupied), but I decided I didn’t want to camp or hike here, and that I had done my job by scouting the “best places” to camp and the trailheads for me son, so I headed back down FR 22 to Fr 462, where I took the “short cut” up to Jacob Lake.

My plan was to gas up at Jacob Lake, camp nearby among the Ponderosa pine off FR 462 and then be ready to enter the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park via highway 67, when it officially opened Saturday morning 15 May 2010). Nobody could tell me what time they would remove the road barrier, but rumors were that it would be around 8 am Saturday morning (turned out it was open even earlier as I was there at 7:30 the next morning).

It was starting to get cold at Jacob Lake and I thought about another cold night in my lightweight sleeping bag. I decided to drive a half hour down 89A toward Fredonia, and camp on BLM land off road 2200-100. The drop in altitude would make a big difference in the night time temperatures. The next day at the backcountry office the ranger told me it had got own to 19 degrees Friday night, so the strategy worked out well.

I traveled a few miles south on BLM road 2200-100 then took a four wheel drive road east and up to the edge of the sagebrush and start of the juniper, where I made camp. A small herd of mule deer appeared ready to bail out when I showed up but then decided I was a curious sight, and actually approached my truck and watched me get set up for a good night’s sleep. I lucked out and got cell phone coverage, so I gave my wife a quick call from “mule deer” camp, and let her know about my change in plans.

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May 12th through May 19th - - I traveled 9 states in 8 days, camping, driving back roads, visiting scenic and historic sites, and taking some great day hikes. These are some of the photographs from this solo "road trip".

Day One: Home in Eastern Washington; Mountain Home, Idaho; Owyhee, Nevada and a very cold night camped at Wild Horse Crossing south of Mountain City, Nevada.

Day two: NEVADA - - Mountain City; Elko; Wells; Ely (through a snow storm); Panaca. UTAH - - Enterprise, Veyo, to a warm and scenic enjoyable camp and hiking at Snow Canyon.

Day three: UTAH - - Snow Canyon; St. George; Hurricane; to Fredonia, Arizona. Forest Service Road #22 and many others to places like Monument Point and Indian Hollow. Too cold to camp (got down to 19 degrees that night), so dropped down low to BLM wilderness land off 89 A and spent the night among sagebrush and juniper with curious mule deer as "neighbors".

Day four: Opening day of the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Visited the park and arriving early had many places (Cape Royal), entirely to myself. ARIZONA: Vermillion Cliffs; Page; Kaibito; and Navajo National Monument and Betatakin, where I had my nicest camp site (Canyon View at Betatakin).

Day five: Betatakin camp to Kayenta; Monument Valley to drive the 17 mile "loop road" through the monument; to Mexican Hat to recharge my camera battery (Canon G10) while eating Navajo stew and fry bread at a cafe along the San Juan River; to Comb Ridge where I

17" cepek alloy wheels with 4500 lb weight capacity per wheel with cepek fun country II tires. Great road and sand tire.