Stayin' in da Hood

Day Off #2
July 12, 2013

Having driven more than a hundred miles yesterday, Fred wanted to stay close to home for today's outing.  We traveled about a mile north to explore a tributary of Kanab Creek based on our Indian artifacts guru's information that there are petroglyphs on a cliff-face along the wash.  However, we had no idea of their distance from the confluence or even which side of the wash on which they are located.  We found a track and followed it until it disappeared into dense brush and scrubby trees.   A consolation  discovery was a few petroglyphs and some pottery shards at a boulder near the highway north of Kanab Creek.

We continued on to Best Friends and climbed to a cave we'd spotted on an earlier visit.  Scrambling up the sandstone was hot and challenging in places but the view that rewarded us justified the effort.  From debris around the site, we speculated that the cave was man-made, or at least enhanced, for an extraction activity, possibly to obtain the fine, pure white sand inside.  The cave didn't exist or was only a fraction of its current size when Native Americans inhabited the area so the etchings covering the walls are relatively recent.

How does that rock stay there?

 

 

 

Looking south from inside sandy cave at Best Friends



Water Fall

Day Off #1
July 11, 2013

Today's destination was Pine Creek Falls in Zion.  We wedged the Jeep into the last bit of pavement at the trailhead, noticing dark clouds scudding overhead.  Walking parallel to the creek but unable to see it until we to had to descend from the bank to the water, we began to hear whoops and hollers.  Rounding a bend, we saw a large family group enjoying the deep pool at the base of a high jump-off rock.  A bit beyond the swimmers, we reached the falls--a lovely little stream that cascades into a deep circular pool.  We would have liked to stay longer but rumbles of thunder made a compelling case for immediate departure.  Rain began to fall right before we got back to the Jeep and increased as we drove toward the southern gate.

Threatening clouds over Zion's Temple of Sacrifice

 

  Whee!

 

Pine Creek Falls

 



In order to avoid the dangerous switchback ascent to the tunnel--and to have lunch in Hurricane--we took the long route home, through Arizona.  There was evidence of hard rain all along the way even though it had stopped by the time we got to Fredonia.  When we arrived home, Settlers Cove looked very wet and had that wonderful desert-after-the-rain smell.

Below is a picture of a beautiful arrowhead that Fred found near our RV after the hard rain.

 

and another found today 7/14

 

 

Catching Up

July 4th-11th


July Fourth was a red-letter day not only because of the celebratory events but also because we had rain!  For the first time in at least six weeks.  It broke the heat wave and, while it's been hot since, we haven't had the sustained high temperatures of late June and early July.

Last Sunday, Parry Lodge was a-buzz about a wedding reception held the previous evening at Angel's Landing on the Best Friends property.  Since it sounded so lovely and is only two miles north of our RV site, we drove there after dinner on Sunday.  What a magical place!  A tall sandstone cliff curves around an oval lawn to create a natural amphitheater looking out to the Kanab Creek watershed and red rock mesas in the distance.

Driving through Angel Canyon, we saw lots of places which deserve further investigation but we didn't know if Best Friends permits hiking on their land.  I called on Monday and learned that they not only allow access but provide a map to Hidden Lake and some Indian ruins.  We picked up a map and searched for a set of petroglyphs (hard to find, hard to see and difficult to photograph) near the Visitor Center.

Yesterday evening, we made the trip to Hidden Lake, a pleasant mile-long walk on a dirt road ending at the mouth of a huge opening in a rock wall.  To see the 'lake', which is actually a pond, you must step ten or twelve feet into the cave where it's cool and dark and rather creepy.  Going back to the car, we took the spur to the Indian ruins:  slabs of flat rock set vertically in the dirt to create square and rectangular spaces under the protection of  a huge rock alcove;  a pictogram of a human (?) figure on the wall; and pottery shards in the sandy floor.

Business at the Lodge has been slow--typical for July, when hot weather and afternoon monsoons keep tourists away.  Management decided that we aren't needed on Friday so we'll have two days off this week instead of one.