AirstreamTour: Chasing Squirrels Across Arizona

The squirrel chasing continued to Page, Arizona – a sleepy little place in the northeast of the state. Originally known as Camp Page, the town was cobbled together on desert land acquired in trade with the Navajo Nation. It originally served as home to hundreds of construction workers hired to build the country's second largest dam at Glen Canyon on the Colorado River. Is this a town a bit off the beaten path? Well, let’s just say that the federal government has officially designated it as being the most remote community in the country.

However, Page has several things that are attractive to tourists. First, it is the exact center of what has been dubbed the Grand Circle. The roads radiate out toward the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands, Grand Staircase Escalante, and Vermilion Cliffs. Second, it is on Lake Powell, a jewel of a lake that was created by the Glen Canyon dam, 186 miles long with 1,960 miles of shoreline. And third, it is the location of the Antelope Slot Canyon – a bucket-list destination for most every photographer.

We spent four nights at the Page Lake Powell RV Campground. While in town we took in some of the sights including a short hike (only 1.5 miles) to Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River. Horseshoe Bend is a tremendous curve on the river. To get there you first trudge up a sandy hill that lies on top of Navajo Sandstone, a uniform, smooth sandstone layer that stretches from Arizona to Wyoming - over two thousand feet thick in places. Then the trail takes you over bare sandstone. When you reach the edge of the bend, you look down 1,000 feet of sandstone cliff to the river.

Horseshoe Bend in the Colorado River

Navajo Sandstone cliffs

Later we drove up to Grand Staircase Escalante to watch the sunset from Alstrom Point. To quote the guidebook, "Fill your tank with gas, pack a lunch, and bring along your camera, binoculars and sunscreen for a transcendent experience as you travel along the backside of Lake Powell. The trail leads you to the ultimate destination of majestic views high above the lake where you can create picturesque memories of a lifetime." It also mentions that a high-clearance or 4-wheel drive vehicle is recommended. Hey, no problem for the Element, right? Wrong! We made it down the first 5 miles (paved), the second 3 miles or so (gravel), the next couple of miles (dirt) and finally gave up 10 miles or so short of our goal when we reached a flooded wash deep in mud and decided the prudent thing to do was make a U-turn and head back out. A choice many others made by the evidence of the tires tracks on the side of the road.

Dirt portion of the road

Hmm...time to chicken out

So instead we drove up the highway enjoying the sights through the countryside. The Grand Staircase Escalante became a national monument in 1996. It spans nearly 1.9 million acres on the Colorado Plateau. The topography is comprised of 3 sections: the sandstone cliffs of the Grand Staircase, the high mesas and deep canyons of the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the red rock wilderness of the canyons of Escalante.

Sandstone cliffs of the Grand Staircase

Red rock mesas of Escalante

On our last day in Page we popped up early to make the 0900 tour of the Glen Canyon Dam. Turns out we popped up a touch early... Arizona doesn't recognize Daylight Savings Time whereas the Navajo Nation we’d just left does. So instead of making the 0900 tour of the dam, we took the 0800 tour instead. But it was worth it; the tour was quite interesting. Among the facts we learned was that the main purposes of the dam were to provide water storage for the southwest region and to generate power for the area. Colorado River reservoirs provide irrigation waters for an estimated 25% of the nation's food. Concrete placement began in 1960 and continued 24 hours a day until the final bucket was dumped three years later. A bucket held 24 tons of damp concrete, and it took over 400,000 of them to build the dam, enough to build a 4-lane highway stretching from Phoenix to Chicago. The dam created Lake Powell and only took 17 years to fill completely.

The plant generates power serving a five-state grid of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. The electricity produced can provide enough energy to serve the needs of approximately 1.5 million users. It is estimated that the dam will be usable for 300-500 years.

Glen Canyon Dam

Dam turbines

After the tour of the dam we headed back into town to the office of Chief Tsosie's Antelope Slot Canyon Tours. We took the afternoon photographic tour of the upper slot canyon, the most photographed canyon in Arizona. The colors and natural waves in the rock made by thousands of years of flowing water and whirling winds are a photographer's dream-come-true. The canyon is a narrow, twisting passageway approximately 1/4-mile long, 150 feet deep, and at times only a shoulder-width across. The canyon is on Navajo land and you must have a licensed native guide to see it. If you make it to Page, you must bring your camera and tripod and shoot the canyon! Our guide was quite knowledgeable about the best angles and spots for photography and even took over the picture taking for one woman who couldn’t get the hang of her new camera. Here are a few of the sights we managed to capture.

Photographer: Heinz

Photographer: Teresa

Photographer: Heinz

Photographer: Teresa

Photographer: Heinz

Photographer: Teresa

Leaving out of Page, we headed for the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately the direct route between Page and Flagstaff had been closed due to a rockslide that destroyed part of the highway back in February. So we headed southeast back down to Highway 60, an extra couple of hours on our journey. In the middle of nowhere, 25 miles east of Tuba City the engine suddenly quit. Heinz coasted over to the side of the road and parked. He fiddled around with the engine without success for a couple of hours, calling back and forth to the Cummins factory for advice. Finally we called our handy dandy roadside assistance insurance company and they set us up with a tow...from Flagstaff, a little over 100 miles west. If you hit the road, get this insurance. Coach Net paid for the tow--$225/hour x 4 hours = $900!! So, instead of spending two nights at the Grand Canyon, we spent them in the parking lot of Rush Truck Services in Flagstaff. Lots of dollars later we pulled out with a new-to-us rebuilt fuel injection pump and headed south to the Phoenix area and McDowell Mountain Regional Park.

Our baby headed to the truck hospital

Oh well, at least the sunset was pretty

Work in progress

This was the second time we’ve stayed at the McDowell Mountain Regional Park. The campground has great views of the mountain ranges surrounding the area, the Mazatal range to the east, the Pinal range to the southeast, and the Superstition Mountains to the south and is only 5 miles outside of the town of Fountain Hills. There are some incredible plants around the area also and being spring, most were starting to bloom. Of course this meant that I was out photographing plants and wildflowers, driving Heinz nuts.

The rig in place with the Pinal Mountains in the distance

Sagauro cactus

Fiddleneck in bloom

Fiddlenecks backlit by the setting sun

Fairy Duster

Teddy Bear Cholla, the little puff balls on the ground fall off the mother cactus and will grow new chollas

Phoenix was fun although we only spent three days there. We took a day to ride around town, just scoping out the place and visit the Heard Museum. The museum is known worldwide for its exhibits and programs celebrating American Indian artists. If you go expecting a museum of Indian history - this isn’t the place. While there are some historic exhibits, they are in place to give a context to the artworks. For example, on our visit there was an exhibit called Home: Native People in the Southwest. It showcased the traditions of Native people of the past and present and examined definitions of home. There was a Navajo Hogan with a spectacular sand painting done in 2006 by a Navajo artist, a Pueblo horno (outdoor bread oven), and over 400 kachina dolls donated by Barry Goldwater.

Rug woven by Atsuma Blackhorse in the 1960’s. Blackhorse was born in 1886 and lived to be 108 years old. In this rug, she recreated a Plablita Velarde painting, “Sky Hunter and Prey” which shows a vulture swooping in on a rabbit.

On our last day in the area we headed out on the motorcycle to ride the Apache Trail. The trail was originally a stagecoach route that ran through the Superstition Mountains. It was named the Apache Trail after the Apache Indians who originally used this trail to move through the area. The current Apache Trail links Apache Junction at the edge of the Greater Phoenix area with Theodore Roosevelt Lake, through the Superstition Mountains and the Tonto National Forest. Today, much of the Apache Trail is paved, and the section east of Apache Junction is known officially as State Route 88. The Trail winds steeply through 40 miles of rugged desert mountains, past deep reservoir lakes like Canyon Lake and Apache Lake. The narrow, winding road is unpaved from just east of the community of Tortilla Flat to Roosevelt Dam, a distance of 24 miles; there are steep cliff drops and little in the way of safety barriers. The trail requires caution when driving and it is not recommended for large RVs, SUVs, or caravans. Some large RV rental companies in the US do not allow their vehicles to be taken on this route. Traffic dropped off drastically as we entered the unpaved portion of the road, but the GSA made it through like it was made for it (hey, I guess it was – eh?) - we were the only motorcycle on the road, even if we never did get above second gear.

The route was absolutely superb! The mountainsides were covered in yellow poppies, yellow desert marigolds, and purple lupine along with all the bright green of spring growth on the cacti. There were saguaro cacti everywhere and when you consider that it takes 75 years to grow the first side arm and they can live for over 150 years, we figured many of these were around when the stagecoaches drove through.

The dirt portion of the road, check it out down in the valley.

Saguaro cacti along the route.

The hillside were full of amazing color.

Traveling home that afternoon, we ran across the Tonto National Monument. So of course, we had to stop in and see what it was all about (and get another stamp for the National Park Passport book). Turns out there are cliff dwellings there – who’d have thunk it?

Archeologists have found that the first people to settle permanently in the area arrived between 100 and 600 AD. Eagle Ridge, a village of 15 pit houses is one of Tonto Basin’s earliest farming communities. By 750 AD people from the lower Gila and Salt River valleys arrived in the area and stayed for around 400 years, farming the desert via irrigation. Starting in the 1100s, the puebloans from Colorado began moving into the area, building cliff dwellings. By the late 1300s climate changes caused the area to become more arid, interspersed with catastrophic flooding of the Salt River that destroyed valley farms and villages and undermined or destroyed the centuries-old irrigation system. By 1450 those struggling to maintain their way of life gave up and migrated away from Tonto Basin.

Tonto cliff dwellings, one of hundreds of communities within the Tonto National Monument.

Next stop was Tucson, AZ. We’ve been to Tucson several times now and have identified some favorite places there. We headed over to El Guero Canelo for a Sonoran hot dog, to Beyond Bread for sandwiches and pretzels, and to the Blue Willow for breakfast with my cousin. We also tried a new spot, Teresa’s Mosaic Café (just seems appropriate doesn’t it?) for Mexican. I think it’ll land on the favorites list - mostly food from the Oaxaca region. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, the family has opened a second restaurant in El Segundo.

Ahhh, Sonoran hot dogs at their best!

Stuff flies everywhere when the man eats – can’t hardly take him out anywhere!

Breakfast with cousin Ruth at the Blue Willow.

We spent most of our time in Tucson lazing around, doing some spring-cleaning, and minor maintenance on the rig.

But we did take a couple of hours out to tour the Air Force Materiel Commands’s 309^th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), better known as the aircraft boneyard. This area of Davis-Monthan AFB houses all excess military and government aircraft. There are currently around 3,500 aircraft stored here, down from a one-time high of over 6,000. Aircraft are brought here to be stored indefinitely, pulped, stripped, or restored for service.

Sikorsky MH 53 helicopters

Nav T34C trainers

Miscellaneous planes and parts

Following Tucson we drifted over to Yuma, AZ in the southwest corner. Neither of us had been to Yuma before and I doubt that we would go out of our way to visit again. We stayed at the Cocopah Indian casino. They have a 50 spot parking lot where you can dry-camp for $5.00 for 3 nights - stay longer and you have to pay in casino points. We stayed two nights, so that was $2.50 a night – not bad! Then factor in gambling losses and … well, never mind! Oh that man can whine, $20 at the penny slots is NOT a fortune lost!

I’ve heard of Yuma all my life, probably due to the movie 3:10 to Yuma. Yuma actually got started because it was the narrowest place along the Colorado River for fording the river. While in town we checked out the Quartermaster’s Depot from Fort Yuma and the Territorial Prison. There’s not much left at either location.

The Depot has three or four restored buildings, furnished with period furniture. One interesting story was posted in the dining room of the Quartermaster’s house. His wife’s diary was quoted, “During dinner with guests we served water, wine, and sweet milk, which we watched turn to curds on the table due to the heat.” I can believe it; it was 96 degrees on April 4, with the summer heat yet to arrive.

After the Quartermaster’s Depot we stopped in at a Mexican restaurant recommended by the staff in the Depot gift shop, Tacos Mi Rancho. This was definitely the best part of Yuma! Heinz asked a gentleman at the next table for recommendations and he enthusiastically said, “Get the special!” Carne Asada Ranchero, what a meal! This is good, down-home Mexican cooking in the Sonoran style. Nothing fancy, be prepared to wait, they cook everything as it’s ordered – and every table is filled. The salsa was obviously homemade, the chips fresh, the meat tender, the rice fluffy, I could go on and on AND we got out for under $20.

Carne asada rancheros

The Territorial Prison was our next stop. It opened on July 1, 1876 when the first 7 inmates entered and were locked into the new cells they had just built themselves. It was in operation for 33 years until there was a need to expand but the town of Yuma would not sell the government any land. It was then closed and the prison moved closer to Phoenix. Only about 1/3 of the prison remains. The rest was destroyed by townspeople seeking building materials and the Pacific railroad that built a bridge and train switch station on land previously part of the prison.

Apparently, while the Yuma Territorial Prison had a harsh reputation among prisoners, it was known as the country club on Prison Hill by the townspeople. All prisoners had to work at learning a trade. There was a library (the first in Arizona) that the prisoners and townspeople alike were allowed to use, a school where prisoners could learn reading; writing; arithmetic; music; and German, Spanish, English as a second language; and a hospital that was the envy of the area. There was a prison band that gave community concerts. In addition, in their free time prisoners were allowed to create arts and crafts that were sold monthly in town. Proceeds went to the prisoners so they would have some money when/if they were released.

The prison also had gravity-fed running water, forced air fans for air circulation and flush toilets in the workshops and staff living quarters. There were even showers where prisoners were required to bathe once a week.