Tag: hackberry creek

6 Sept-1 Oct 2020. Canyons and Waves. Part 3

Here is our continuation of our Canyons and Waves adventure near the Utah/Arizona Border.

14-15 September. Kodachrome State Park.  We spent the next two nights at beautiful Kodachrome State Park in Utah.  This wasn’t our first is visit to this park, so we skipped the easier trails we had done before and struck out on the Panorama Trail.  Beautiful views all around, a couple of slots and spires, and even a little bonus of internet service at the very peak of Panorama Point!

This is the colorful view from the top of Panorama Point at Kodachrome State Park.
Along the Panorama Trail was a short slot canyon called Secret Passage.
Another view along the Panorama Trail.
One of the many spires at Kodachrome State Park.

16 September. Lower Hackberry Slot Canyon. We took off south on Cottonwood Rd and stopped for our hike of the day at Hackberry Slot Canyon.  This canyon was a bit different, fairly wide, with some bushes and trees growing on the bottom… From our research, we were expecting a 4-5 inch stream flowing through, but apparently not in September.  There was plenty of sand, though, enough that we hiked half the trail barefoot! (Just to keep the sand from piling up in our water shoes). We spend the night at the BLM White House campground and were entertained by Uber-like drivers dropping off people to hike the 3-5 day (45 mile) Paria Slot Canyon trail.  They were certainly tougher than us!

Cottonwood Road, along what they refer to as a Cockscomb mountain ridge.
The Hackberry Slot Canyon Trail, can you see Chuck’s shoes hanging from his backpack?
The Hackberry Canyon was wide, but still very deep!
A few boulders in Hackberry Canyon.
Hackberry Canyon was very colorful!
We got to camp next to a huge sandstone boulder at White House campground.

17 September. Toadstools and Sand Dunes. We did a quick hike to see Toadstools and then headed to Corral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.  This sand dune area was certainly bigger than the sand dunes area in Northern Colorado, and is known for several movies filmed there. We saw plenty of people playing with motor “toys” there.

The Toadstools hike was just a quick 1 mile hike off the main Hwy 89. Just amazing seeing these rocks wearing hats!
Lots of sand at Corral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, but I thought the sand was more orange than pink…

18-19 September. Toroweap.  This spot on the north rim of the Grand Canyon has been on our “bucket list” for quite a while!  To get there, you go down a dirt road for 60 miles, drive through the Grand Canyon- Parashant National Monument and then arrive at a big Grand Canyon National Park sign and a tiny Grand Canyon Ranger Station manned by a young volunteer who stares at our rig and says, “you know, you need to be less than 22 ft long to make it through the rough and twistee road”.  After assuring her that we were indeed only 21.5 ft long, and her verifying our two day camping permit, she let us tackle the rugged 4×4 road to Toroweap Point and the Tuweep campground. 

There are two 60 mile dirt roads out to Toroweap. We took one out and the other back. Would recommend sticking to the east one if you are heading out there.
The Toroweap Cliffs on the way in were beautiful!
The road inside Grand Canyon NP were a bit rugged.
Short hike to the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Here is Chuck getting close to the edge – 3000 feet straight down..
View of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon from Toroweap Point
From this point you can see the rapids on the Colorado River, and the rafters on “tequila beach” (where the rafters celebrate surviving the rapids). This is the only overlook in the National Park where you can see the river directly below.
Grand Canyon view from Toroweap point, looking east.
The Tuweep campground was about a mile from the point, and we found a boulder to camp next to! We were the only “big-rig” (non-tent) in the campground – as Chuck likes to say, the only one getting a hot shower in the morning!
There were plenty of short, pretty hikes to occupy our time!
We took a picture of this guy who got way closer to the edge than we would have! (See his Dad yelling at him to be careful from a safe distance on the left?)

Next – on to Page, AZ and Lake Powell.