A road trip to the Grand Canyon

What is the lure of the road, the adventure of experiencing things we've never seen, the people, places and oddities that greets one along a journey…… or is it just the need to get away from the basic mundane life that you live each and every day
With all of this in mind my friend Pat and I hit the road on our motorcycles in search of all of the above mentioned reasons and more……
When I think of Arizona I think of long hot drives along the 10 highway, this southern route is a quite sparse and rugged desert spotted here and there with Saguaro and Ocotillo cactus. But the northern route along highway 89A from Prescott to Jerome and on to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is some of the most breathtaking scenery one will ever see.
Just miles of beauty that seems to transcend into one amazing topographic wonder after another
With that in mind here are the snapshots of our adventure to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and back.

Typical type of topography in the lower desert

The great thing you see along the old route 66 and much of the south west are these cool old motel signs
Some are abandoned and some motels you can still get a room for the night

Saw this sign of an Indian on his painted pony,

All along the desert are the oddities of human behavior,
some artist gave a whole new look to this rock

We stopped at this old gas station that has now been converted into
this fellows home, but it looked just like it would have fifty years ago


Pat snapped this one of me as we started to make our way to the upper desert and the town of Prescott

Prescott is a beautiful place nestled in the high desert mountains at around 5,300 feet
Needing a few beers after the long ride and something sweet to eat we landed at the bird cage
saloon, here I am with my bag of kettle corn

Here is one of the monuments in the town square,
as many of you know I have a thing for horses

We stayed the night with our friend Sindy had a nice dinner and
checked out a few of the local bars under the full moon that evening,
I can say that along our trip everyone in Arizona was really nice.........
In the morning when Pat and I were having breakfast
everybody would say hello and good morning.........kinda cool because we're not used to that in LA
Our next destination was the old mining town of Jerome, so we hoped on the bikes and continued north

One thing that is music to a motorcyclist ears is a sign that says curves and mountain grades
And the highway going into Prescott and on to Jerome has plenty, so we took advantage of them,
passing whatever vehicle was in our way but then we would also stop here and there to check out the amazing views

Jerome was established on the side of Cleopatra Hill in 1883
This old mining town now has a population of around four hundred or so
and in it's mining heyday the population swelled to around fifteen thousand
over two billion in copper and silver was mined here and the say that there are over eighty five miles of mines underneath the ground, above is the old Connor hotel and bar which is a favorite place for bilkers and locals
Right next door is the old Liberty theater which is still in operation

Jerome is known as a ghost town and has a rich history of local folklore
now many of the old buildings are restaurants or art galleries
Like the whore house here that operated till the 1940's

Here are a few more views of Jerome




Moving onward we were headed to the bridge that crosses the Colorado river
but before getting there we rode through the city of Sedona
It's has some amazing scenery but the problem for me was that it looked like the Aspen of Arizona
multi million dollar homes built right into a place that should be a treasured national park
A drive by was good enough for the both of us
I took a few pic's here where there weren't any homes



Now back again in the mountains traveling towards Flagstaff

We stopped in Flagstaff for some lunch and re-fueling
It's a nice mountain community be we didn't stay there long enough for me to take any pictures
Pat had talked to a fellow who told him about a place we should visit called the Sunset Crater
The Sunset Crater is the youngest in a string of volcanoes that is related to the nearby San Francisco peaks, this volcano last erupted in 1100.......... it's a thirty two mile loop off of highway 89A with some truly amazing scenery

Here is a large meadow of yellow flowers

A view looking out from the base of the crater

We also heard that one could find some ancient Indian ruins, so we headed off to find them

I might add that in this part of the country at this time of year it's the monsoon season
so there were always amazing clouds but also the threat of thunderstorms, but it made for some great vistas

Here is the ancient pueblo ruins left behind by a people long forgotten
the humble remnant of their existence

The myriad of colors one sees and feels in the desert of the great south west
is to remind oneself that there is still utter and true beauty left in this world
places where you feel like you are traveling in natures grand cathedral
It's in these moments while you ride, left with your thoughts as the world passes by
You understand how the American Indian could worship his land
and weep at it's destruction


Storm clouds are are a good metaphor for life,
As you approach the darkness you know you will enter the deluge that is falling
but that the important thing is not to surrender to the storm but to keep moving forward

You find the light and beauty that is beyond,
for no storm lasts .......it's just a moment in our mortal coil

Having ridden through the thunderstorm by the time we arrived at the Colorado river crossing we were both dry
I walked along the bridge taking in the beauty and grandeur of the great river and surrounding cliffs


We decide we had enough riding for the day and got a room at the Cliff dwellers lodge

They have a gas station and little market, but the real secret is the outstanding restaurant located there, some of the best BBQ ribs you will ever find.......... right out in the middle of the desert....... who knew
we didn't.......just lucked out
That's the great thing about a road trip with no set plans..........you land where you land
you leave when you want to leave.............. aaaah but the jewels you find along the way are priceless
I say this because this is what I witnessed as the sun set
A sunset with golden rain

The Vermilion cliffs in all their glory

My father used to tell me when I was a little boy
that the sunset was god painting the sky..........he might be right

There is a term in the south west called "The painted Desert"
It's when the colors of the desert floor meld into the cliffs and plateau's
We saw this many times along our journey


What can I say...............heaven is the open road

As we arrived in the general vicinity of the North Rim
We found a lovely campsite to pitch our tent for the night
With flowers and a strong scent of the towering pine trees we made our camp
(more on our campsite later)


Unpacking our gear we got back on the bikes and traveled down a dirt road to the East Rim of the Grand Canyon


Pat and I hiked about a mile down into the Grand Canyon
It's always easy going down......but coming back up is something else
Here's Pat taking a well deserved nap on a picnic table after the hike

After our little siesta and some dried salami we continued on to our destination The North Rim

All I can tell you is that pictures will never capture the immense grandeur and beauty of the Grand canyon
It is truly one of the greatest wonders of the world, I was awestruck




The rains moved in so Pat and I headed into the North Rim Lodge bar for a few beers and weather the storm out, and after a short time the sun came back out and it was time to get going and back to camp
We stopped at a little market for some beer, junk food and firewood
here is our delightful dinner

Pat made a nice big campfire which we both tended for the next several hours

Around midnight we both went to bed if you can call it that,
see all the campsites here are on gravel and if you've ever slept on rocks then you'll know what kind of night we had........ there wasn't enough advil in the morning to take the kinks out of the both of us

We rode back down the mountain and stopped by Lee's Ferry
He is the the guy who in 1871 established a ferry crossing across the Colorado river
Here is Pat next to the great river

We decided to ride back to Jerome and spend the night there
I quite liked the place so off we went

We ended up at the Jerome grand hotel, it originally was a state of the art hospital in it's day, It was closed up for many years until the new owners converted it to a hotel
They say it's haunted but by the time Pat and I went to bed our bumpers were dragging so bad there could have been a full blown demon party in our room and neither one of us would have gotten up

I slept soundly and woke up to see the sunrise, something that is quite rare for me
Something about the promise of a new day and the rising of the sun that will always make that moment poignant

We had a great breakfast and I decided to stroll around and take a few more photos of things that I found interesting

Like widows that look to the sky


Or the look of an old wall or doorway

Signs from the past that have weathered the years gone by

The edifices built by man to worship

Or just the slow rusting colors of an old tin sided wall

Yes there is a lot to see in this world, sometimes someone has put a little humor into it
like this for instance

This day ended with Pat and I doing a lap around the Salton Sea
A rather sad and desolate place back in California,
I shot this as the sun was setting in the western skyline

I spent the last evening of my sojourn at Pat's place in Palm Springs
And got up the next day with one more place in mind to stop

Just another kitschy stop along the highway of life
A quick look at the T-Rex at Cabazon and a date shake at Hadley's


And you know after that I was right with the world once again heading homeward

~M