Grand Canyon - Parashant Drive

Kent and I took a fun drive Thursday through parts of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument; it is located south of St. George on the Arizona Strip. The AZ Strip is very remote and covers 7,800 sq. miles, a good spare tire is a must when traveling to this area. In years past we have visited Toroweap Overlook and hiked Mt. Trumbull. We hope to explore more of this region in the months and years ahead.

We drove 62 miles of dirt roads

The roads weren't too bad, 4WD is recommended

Our first stop was Black Rock Mountain Fire Lookout 7,368 ft.

We drove through pine forests, Joshua trees, red rocks and desert washes

At the Lookout Tower with Mount Bangs in the background

Cabin at Cougar Spring

Cottonwood Spring

The tallest Joshua Tree we saw

Gnarly looking trees

Joshua tree in bloom

This grave marker was on an old ranch, says he didn't want to die in his bed, they found him here with his faithful dog

View of Grand Wash Bay (Lake Mead) from Whitney Ridge

Refurbished CCC dam

The dam was originally built by Luke Whitney in 1886

Steep steps

Whitney Pockets

Wild flowers were really pretty

Mt. Trumbull Hike

Friday, October 3rd, 2008. We were invited to explore the Arizona Strip with Shaun and Karen Mason. On the way to Mt. Trumbull, Shaun stopped to show us an old junk yard that was hidden from view about a quarter mile from the road. We enjoyed looking at all the old relics and were particularly impressed with the Ford truck that still had its headlights and windshield intact. Another truck (not pictured) still had its key in the ignition! On the way back to the car we did a little arrowhead hunting and were fortunate enough to find several shards of pottery and a few bases of arrowheads. We then traveled to Nixon Springs (6,500 ft) and climbed to the top of Mt. Trumbull (8,033 ft). The roundtrip hike of approximately five miles took us about 3.5 hours. Mt. Trumbull is the highest mountain on the Arizona Strip. We traveled 140 miles, all on dirt roads, and only saw one other car during the entire day.