Northern Arizona Black and White

 Various B&W shots from our trip

 Observation tower at the south rim of the Grand Canyon

Old gas station and cafe in Desert Center California

When you look at photos from an A.D.D. photographer, this is what you get

Courtyard in Sedona

Just caught my eye.

Headless palm trees and cabins for rent at Desert Center? I don't think I'm staying there anytime soon.

Sedona

Where are the tracks? Who put the bullet holes in it? Desert Center

Old scraper

Just walking by

A lady sitting in the old courtyard with a box of pizza. I think the creature on top of the fountain is giving her the old stink eye.

Hard to believe that Desert Center had enough business for two gas stations.

More courtyard in Sedona

Courtyard walkway.

Ancient Bristlecone Pine tree at the Grand Canyon. I liked the texture.

I don't know what they are, but I like 'em.

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Northern Arizona Road Trip - Post 5

I said I was going to post some pics and words about the old mining town of Jerome today.  You may not be tired of this road trip yet, but I am. So I'm going straight to the Grand Canyon. After this post there will only be four more relating to the trip.

• Black and White photos
• My favorite photos from the trip 1 (that I haven't already posted)
• My favorite photos from the trip 2 (that I haven't already posted)

GRAND CANYON

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We weren't in the park yet. We stopped on the Navajo reservation and took this pic.

I wasn't sure which I liked best, the canyon or the dead tree.

It's amazing how big the canyon is. At the south rim, it's many miles across and a mile deep. It's also more than a hundred miles to the north rim.

I loved this tree.  Although this tree is dead, some of the bristlecone pines here live for thousands of years.

It's hard to judge the scale of this place, it's size is mind blowing.

Make sure you enlarge this one.

Note how red the river is, proof that the canyon is still growing in size.

That first drop is about 2000 feet, straight down. It made me dizzy.

I don't know the idot who climbed out there, but it made a good pic for me.

Another tree that's at least a thousand years old.

Too big to comprehend.

Yes, it's a trail to the bottom. A guy died on this trail or one near there last weekend. We walked down it, but not too far.

Almost a spectacular photo. This is a raven. I thought the crows around my area were huge, but the ravens at the Grand Canyon dwarfed them. Man, I wish I could have got this guy framed up. I had to do a quick draw and shoot. Almost...

As we were driving back to Sedona we saw this display. We couldn't believe the shade of violet-blue we were looking at. I'm sure there was a spectacular sunset that night.

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Honanki Cliff Dwellings - Sedona Area

While in Sedona we also took another off-road trip to some more ancient Cliff Dwellings.  These ruins were last lived in about 800 years ago by the Sinagua Indians. Some of the pictographs and petroglyphs there are estimated to be about 10,000 years old. Although these ruins are available to anyone, you should have at least a high clearance vehicle to safely get to them. Once there, you can walk right up them. Look but don't touch.

The trail leading up to these isolated ruins was created and maintained by Pink Jeep Co.

I looked in the little window and was totally amazed to find one of the original ladders still in place.

The trail allows you to walk directly up to the ruins. It's totally run on the honor system.  You can see the trail on the right hand side of the photo.

enlarge this one for sure

We were told that some of these symbols are also found in ancient Chinese ruins. Food for thought...

Amazing stuff.

It was pretty awe inspiring to be see things made by another person 10,000 years ago.  Being able to walk right into the ruins made it much easier to imagine what life must have been like back then. It must have been very difficult.

tomorrow some pics and info from the largest "ghost town" in the U.S.

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Northern Arizona Road Trip - Post 3

While we were in Sedona we hired a jeep and driver/guide to take us through a place called Diamondback Gulch via the Sidewinder Trail.  I would have preferred that the Jeep had a different paint color instead of pink (It clashed badly with my camo t-shirt and pants with 14 pockets).

Sidewinder Trail

Some parts weren't too bad

Some parts were

What goes down, must come up

Almost there

One more set of bumps and we're out!

All that just to see this heart shaped cactus on the other side!  

Not really, but it was there and it was pretty cool looking.  Of course this wasn't the most radical off-road experience ever, but for us it was pretty exciting and very interesting.  We also took another off road tour to see some more ancient cliff dwellings, that were only accessible via 4-wheel drive.  Pics from that tour will be posted tomorrow.

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Northern Arizona Road Trip - Post 2

This post relates to our second day in the Sedona area. We spent a good part of the day driving the Oak Creek Canyon Loop with a detour to some ancient Indian cliff dwellings called "Montezuma Castle."  Feel free to enlarge any of these photos to enhance the view.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

The Sinagua (without water) Indians began building and living in these cliff dwellings about 900 years ago.  The lowermost part of the dwelling sits about 100 feet off the valley floor.  Early settlers in the area were amazed by the structures and assumed it was Aztec. They were wrong of course, but the name stuck.  The dwelling in the photo is 5-stories and has about 20 rooms.  The people living in it scaled the cliff with ladders that could be removed for protection. There is a very nice stream flowing in the valley.  My wife and I were both shocked when we turned a corner on the trail and spotted the "castle." Photographs don't do this place justice. It was amazing.

Here's a closer view of the "castle."  At one time they allowed tourists to climb ladders and actually go inside of the dwelling.  A new highway brought too many people, so the practice was stopped.

Some of the other portions have deteriorated due to the nesting of carpenter bees over the centuries. 

After we left the ruins we headed into Oak Creek Canyon. We had wonderful views like this one and two below.

The road down into the canyon proper, has many hairpin turns

and a very steep drop off.

We must have driven over this bridge 10 times before we got this view of it. I wonder when this rust bucket is going to collapse?

This trail led from the mesa down into the canyon. We walked down the trail a bit and saw

this view.

A better view of the bridge and the start of the trail.

If you finish the trail (we didn't), a cool dip in Oak Creek awaits.  I had no problem climbing down the trail, but NO WAY was I going to climb back up. My wife wouldn't agree to carry me, so we didn't even come close to finishing our trek. I guess she's just not a team player...

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