Road Ramblings and a Dead Horse

(2023 Alaska Revisited Ep 5)

After a couple of hot days and chilly nights in Valley of Fire SP, our travels continued toward Arizona.  We had an unfollowed RabbiTRAIL from a previous trip to take care of.

Twilight Time Zone

In less than 100 miles, our route took us from Nevada to Arizona, then to Utah and back to Arizona.  Our various timepieces couldn’t keep up with the time zone changes.  Our truck had one time, phones had different times and wrist watches yet another time.  We gave up trying to figure out what time it was and decided to temporarily endure our twilight time zone experience.

By the next day we were well inside Arizona and our various clocks finally synched to the correct time!

Colorado Horseshoe

Two years ago we camped at Lee’s Ferry on the Colorado River, a few miles down river from the Glen Canyon Dam.  We highly recommend the campground and several great hiking trails nearby. 

One afternoon we drove to Page, AZ for supplies and gas.  Page is near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.  Down river from the dam the Colorado River has a horseshoe bend that can be seen at the end of an easy half mile trail.  We didn’t stop in 2021 but did so this time and were awestruck with an iconic view of the river. 

That evening we spent a subfreezing night in a Coconino National Forest dispersed camping area near Flagstaff.  The mountain tops were dusted with snow that night and we had to use our RV furnace to stay warm.

The next morning, we drove south of Flagstaff, driving highway 89A to Cottonwood AZ.  The highway descends narrow Oak Creek Canyon before reaching Sedona.  The Google map of the route shows what can best be described as a plate of spaghetti!

Sedona

Many of our friends have recommended visiting Sedona, AZ, a charming town in a stunning red rock canyon between Phoenix and Flagstaff.  Sedona has an attractive downtown district with shops and restaurants that remind us of Fredericksburg TX or Gatlinburg TN.  It also has MANY dizzying traffic circles coming in and going out of town!

No Dead Horses

We camped the next three nights at Dead Horse Ranch State Park south of Sedona, enjoying warm, sunny days and chilly, almost cold, nights.  We unpacked our bicycles and rode throughout the park, along the swift flowing 50-foot-wide Verde River and around the three lakes in the park.

There was evidence of a substantial recent flood along the Verde River – tangles of brush in trees, piles of dirt and piles of rocks were everywhere.  We spoke with a ranger digging a small ditch to drain an area of backed up water.  He said a flood had occurred several weeks earlier from rapid snowmelt and a storm that dumped more than an inch of rain upriver.  During the flood the river was as much as a half mile wide!

We wondered about the park name – there were no dead horses from what we could see. 

It seems a family from Minnesota came to Arizona in the 1940s looking to buy a ranch.  At one property a dead horse was lying by the road.  After looking at several properties, the father asked his children which ranch they liked best.  They said, “the one with the dead horse.”  So the family named it “Dead Horse Ranch” and when Arizona State Parks acquired the park in 1973, retaining the name was a condition of the sale.

A Detour and An Unexpected Blessing

From Dead Horse Ranch SP, we were bound for Lost Dutchman SP near Phoenix.  We decided to skip the more direct interstate highway route for the longer route through the Coconino National Forest.   The hills were covered with magnificent yellow and orange flowers, accented with skinny ocotillo and stately saguaro cactus.

We drove along a long reservoir created by the Roosevelt Dam.  Google routed us on AZ 88 through the canyon below the dam – the most direct route to Lost Dutchman SP.  Unfortunately, the road was closed due to a rock fall. and we had to detour more than 40 extra miles to reach our destination.

Tonto National Monument was along the detour, and we decided to stop to check things out.  We hiked a steep half mile trail to a small cliff dwelling overlooking the rugged valley.  Yellow, orange and purple desert flowers were at their peak.

The detour was yet another reminder that changed plans often result in unexpected blessings from our Amazing God! 

NEXT WEEK:

We cross the Arizona desert bound for California and are joined in our travels.