Our trip from Moab, Utah, to Arizona, on our National Parks, friends, and family tour in late April, took us to Fredonia. The scenery on the backroads along the way was incredible during every mile of the 5.5-hour drive.
When driving along the Colorado Plateau, you must be prepared to stop for photo ops. The wind and water sculpted bluffs made from Navajo and Wingate layered sandstone were fantastic.
Mormon “Hole-in-the-Rock” pioneers were sent by their church leaders to carve and blast their way across wicked canyons, cliffs, and crevasses to settle the southeast corner of Utah along the San Juan River. Bluff Fort is now a collection of restored buildings and genuine relics from those early Mormons in the late 1870s.
Horsehoe Bend State Park in Glen Canyon, Utah, features a 1,000-foot drop to the most photographed bend in the Colorado River. It’s an easy .6-mile hike from a packed parking lot.
Glen Canyon Dam is an impressive 710-feet high, 1,560 feet wide, and required approximately 5,370,000 cubic yards of concrete to tame the Colorado River. Building it started in 1956 and took 10 years. The steel arch canyon bridge is the highest of its kind in the US.
Fredonia, Arizona, is not much to look at, but the reason for our 2-night stop there was to hang out with Karen’s cousin Paul. Karen and Paul had not seen each other in over 40 years!
Milt’s Tavern in Fredonia was established in 1934, a time when a man could take his horse into the bar for a drink if the animal was well-behaved. It is now called Buckskin Tavern, is Paul’s favorite watering hole, and it claims to have the longest bar in Arizona. I asked the bartender if that was true and she replied, “No one has ever challenged it.” We ate dinner and sipped suds while Karen and Paul did some serious catching up.
Paul worked 32 years for the forestry service. His last station was the 1.6 million-acre Kaibab National Forest bordering both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon. Paul spent an entire day squiring us through the backroads and woods along the north rim. I learned more about forestry in one day with Paul than all my years combined.
There was still snow on the ground along portions of the north rim. The north rim is officially closed this time of year, but not to former forest service employees with a 4X4 and kinfolk visiting.
It was very cold, windy, and snowed off and on during our tour. I attempted to climb this very tall lookout tower, got within two flights of the top, and was turned back by 20-35 mph winds and sleet.
We bought sandwiches and beverages before leaving Fredonia. Paul found us a semi-sheltered spot on the rim, built a roaring campfire, and set out folding chairs for lunch. We had the place and the view to ourselves.
It was a challenge to take worthy pictures of the Grand Canyon with the clouds, snow, and chill factors in the low 30s, but when the sun peeked through the clouds, the canyon was fantastic.
Traveling with a forester, I learned to stop and smell the Ponderosa pine trees. A chemical compound in the bark of this Kaibab Forest species changes as it ages and smells like vanilla, butterscotch, or baking cookies. It was a pleasure to meet Paul, a treat for Karen to see him again, and a delight to spend a day with him in the woods. Thanks, Paul! I hope our paths cross again soon.