The Road Home From Nevada

Despite being mid-October, forecasters are still calling for temperatures in the mid to high 90’s, so we begin looking for stopping places at elevation where temperatures will be cooler. We’ll choose the woods with open windows over campgrounds and air conditioning every time. But, campgrounds do server their purpose.

Beaver Dam Mountain Wilderness

Turning west into the mountains, we travel through the Beaver Dam Mountain Wilderness area between Mesquite, NV and St. George, UT. This stretch of road offers incredible views of high canyon walls, vast mountain ranges, and the Virgin River winding it’s way throughout. We’ve traveled this stretch of road many times and the views never cease to amaze. We’ll eventually stop and explore here; but for now, we’ll just have to settle for a few pictures out the window.

Kaibab Paiute Tribe RV Park & Campground

It’s now late afternoon, so we decide to spend the night at the Kaibab Paiute Tribe RV Park & Campground near Pipe Springs National Monument. This gives us the opportunity to take a nice, long, hot shower and refresh our tanks before continuing on. This is such a great place to stop. We stayed here on the way to Nevada and instantly added it to our list of favorite stopover spots.

Jacob Lake Inn cookies

The next morning we head toward the Kaibab National Forest, stopping to stretch our legs at the Jacob Lake Inn. Jacob Lake is the gateway to the north rim of the Grand Canyon; which we explored the prior summer. During that visit, the locals told us about the Inn’s incredible fresh baked cookies and we hadn’t forgotten about them. We highly recommend their signature s’mores cookie. Yum!

Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Drive

After passing through the Kaibab National Forest, we head down the steep, winding road toward Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. We were thinking about stopping to explore here on our way home; but since we’re traveling back a month earlier than anticipated, it’s still way to hot. Oh well, another time.

Southeast Flagstaff

Based on the the forecast, Flagstaff, AZ appears to be a great place to stop for a few days. We explored southwest Flagstaff fall 2022 when we attended Overland Expo West, so we opt for southeast of town this time.

Marshall Lake Dispersed Camping

Looking at the maps, we find a promising place to camp around Marshall Lake in the Coconino National Forest and head into the hills to see if we can find a good spot. We not only find one; but it provides access to hiking, biking, some incredible vistas, and a couple of spectacular sunsets.

Bike ride around Anderson Mesa

We awake to mostly clear skies with temperatures in the low 70’s. So, we spend the morning relaxing around camp and plot an eleven mile loop bike trail along forest service roads for the afternoon. Heading north from camp toward Marshall Lake the road is smooth and easy.

Marshall Lake

Once we reach Marshall Lake we find a vast marshy lake, surrounded by pasture lands, forest, and a view of the San Francisco Mountains in the background.

After leaving the lake, the path gets considerably more difficult with ruts, large rocks, loose sand and gravel. Looks like I’m going to get the off-road biking experience I was looking for at Barnes Canyon a few weeks ago.

As we progress, the trail gets even worse until we come to a very steep hill that has no clear path for ascent. So, instead of risking injury, we decide to walk the bikes up the hill. We’re out of breath by the time we reach the top; but from here we’re able to begin riding again. We go until we we’re almost at our second planned stop, Anderson Mesa. That’s when we see this old chimney on the corner.

There was no information about the site and I haven’t been able to find any since. We can only assume it’s the remnants of an old ranch or settlers cabin.

Anderson Mesa

Anderson Mesa, is at an elevation between 6,200 and 7,200 feet and is very flat. It’s been the site of the Lowell Observatory’s Anderson Mesa Station since 1959 and in 1992 the Naval Observatory’s Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) was established here.

Lowell Observatory – Anderson Mesa Station

This facility is not open to the public, so we can only see through the fence. It’s currently home to three telescopes including a 1.83 m Perkins Telescope, built in 1931, that is shared with Boston University and Georgia State University. The Lowell observatory that’s open to the public is northwest of town.

It’s unfortunate that we can’t get any closer; but we do see a male Desert Tarantula crossing the road as we approach.

Lower & Upper Lake Mary views

Our final stop before heading back to camp is a viewpoint above Lower & Upper Lake Mary. And since the ride takes much longer than we anticipated (over 3 hours), we arrive at sunset where Mother Nature provides a spectacular show as a reward for our perseverance.

Fall color hike

The following day, we decide to go for a hike to see some more of the fall colors. As the day progresses, we begin to see more and more hunters and decide to head home the following day.

Smoke

As we’re packing to leave in the morning we begin smelling smoke. Once we’re on our way and get closer to town the smell becomes oppressive. We can even see it hanging in the air now. The further we go, the worse it gets, and by the time we approach and enter the interstate heading south, we don’t think it will be long before they have to close the road (at least temporarily) due to lack of visibility. We did see signs that they were doing a prescribed burn northwest of town; but this seems to be coming from south of where we were camped. Regardless, leaving early seems to have been a very good decision.

Next stop… unknown. We’ll be home for the winter and will begin exploring again in the spring. See you then.