Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The lights are all blinking red.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

I really should read my own blog.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

He really is that stupid.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

This really is a full service blog.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road – Paul in St. Augustine – A National Park Here, a National Park There

On The Road – Paul in St. Augustine – A National Park Here, a National Park There

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

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Paul in St. Augustine

A bit of Hawaii, Monument Valley, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 6

I spent a week visiting Hawaii, spending time in Honolulu to hike to the top of Diamond Head, boating along the Na Pali Coast State Park on Kauai, and Maui to take the Road to Hana, tour the Island via helicopter, and visit Haleakalā National Park. The crest of the volcano is at 10,023 feet above sea level. When I visited in 2004, you would encounter dozens of bicyclists at the top, waiting for the sunrise. Which meant that you had to avoid them as you made the drive down the volcano.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 7

The vast majority of people going to the Grand Canyon visit the South Rim, so I decided the North Rim would be my home for three nights. The elevation at the North Rim is 8,000 feet. I will say that for a Floridian who lives at sea level, spending time at that elevation is taxing on your body. The mountains on the horizon are the San Francisco Peaks. I spent an afternoon on the patio of the lodge, sitting in a rocking chair with a book and some wine, and watched the sunset.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 4

Angel’s Window is at the end of Cape Royal Road. You can walk over the arch itself, where the view from the edge of the trail amazes anyone who makes the time to take this trip. Be sure to leave your vertigo at home!

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 5

Waking up on the morning of what would have been my third night, I began to feed mild effects of the change in altitude, so I altered my plans and decided to take a 15 mile smooth water rafting trip from the base of the Glen Canyon dam to Lee’s Ferry. This tour ends just before the Colorado River enters the park. This is where the smooth water rafters exit the river, and the folks doing white water rafting enter.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 1

I did say smooth water! Both sides of the river have towering red sandstone cliffs hundreds of feet high.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 2

The primary stop along the river is named Petroglyph Panel, where several different scenarios were carved into the wall.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There 3

I wish I remembered what the name of the fault is in this part of Arizona that crosses the Colorado River. Whatever it’s name, here it is.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - A National Park Here, a National Park There

Monument Valley, located on the Navajo Nation within Arizona and Utah. John Ford made several movies back in his day. These are some of the less photographed buttes.

Reader Interactions

24Comments

  1. 1.

    jl

    Thanks for very beautiful pix. Makes me want to revisit some places and see some others for the first time.

    But, if Paul is in St Augustine, how did he get pix way out west? Har har har. A little BJ commenter humor there.

  3. 3.

    Origuy

    On my drive to the South Rim from Four Corners, I could see Monument Valley in the distance. It wasn’t in the schedule that trip, but maybe someday. I’d love to take the trip down the Colorado River, too.

    Thanks for the pictures. I especially enjoyed the petroglyphs.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Hiked into Haleakala crater a few years ago. Best stand-in for a Marscape I’ve ever encountered. And holy fuck, if you want a sunburn that’s your spot. Spotted Mauna Kea and Mauna Lowa popping above the marine cloud layer from the Big Island.

    NB Hike down from the rim is easy. Hike back out made more interesting by the volcanic soil that has one sliding back 50% with each step forward. Trekking poles are your friend.

  5. 5.

    Wapiti

    We spent a night in Monument Valley when I was a kid. We stopped to render aid at an accident and couldn’t get out of the area before nightfall. We made it to a rest stop for a dinner of chocolate bars, peanut butter, and crackers, then slept in the picnic area.

  6. 6.

    Gin & Tonic

    Some years back we spent a couple of nights at the North Rim right before it closed for the season. I’d go back. The South Rim, not so much.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    Those bicycle tour businesses are cash cows. They’re required to pull over where there is the ability to do so to allow local traffic to pass. One company is very diligent about that. Others, not so much.

    (For those who may not know, the bicyclists are led at a regular pace by a mini-bus type vehicle in front of them.)

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    @Gin & Tonic:

    There was a tour service that would bring you via snowcat into a North Rim campsite with yurts, from which you could ski, snowshoe, etc. to your heart’s content in winter. If that still exists I want to do it. Who wouldn’t want to see the Canyon from there in the clear winter air.

    Guessing since they shut down the Navajo coal-fired generating station this year, air quality in the Four Corners Region will be better than it has been in decades.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    @trollhattan

    Related (WaPo link).

    But many of the most popular national parks, including Joshua Tree and Grand Canyon, remained open. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez joined a park superintendent in requesting NPS close the Grand Canyon in March.

    “The Navajo Nation is fighting an outbreak of Covid-19 on the Navajo Indian Reservation … in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah,” Pez wrote administration officials.

    The park remained open until April 1, even though unmasked visitors crowded at overlooks and bumped into each other on narrow trails. It reopened a month and-a-half later.

    The nearby Navajo Nation has since been devastated by the coronavirus, with more than 20,000 total cases and more than 730 deaths. Source

  14. 14.

    stinger

    What great pictures! Never heard of smooth water rafting before, but now I really want to do it. And to glide past those petroglyphs and the Whatever Fault.

  15. 15.

    StringOnAStick

    @trollhattan: That would be a fabulous trip, yurts are quite comfortable.  The North Rim is such a wonderful, undeveloped area; the South Rim can be a bit of a zoo with tourist traffic.  Shoulder season is better; there’s just a lot more humans now than when the parks were established and facilities built.

  16. 16.

    JanieM

    @StringOnAStick: The last time I hiked into the Grand Canyon was shoulder season — November 1984. It snowed on the rim the morning we headed down and was like a nice July day in New England at the river. We spent a few days camping at the base of Zoroaster Temple.

    That was the third of two or three trips I made there — the first was in 1972 and was a couple of weeks long. We never quite made it all the way to the north rim, so most of my hiking was on the Bright Angel, on the South Kaibab (just once), or horizontally from the Phantom Ranch area upriver (I don’t remember the name of that trail, it ran along partway up the wall of the inner canyon).

    I don’t remember the rim crowds being too bad in those days, but even in 1972 the Bright Angel Trail per se was a zoo, what with the mule trains and the people on foot who never should have hiked down so far in the first place and were now trying to get back up under their own steam. Going down is so easy! Going up…well.

    I was lucky enough to do a lot of hiking out west when I was young — and of all the places I saw, the Grand Canyon from the rim looked the most like the postcards. From the inner canyon it’s a different story.

    It’s a beautiful, amazing place — I’m glad I got down in there when I still had knees that could stand the climb in and out.

  18. 18.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @NotMax: Pro-tip if you do sliding sands, bring duct tape.  wrap it around your shoes, socks and pants.  you do NOT want a cinder in your shoe over a 12 mile hike. (if you are coming out via switchbacks).

    edit: basically for everyone else who wants to do the hike.

  19. 19.

    frosty

    North Rim was on our busted itinerary last spring. We’re going to try for it in 2021, along with the other parks we missed. Fingers crossed.

  20. 20.

    Mike in Oly

    We had planned to take a road trip to the southwest this coming spring, ending in Las Cruces for the national iris convention. Sadly does not look like we will be doing that. Would love to get back to that area tho. Thanks for the reminder of how beautiful it is.

  21. 21.

    HinTN

    @JanieM:

    Going down is so easy! Going up…well.

    They sell a nice ventilated tee shirt at one of the GC gift shops these days. It says, “Down is optional, Up is mandatory. ”

    I would love to visit the North Rim. Even with the crowds, it’s possible to find solace space on the South Rim.

  23. 23.

    JanieM

    @HinTN:

    “Down is optional, Up is mandatory. ”

    That’s great. I would have bought one of those if they’d had them when I was there.

    Funny, though, in the long run I’m pretty sure it was going down (and playing basketball) that wrecked my knees.

    Next lifetime I’ll be wiser. ;-)

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    @HinTN:

    I’ve been to the South Rim twice, we stopped there when I helped lead Route 66 motorcycle tours. Solace was easy to find there. North Rim is on my bucket list. It’s a big bucket with a small budget so not sure if I’ll make it.

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