Mini Grand Canyon.

 

Trip Into the Mini Grand Canyon.

We gathered at the fire station yesterday morning. There were six jeeps in all.
Around 9:00 we headed north on 95 toward Parker.
We were headed for the back side of the mountains in the distance.

About 10 miles south of Parker we turned left onto a graded dirt road and drove to a ATV staging area just south of the Indian reservation. Here, we stopped to air down.

Here is a view of the mountains from the staging area.

After we were aired down, we followed the wash north along the cliffs.

Eventually we came to a sandy track going up to the top of the cliffs.

The new jeep had no problem at all going up this trail. When we did this trip with Clifford, I had to use second gear and floor it all the way to the top and just made it.

With the new jeep, I just left it in drive and slowly drove up to the top;

the rest of the group followed us with no problem.

Once on top we had a nice view of the desert.

The sky was interesting today with lots of clouds floating above us.

After taking in the view we continued along a winding trail on the top of the cliffs to the next view spot.

At this spot we get our first view into what we call the “Mini Grand Canyon”

We followed the trail along the cliffs stopping a couple of times. Eventually we started down off the cliffs and drove around the west end of them into the wash that comes out of the canyon.
As we drove by the cliffs we could clearly see the layers of sediment that had been laid down over millennia.

I have always been amazed how views of erosion are so captivating.

 

We drove up and down several washes.

Of course since I was leading, we ended up in several col-de-sacs.

Fortunately all the canyons are interesting.

 

The Slot Canyon.

Eventually with some help from Tom, we found the canyon that we were looking for. Here we stopped  for lunch at the mouth of the slot canyon.

After lunch, some of us walked into the slot to investigate it.

I took my camera and followed.

I met Dennis coming out of a side canyon

and followed him up the main slot.

We walked to the end of the canyon where it goes straight up. For some reason I didn’t take any pictures of the end.

The Side Canyon.

On the way back I noticed Tom coming out of the side canyon.

He said it looked like it went for quite a ways but he didn’t go to the end. The last time I was here I started up this side canyon but didn’t go far. This time I was determined to follow it all the way to the end.

Before I started up the canyon Tom pointed out a hawk or owl nest high on the side of the wall.

I followed the side canyon for several minutes until I came to where it opened up.

Here I came upon a beaver  tail cactus in bloom.

That in itself was worth the walk up the canyon.

After looking around the area for a little while I then headed back to the rest of the group.

We left the canyon and started back toward the main dirt road.

Here is one more picture of the main canyon walls with some interesting cap rocks.

After about a half hour we came to the pavement. Patti and I had to go to Blythe to pick up a custard pie that we ordered from The A&R Bakery so we headed west toward California highway 95 and followed it south to Blythe.

Well that was our trip to the Mini Grand Canyon. I hope you enjoyed it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!