Pavin' the Way - To the Sky Deck at the West Rim - Grand Canyon!

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

I recently read somewhere that the final portion of Diamond Bar Road between Dolan Springs and the West Rim of the Grand Canyon has finally been paved.  I don't remember where I read it, but an article was published on line by the LA Times and may have been picked up by the OC Register Sunday travel pages (Sunday is my only newspaper day).

We once tried to go to the Skywalk, but never actually made it there.  The unpaved Diamond Bar Road was just too rough to drive.

Views from Diamond Bar Road

                                                            Views of Dolan Springs

 

Though the drive is probably much more reasonable due to the new paving, it is unlikely we would ever try going back.  The reasons being that the West Rim and the Skydeck have bad reputations. The facts that:

1. it is quite expensive to actually go out on the Skywalk; AND
2. you cannot take your own camera or camera phone onto the Skywalk; AND
3. therefore requiring you to buy expensive photo packages if you want a remembrance is just too much for many people to swallow. 

Yes, the tribe needs the money.  Yes, other native American sites charge fees.  Monument Valley, UT charge admission fees ($20/vehicle of 4) and commercial photography fees ($50).  Sky City/Acoma Pueblo, NM, charge for camera permits ($13) whether personal or commercial.  Skywalk prices far exceed these other native American sites.

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However, if you are in the area, I suggest you taking the Willow Beach cutoff, just south of Hoover Dam on US93.  Just before the road breaks to the right and the parking lots and boat launches, a non-descript turn-off to the left is visible.  Take that turn, fight the rough road, and drive slowly along the wash.  If you are lucky you will get to see bighorn sheep herds roaming around or a lonely burro hiding from the sun.

Good luck!                                    

Geograstrotrivial Question about the New York and Arizona Strips?

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

Question:

What is the difference between a New York Strip and an Arizona Strip?

Answer:

1.  The New York strip is cut of steak obtained from the short loin area of a cow.

2.  The Arizona strip is that portion of the State of Arizona north of the Colorado River.  Due to the Colorado River Valley being generally defined by the Grand Canyon, crossing the Colorado River in northern Arizona is pretty much limited to only one area, around Page, Arizona, at the Glen Canyon.  The Grand Canyon isolates the around 8,000 persons living in (on?) the Arizona Strip from their 5 million neighbors of the State of Arizona.

CROSSING THE COLORADO RIVER IN THE ARIZONA STRIP

Glen Canyon Dam Bridge 

The Glen Canyon Dam Bridge was originally built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation to facilitate transportation of materials for the Glen Canyon Dam, which lies adjacent to the bridge just 865 feet upstream. Carrying two lanes of US89 across the Colorado River, the bridge rises over 700 feet (210 m) above the river and was the highest arch bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1959.

The Shadow of the Glen Canyon Bridge at Glen Canyon Dam

700 Feet Above the River

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Navajo Bridges

The first Navajo Bridge opened in 1929, but is now limited to pedestrian and equestrian traffic and some random native-American vendors.  The new Navajo Bridge opened in 1994.

Ironically, despite the 450+ foot height of the twin spans over the river, a river-level ferry crossing at Lee's Ferry was the only river crossing prior to the building of the bridge.

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The Arizona Strip

As access to the Arizona Strip is typically via Nevada or Utah, culturally, the Arizona Strip has much in common with the surrounding areas of Nevada and Utah.  For example, Since the area was first settled by Mormon Pioneers led by Jacob Hamblin in the mid-19th century, the Arizona Strip, and especially its largest community, Colorado City, has been one of the last strongholds of the nineteenth-century practice of polygamy, though this practice was disavowed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1890. Over the last century the region has been the subject of controversy because of the control minority polygamist Mormon offshoots exert within the region.

The Isolated Arizona Strip

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Circling Joshua Tree National Park

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

I have a bunch of maps hanging on my home office wall.  As I was aimlessly staring at them one night, something caught a few of my four eyes. For some reason, I thought it might be interesting to point out what I saw..

Joshua Tree NP is the only National Park (NP) that I can think of that is tightly encircled by a road network that allows the park to be completely driven around.  Most NPs have either a drive that enters the park at one end and exits at another (e.g., Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite (non-Yosemite Valley) or a drive that dead ends in the park and requires you to back-track out (e.g. Bryce Canyon, Arches, Grand Canyon, Denali, Yosemite (Yosemite Valley)). 

The trip around Joshua Tree NP is on a combination of CA62, CA177, and I-10.  I will call this combination of roads "The Joshua Tree NP Beltway.  This beltway is about 196 miles long.  So what? You are asking...if you are still here.

Well, the "Joshua Tree NP Beltway" is longer than:

The Berlin Germany Beltway: 122 miles
The London Beltway (M25): 117 miles
The Outer Houston Beltway (TX-8): 83 miles
The Atlanta Beltway (I-285): 64 miles
"The Beltway" (Washington DC)(I-495/I-95): 64 miles

Yes, three Washington DCs could be fit within the JTNP beltway.  I know there is no reason we would want 3 Washington DCs, but ... hopefully, you get my point.  If you prefer, the entire state of Rhode Island could be fit within the beltway.

The Joshua Tree NP Beltway is also probably the only beltway that has an evelation change of more than 2800 feet between the high-desert Yucca-Twntynine Palms portions (elev 2800 ft) and the low-desert  Coachella Valley I-10 portions (sea level to slightly below sea level).

This elevatiion change is shown in the following picture.  The picture was taken up at Keys View in JT and looking down at the Coachella Valley and I-10.