Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument April 2009

[DaveK]

The Parashant trip was, by all accounts, spectacular. In brief, here is the trip by the numbers:

1349 - total number of miles traveled
545 - total number of miles off pavement
0 - vehicle mechanical problems
0 - punctured tires or flats
0 - injuries
8 - good weather days

The trip was organized well in advance and we were able to see and do everything that we had planned. The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument covers a vast area by itself but it is seamlessly connected to both the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Grand Canyon National Park. Combined, there are thousands of miles of off pavement roads to explore.

Our travels allowed us to visit, Gold Butte, the Tassi Ranch, the Grand Wash Cliffs, the Pakoon Basin, Hidden Canyon, , the Townsite of Trumbull, Twin Point, Kelly Point, Mt Logan, Mt Logan Wilderness, the Colorado River, Nampaweep Rock Art Site, the Witches Water Pocket and Toroweep. We exited through Colorado City and stopped at the "Merry Wives Cafe" for some snacks and drinks.

Elevations ranged from 1500 feet to over 7500 feet. Temperatures ranged from over 100 degrees in some areas to as low as the teens (19 degrees at 6:30AM) in other areas. Patches of snow still covered some areas in the higher elevations and it seemed like the middle of summer in the lower elevations.

One of the greatest thrills was being able to find a road that went to within one tenth of a mile of the Colorado River. Reaching the water did require a bit of a hike, dropping over 800 feet to the bottom of the Canyon. Three of us made it to the bottom and were rewarded with the cold refreshing water of the Colorado.

I think that Tom put it best when he observed that, "the scenery just got better and better as every day passed". At the end of each day we were treated to great food and great company. We were fortunate to have 5 great cooks on this trip and every meal was a treat.

Many of the trails that we took had obviously not been used in a long time. On the trail to Kelly Point alone, we had to stop over a dozen times to clear the road from fallen trees that completely or partially blocked the road. In one case the tree was so large that we needed to pull it off the trail with a vehicle. And on many of the trails, the brush was so overgrown that about the only vehicle that would fit through the opening was a motorcycle or a fairly narrow ATV. Brush scratches were not just an occasional thing, but constant. And, yes, Ollie, the Panzer shields worked.

Every campsite came with the most spectacular scenery in the world. Breakfasts and some dinners were on the rim, with a breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon. Wheeling ranged from somewhat decent dirt roads to endless miles of nasty rocky stuff.

With the excpetion of Toroweep, all camping was dispersed, meaning that there were no established campsites or facilities and it was necessary to bring everything that we needed. From an equipment view, there were several stand outs. 1)The Parashant is quite dusty. At the end of the day, one of the more refreshing treats was our portable hot shower. On an 8 day trip, it was an indispensable piece of equipment. 2) Due to the unexpected heat and the length of the trip, we found that the ice in coolers, went rather quickly. We discovered the benefits of our Freezer Fridge units in rather short order. 3) Communication in areas as remote as the Parashant becomes quite difficult. Three of our 5 vehicles were constantly running APRS during the trip and as you can see by checking the following website, http://aprs.fi/?call=k6dtk&mt=m&z=11&timerange=86400 , our progress was followed everywhere we went. Every day that we traveled we were in contact with Frank, unwiredadventures, through the APRS messaging system. In fact, Hector and I were both receiving APRS text messages from a Ham who was unknown to us, who was following our progress through the Monument. 4) Due to the immense size of the area we explored, our unfamiliarity with many sections of the monument, and it's thousands of miles of roads, it became necessary to plan our route in advance so as to make the most of our time and to make sure that we were able to see all that we had set out to see. After obtaining the BLM Arizona Strip map and after several conversations with Paul Krumland, (Park Ranger), I used the Nat. Geo Topo! program to creatre our route. With the route highlighted on a USGS Topo map and with live tracking activated, we navigated our way through over 500 miles of dirt roads. Live tracking using the NG product came off withiout a single hiccup! Great system!!

We also brought out the necessary equipment to set up a mobile HF ham shack at every campsite and rediscovered the value of Ham radio. Our nightly contacts included, Illinois, Mississippi, Yuma, San Diego, Washington, Hemet and Fresno. We had contacts in even the most difficult geography, including the night we camped at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, surrounded by towering cliffs and walls of rock.


The trip was a great success due in large part to the assistance of National Park Ranger Paul Krumland who endured many phone calls and endless questions in an effort to give us the information which helped to make this trip so successful. Many thanks also to Bob, Hector, Steve and Tom for making this trip a success. A perfect trip.

[OLLIE]

Looks like an incredible trip for sure. Sorry I missed it...

[cruiserlarry]

Wow - I wish I could have been there. The pictures show what an incredible trip you had, and I'm sure it was just that much more spectacular in person...thank for sharing it with the rest of us....


...maybe next year....

[gon2srf]

Dave-

Thanks for writing an excellent account of a most memorable overland adventure. The photographs are simply breathtaking and your meticulous planning really paid off.

"And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years."

[BlueFJ]

Wow, what a cool trip! Glad to hear everything went well without any casualties.

[OLLIE]

Dave,

Did you buy this before your trip or have you been holding out on us??? I've been looking into one of these or the smaller version. They are highly recommended by most I have talked to. They say the only PITA is the required seperate 12V power source. HRO has one of the larger ones on consignment.

IMG_0401%20%28Medium%29.JPG (45.23 KiB) Viewed 28210 times

[unwiredadventures]

Thanks for posting the writeup. I enjoyed following you and messaging while you were on the trip.

Beautiful photos! Great campsites.

[hmfigueroa]

[hmfigueroa]

[unwiredadventures]

Hector,

Beautiful photos! Amazing sunsets. That's a great moon photo.