THE GRAND ADVENTURE

BY UP JEEPING

Following the north rim of the grand canyon in March might be one of the greatest overland adventures I've done to date. No tour buses full of people, no pave- ment, no pre-packaged adventure, only miles and miles of dirt roads. I really wasn't prepared for the amount of miles required to get anywhere though. It seemed as though everything was at least 50 miles away, including fuel. With the JK only having a comfortable range of 200 miles off road, it made for some challenging route planning. If I were to do it again I'd bring at least an extra 10 gallons of fuel. In the Grand Canyon-Parashant national monument alone there are roughly 6000 miles of unpaved roads through a million acres of different landscapes. There is a seemingly infinite combination of roads for route planning or just winging it. I spent a majority of my time in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, mainly because dispersed camping was allowed throughout the area. Once in the national park camping required reservations and permits which made it more difficult to have an unplanned adventure. One thing to really watch out for in the late winter to early spring months is the weather, you can go from sunny and warm to blizzard and impassable muddy roads.

My trip started with fueling up in St. George, UT and heading South just over 70 miles to Whitmore Canyon. Along the way there are several opportunities to stop and check out different historical attractions. I stopped at the restored Mount Trumbull schoolhouse, which was used from 1922 to 1966 as a school, church, dance hall, and town hall. It was a very interesting first stop and worth checking out, it was filled with pictures and history about the area. From here out the roads got progressively worse, or better? I took this opportunity to drop down my tire pressure for the rest of the week, I like to drop down to around 15psi. I continued South past Bar 10 Ranch and Whitmore “international airport” down to my first camping spot at Whitmore Canyon. I’d guess this particular spot is one of the more popular overlanding spots as it was pretty much the only place I camped with other people around. So be prepared for company even in the off season. The road to Whitmore Canyon descends 1,500 feet over 7 miles across an ancient lava flow to the viewpoint and camping area.

From here out the roads got progressively worse, or better?

Heading out of the canyon the next morning involved a few miles of backtracking to get back up to the Bar 10 Ranch where I turned off on a small road heading North-East into the Mount Logan Wilderness area. The road gets progressively rougher and turns into a not very well traveled mountain pass for ORV’s and side by sides. But it’s still on the map and it’s still legal ! The road gains almost 5000 feet of elevation from my campsite at Whitmore Canyon to roughly 7000 feet at its highest point, 4 low and rear locker was needed more than once as I climbed the pass between Petty Knoll (7520ft) and Slide Mountain (7572ft). The destination for today was the Nampaweap Petroglyph trailhead for a short hike.

Left, Whitmore Canyon

Below, Heading out of the desert into the mountains.

The road gains almost 5000 feet of elevation from my campsite at Whitmore Canyon to roughly 7000 feet at its highest point, 4 low and rear locker was needed more than once as I climbed the pass

Getting to the petroglyph site requires a short 1.5 mile round trip hike through an ancient canyon of Basalt lava flows. It’s believed this canyon was an important route from the Grand Canyon to the abundant resources located in the higher elevations around Mt. Trumbull. The petroglyphs are estimated to be between 1,500 and 10,000 years old. It's one of the largest sites in the area with hundreds of symbols carved into the rocks. After leaving this area I realized I needed to get some fuel as soon as possible, and according to my maps the closest fuel was 50 miles North on Hwy 389. I definitely cut it too close for comfort getting to this fuel stop, you really need to be prepared here for some long distances without fuel stops.

Heading down the East side of the pass towards Nampaweap

My next destination was Kanab Point, 50 miles south into the Grand Canyon National park. This area felt like it didn’t receive much traffic besides ranchers and grazing livestock. The roads were small 2 tracks, with very old looking road signs every so often. But once again the drive was totally worth it! I made it out to Kanab Point pretty late in the afternoon and had the whole place to myself. One thing to note is while dispersed camping is technically allowed in the national park, you need to apply for permits ahead of time, unlike the Grand Canyon-Parashant national monument. So with darkness closing in and no camping permits, and no cell phone service, and no one around, I decided to rest for a few hours and get some sleep. I definitely was not camping, just waiting until the sun came up to continue on.

My next destination was Kanab Point, 50 miles south into the Grand Canyon National park. This area felt like it didn’t receive much traffic besides ranchers and grazing livestock. The roads were small 2 tracks, with very old looking road signs every so often. But once again the drive was totally worth it! I made it out to Kanab Point pretty late in the afternoon and had the whole place to myself. One thing to note is while dispersed camping is technically allowed in the national park, you need to apply for permits ahead of time, unlike the Grand Canyon-Parashant national monument. So with darkness closing in and no camping permits, and no cell phone service, and no one around, I decided to rest for a few hours and get some sleep. I definitely was not camping, just waiting until the sun came up to continue on.

The next morning I started heading back towards the West on a maze of trails through many miles of pastures before finally coming out on the main road to Toroweap point. This area is the main visitor area for the North side of the national park. Even in March there was still a staffed ranger station to check in and out. I showed my national park pass, got some information on road conditions and where to go. There is a rustic campground with toilets, Tuweep campground, but according to the park ranger I would have had to make a reservation online in advance to use the campground… Seriously? I’m here and it's completely empty! Also with a campground so close there was no dispersed camping allowed. I decided not to test this out as the park rangers do sweeps of the area, I ran into one of them as i was heading out.

After Leaving Toroweap I noticed the sky looked a little ominous. I had planned to head back to higher elevations out of the national park and camp somewhere near Mt. Trumbull. The further I drove the worse the weather became. And here is the thing to remember about this whole area, this is also pointed out in bold red type on the NPS guides and online, After snow or heavy rain all roads in this area are impassible until dry. As soon as this ground gets wet it turns into the slickest, stickiest mud I've ever seen, it's like driving on greased up ball bearings on a sheet of ice. Your only option at this point is to find a place to camp and hope the temps drop enough to freeze up the roads so you can drive out in the early morning. So with that I found a nice spot to wait out the storm through the night, and hopefully make it back to the Mt Trumbull schoolhouse in the morning and eventually back to St. George.

The next morning road conditions did not improve! The mud was relentless and stuck to everything, it made for a very slow go of things. The road from Tuweep back to Mt. Trumbull school house is a mountain pass and turns into a shelf road with a few steep sections and several switchbacks, it was a fairly stressful slightly uncontrolled slide down most of the way. It felt like I had several hundred pounds of mud on the Jeep at the end of the day. I didn’t make it back to St. George until late in the afternoon so I found a little chunk of BLM land with a few other campers to spend the night just outside of town. The next day all that mud dried into cement… Let me tell you, I dropped $20 at a car wash and just destroyed that wash bay!

So would I do it again? Yes, no questions asked. I think March is a great time of year to visit the area as long as you stay on top of the road and weather conditions as they can change drastically in a very short amount of time. These roads will put a stock SUV or truck to the test, even the main roads. The closer you get to the Grand Canyon the more rugged the roads become with sharp rocks, wash outs, steep climbs, and descents. It’s still pretty easy to do an unplanned adventure in the national monument, I literally just looked at my map and thought to myself “that looks interesting”. If you want to camp in the actual national park you’ll need to plan ahead and make reservations or get permits. Also watch you fuel, the distances you need to cover are vast and fuel is 50 to 70 miles away at any given point. Lastly, be prepared for anything! There is no cell service out here and in the off season the chances are pretty slim that you will run across anyone to help you out so you could be stranded for a while! Don’t let not having a plan stop you from an amazing adventure. You can’t fail at having an adventure unless you don’t go!