PEACH SPRINGS, AZ ~ May 13, 2007

The town of Peach Springs is a Hualapai Indian community on Route 66, but it’s not much to look at. I respect the fact that the Hualapai Nation hasn’t resorted to making money from gambling casinos and I admire them for trying to develop a legitimate tourist industry at Grand Canyon West instead. However, if they really want to attract tourists they should work on cleaning up the place! Here they are with a wonderful natural treasure right in their backyard, but visitors driving through there see nothing but poverty and trash everywhere. It’s not just old junk cars and stuff like that, either, but actual litter that has blown around and is piled up in backyards and stuck in fences. I can understand people being poor and not being able to fix up their houses, but I don’t understand why they can’t at least pick up their yards and make the best of what little they have.

There is a nice new AAA-approved motel and restaurant in the middle of town, but that’s about it. There isn’t even a gas station in Peach Springs any more. Hualapai Lodge (www.grandcanyonresort.com) looks like it caters to river runners because it’s right at the junction of Route 66 and Peach Springs Canyon/ Diamond Creek Road where the rafters pull out. Apparently it’s a popular place to stay (well, it’s the only place to stay) and advance reservations are advised. However, $80-90 for a room at that location is a little too much in my opinion. By the way, I’ve been told that they provide complimentary ear plugs for guests because the railroad runs directly behind the lodge and the trains go by every 20 minutes or so.

Also at Hualapai Lodge, you can obtain area sightseeing information as well as permits to drive the Diamond Creek Road. (Permits are required because it’s on Hualapai Indian Reservation property.) This is probably the best kept secret on old Route 66 – a dirt road on which you can drive to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The last time we took Diamond Creek Road down to the Colorado River must have been 15 years ago. We had gotten our permit at the Peach Springs gas station (which is now closed but the building is still there) and it cost $6 per vehicle. This time it cost $16 per person! Although children under age 12 are free. The permit is only good for one day only, and if you want to camp, fish, or hike they will charge you extra. I guess they realized that tourists will pay anything for a unique experience such as this. Wouldn’t you like to tell your friends that you drove to the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

Diamond Creek provides the only natural grade suitable for a road to the bottom of Grand Canyon. Nevertheless, most people don’t know about this spot and few people make the journey. It’s mostly river-runners who use this road to put in their rafts or haul them out. Yet at one time there had been a hotel near the mouth of Diamond Creek, the first one in the Grand Canyon. In fact, before the railroad was built to Grand Canyon Village, the old Diamond Creek Hotel was the most popular place in the Grand Canyon from 1884-1889.

Plan on bringing a picnic lunch and staying at the river for a while to get your money’s worth, but don’t think you’ll be able to go swimming. This location isn’t suitable – or safe – for that. Large rafts are constantly loading and unloading at the only sandy area – a bend in the river at the mouth of Diamond Creek – and the rest of the river is dangerously fast moving. But if you take a short walk downstream, you will find lots of pretty river rocks and a couple of little side streams that kids can wade in. It was really hot when we were there but the water was freezing.

From the bend at the mouth of Diamond Creek westward, the Colorado River flows through the lower Granite Gorge. It’s awesome to stand there and watch the mighty river flowing between the steep cliffs as you look up, rather than down, at the colorful canyon walls.

As for the road, this 21-mile scenic drive is the only vehicular access to the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. It starts at Hwy. 66 right across from the Hualapai Lodge but quickly leaves civilization behind. Contrary to what you might picture in your mind about a road leading to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, this is a gentle descent with no hairpin turns. The road is basically one long ramp, dropping nearly 3,500 feet to the bottom. Most of the way follows the normally dry Peach Springs Canyon which is dusty and rough but passenger cars may be able to make it. However, for the last few miles the road is actually in the creek bed which is rocky and wet, more suitable for a high clearance vehicle. During rain storms this section is prone to flash flooding so beware, especially during summer monsoon season.

Watch out for burros, too, that often loiter on the road waiting for handouts. One burro was standing in the middle of the road. When we stopped for him, he walked up and stuck his head right in the window of our car. We were sorry that we didn’t have anything to feed the poor fellow.

Along the way you will see some spectacular scenery, especially after about ten miles when you get farther down into the canyon where steep cliffs rise up on either side of the road. You know you’re almost at the river when you catch a glimpse of Diamond Peak with its faceted sides, one of the more prominent geologic features of the canyon.

VALENTINE, AZ ~ May 13, 2007

The old town of Valentine is located about four miles beyond Hackberry, in scenic Truxton Canyon where Route 66 and the Santa Fe railroad tracks run side by side. The town was named in 1910 in honor of Robert G. Valentine, Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1908-1910. The large brick Indian School that had been established there for the Hualapai children in 1900 is now closed but the site is still the headquarters for the Truxton Canyon Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A couple of miles down the road, there is a little red one-room schoolhouse that was used by the town’s white children. The corner entrance looks like it had been remodeled at one time. If you walk up the steps and peek in the front door, you can see that most of the wooden floor boards have rotted away leaving wide gaps where you can peer down into the basement. At the rear entrance there is a set of steps that leads downstairs, and what looks like a coat closet. Most of the old tin ceiling tiles remain intact. Two outhouses (perhaps boys and girls?) stand on one side of the schoolyard, still with their wooden seat. However, nothing remains of the Valentine post office, grocery store, or gas station.

A few more miles down the road from Truxton Canyon is the actual town of Truxton. Edward Beale’s famous camel expedition stopped at the spring here in 1857. Lieutenant Beale (1822-1893) must have named the town for his one-year-old son Truxton (1856-1936), his older brother Truxton (1820-1870), and/or his mother, Emily Truxton Beale (1832-1880). In the 1950’s, Truxton was the site of a busy Route 66 gas station and café.

HACKBERRY, AZ ~ May 12-13, 2007

When we left Grand Canyon Caverns it was time to look for a place to camp for the night. At least it was early enough that we wouldn’t have to set up the tent in the dark this time. We drove through Peach Springs, Truxton, Valentine, and Hackberry on old Route 66. The town of Hackberry was named after a large Hackberry tree that grew by the spring. Prospectors found a rich vein of ore here in the 1870’s.

The Hackberry General Store with its old vintage gas pumps and signs, not to mention a 1957 Corvette in mint condition, made for an interesting photo stop. The store contains a few grocery items, but most of it is Route 66 memorabilia and souvenirs. In fact, the eclectic hodgepodge appearance of the Hackberry General Store is what inspired Lizzie’s Curio Shop in Pixar’s Cars movie, complete with the “Here it Is” sign. The only thing I didn’t like was, one wall at the back of the store is covered with a collection of pictures including some scantily clad ladies on motorcycles, etc., which I had to steer my young son’s eyes away from. I don’t mean to sound like a prude, but even if you look at someone with lust on your mind, you have committed adultery in your heart.

We went south on Hackberry Road which is a graded gravel road that meets up with I-40. From there we went west on a dirt road across an open range, heading in the direction of the Peacock Mountains, until we found a good spot to stop. It was somewhere near a wash and a power line. The stars that night were brilliant and numerous; we could even see the Milky Way galaxy. Sometime just before dawn a coyote howled right outside our tent. I was sure Josh would be scared to death because he’s afraid of coyotes, but he hardly even stirred. I asked him about it later, curious as to why he wasn’t frightened by this coyote that was so close. Josh matter-of-factly replied, “I thought it was a rooster.”

Way out there in the middle of a high desert plain, the place came to life at sunrise with the songs of birds chirping in the piñon and juniper trees. Rich wanted to explore the area a little more, so after we broke up camp we went driving toward the Peacock Mountains. The road got worse the farther up we got, so we decided to turn around at a windmill up ahead. Much to our surprise, this was an old windmill probably dating back to the late 1800’s because the tower was made of wood rather than metal and it was still standing in good condition but was obviously no longer in use. The wind vane said “Aermotor Co. Chicago.”

When we got home I did a Google search and found an Aermotor website! The company is still in business and they’ve been making windmills since 1888. Although in 1986 Aermotor was purchased by an investor group, relocated to San Angelo, Texas, and its name was changed to Aermotor Windmill Corporation. Here’s an interesting fact: Aermotor also built the first electric transmission towers and most of the nation’s forest observation towers.

After admiring the windmill for a while and imagining what it must have been like in the past when the cowboys were working there, we headed back down toward Hackberry Road. Along the way we saw a bunch of cows with calves and noticed some more interesting things. First there was a melon plant growing on the side of the road, in the middle of a dry sandy area all by itself. It had large green leaves and big orange flowers. (A Buffalo Gourd maybe?) We were amazed that such a plant could survive and even thrive out there in the open desert like that. We kept smelling a terrible odor, though, and couldn’t tell if it was coming from the plant or if there was a dead cow in the vicinity!

As we were nearing Hackberry Road, we saw that the dirt road we were on had a row of rocks running alongside it. In an adjacent field, more lines of rocks went off in different directions. They weren’t arranged in squares like prehistoric Indian dwellings but went diagonally at different angles. The pattern didn’t seem like natural rock outcroppings either. There was a little wash running through there and a couple of animal trails leading to a watering hole. Could it have been some ancient attempt at water diversion or something? We walked around looking for clues and trying to figure it out but it we were still scratching our heads when we left.

GRAND CANYON CAVERNS ~ May 12, 2007

We still had the rest of the afternoon to drive toward our next stop which was going to be the Grand Canyon Caverns. Open to the public for over 74 years, this dry limestone cave is located on Old Route 66 just west of Seligman. The fascinating history and geology of Grand Canyon Caverns makes for an interesting field trip. A tour guide takes you by elevator down 21 stories into the cavern. Geology, natural history, Arizona history and Native Indian aspects are all incorporated into your visit. Prehistoric fossils and the bones of long-extinct animals have been found inside. It was kind of sad to see the mummified bobcat that had fallen through a hole and wasn’t able to climb back out. The last time we visited Grand Canyon Caverns was years ago. At first I was disappointed to see how crowded our tour was this time. Nevertheless, Joshua (our 7-year-old) was so fascinated that he went right up front and stuck with the tour guide the whole time, disregarding all of the other people as if the guide was talking directly to him. Facilities at Grand Canyon Caverns include a large gift shop, picnic grounds, campground, RV park, motel, convenience store, and a couple of self-serve gas pumps. Their website is www.gccaverns.com.

BEALE’S WAGON ROAD & A DAY OUT WITH THOMAS ~ May 12, 2007

Mother’s Day was coming up and what did I want to do on my special weekend? Go back to Route 66, of course – to do some more exploring on the Beale Wagon Road, and also to see Thomas the Train. A real life-sized Thomas was going to be at the Grand Canyon Railway, which intrigued me because we’ve been fans of Thomas the Tank Engine ever since the original series narrated by Ringo Starr.

Tickets for “A Day Out With Thomas” were $20 for a 20-minute ride with Thomas pulling the train. This was a lot cheaper than $60 per ticket for a regular train ride on the Grand Canyon Railway, but it would still be almost $100 for a family of five. So we were debating about whether it was worth it or not, but by the time we got around to solidifying our plans, the tickets for the days we wanted were all sold out. Then I had an even better idea! When you’re on the train you don’t get to see much of the engine anyway. But what if we were able to park or walk next to the track somewhere and just watch it go by? We’d be able to see it for a good long time that way.

To get an early start, we drove up north on Friday night to camp in the forest near Williams. From I-40, we got off on Parks Road (which is Old Route 66). After a while, Parks Road just kind of turns into Forest Road 74 and heads north past the Pittman Valley Helibase and an El Paso Natural Gas compressor station. We turned right on a dirt road across from the natural gas facility and set up our tent there. It was quite cold in the woods at night (50º when we checked). The compressor station was so noisy, it seemed like it could be heard for miles around, but we didn’t bother moving.

The next morning before heading in the direction of Williams to see the train, I wanted to look for some more of the Beale Wagon Road while we were up there. The place that I had in mind was not too far from where we camped. As it turned out, it was even closer than we thought because we made a big loop around and ended up back on FR 74 right where we had started from!

The way we had gone was, we went to Parks and at the Maine Consolidated School we headed north toward Spring Valley. We were looking for signs of the Beale Wagon Road and finally found one where the road turned westward at the corner of a large ranch. We followed the Beale signs through the forest, although they seemed to be few and far between. Then we looked for the turnoff to Laws Spring. We found it, but we were unclear as to how far it was and where to go next.

We just kept driving north on that dirt road, being careful not to get off on any side roads, and eventually we found the trailhead for Laws Spring. It had a rather large parking area, despite being in a remote piñon-juniper woodland with no one else around for miles. We hiked down to the spring which was only about a quarter mile. There we came upon a huge pool of water fed by a spring and surrounded by a neat rock outcropping. There were ancient petroglyphs on the rocks, as well as historic names and dates carved by Beale’s men and others who passed that way.

The trail continued on for a quarter mile past Laws Spring, where in the middle of a flat plain there was another marker for the Beale Wagon Road. I thought a wagon road would be so well worn that the tracks would last forever, but there was no evidence of it at all. We wouldn’t have known it was there if it wasn’t for the signpost.

If you’re interested in exploring the Beale Wagon Road, here are some tips:

Beale Wagon Road traverses the northern part of the state, running east-west, primarily north of and roughly paralleling Interstate 40. Many forest service roads are presently located where the Beale Road used to be, and other roads intersect the Beale Road as well, so there are a variety of access points. Forest Road 141 out of Parks is suitable for passenger vehicles, but on most forest roads a high clearance vehicle is recommended. Good places to look for the Beale Wagon Road include: Leupp, Government Hill, Laws Spring, and west of Seligman. Depending on the area, the Beale Wagon Road route may be marked with rock cairns, brass cap markers, tree blazes, and 4" by 4" wood posts.

It’s great that the Forest Service is currently developing the Beale Wagon Road into a recreational trail. Laws Spring is the only parking facility along the route so far, but more trailheads with interpretive signs are planned in the future. Portions of the historic route that are part of the forest road system may be accessed by any means, including motor vehicles and mountain bicycles. The off-road trail sections are open only to hikers and horseback riders. A pathway has not yet been cleared on the trail sections, so it can be a challenge to follow – but that’s part of the adventure isn’t it?

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/kai/recreation/trails/handouts/wil_beale.pdf (Click here for a Printable Map from the Forest Service.)

Next on our agenda was the Grand Canyon Railway in hopes of seeing Thomas the Train. We spotted the cute little blue tank engine at the station as soon as we pulled into town. Contrary to what we were led to believe, however, Thomas wasn’t pulling the train at all. In fact, he wasn’t even a working engine. Thomas was attached to one end of the train and a real diesel engine was at the other end. When the train left the station, it was pulled away by the diesel engine and Thomas simply trailed behind like a caboose. The train just went back and forth on the same track, ten minutes out and ten minutes back. So when it returned to the station, the real engine would be pushing from behind, making it look like Thomas was pulling the train. All Thomas did was whistle “Pip, Pip” all day long. Maybe it fooled the two-year-olds, but even my 7-year-old could tell that it was a fake. Now my kids all make fun of me for wanting to see it in the first place, but I’m still glad that we did. Watch the video below and you can say that you saw it too!

http://www.knowledgehouse.info/Thomas.wmv