Slow Road from Az to N Id, indirectly…

[AbleGuy]

Headed to Southern Utah, going north of Tuba City across the wide open, empty backroads of the Navajo Reservation…the by far largest Native American tribal lands in the US. Fire season’s already upon us as you know, and we passed by or along 3 different forest fires yesterday, driving through very heavy smoke in the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world, SE of Mormon Lake (once the site of Expo West years ago)

Stopped in Kanab UT overnight, is a which is the lesser known hub of Utah’s off-roading adventuring compared to Moab…not even a quarter of those obnoxious crowds…and is the start of one of the very most scenic backroads in the western US, Hwy 89 up to Provo, going through the long, meandering Sevier River valley. If you’re ever out anywhere near here, this drive should really be on your bucket list.

We’re heading that way up to North Idyhoo again, to help out on a small ranch of a friend’s, and hike and pick wild huckleberries in those same raw, unspoiled Selkirk Mountains along the B.C. that made the news yesterday where a guy unfortunately, mistakenly shot a grizzly while hunting for blackies.

That there’s definitely God’s Own Country up there if you didn’t already know that. Remote, uncrowded and free…

But first detouring to the Puget Sound Wild Animal Safari and Zoo, (aka Seattle) to drop off my distaff for her cruise to Alaska, during which time bro and I will divert to a small island on the South Sound for some kayaking in those chilly waters, and then head over to the North Cascades.

Apologies in advance for likely posting fewer photos as I’m planning to not live this summer through the lens of a camera that much. Instead I’m just hoping to share some scenic shots to inspire others to pack the rig, grab the dogs and kiddos and Get Out West!

 

[AbleGuy]

Childhood home of Butch Cassidy, Utah north of Panguitch, Sevier River Valley

 

[AbleGuy]

Old settlers cabin, Panguitch Utah. Folks in this state respect their heritage and do a good job preserving and celebrating their history,

 

[AbleGuy]

Stay in a railroad car here, rent a quad (or bring your own) and explore the many miles of 4x4 trails (and float the raging river), south of Mary’sville UT

 

[AbleGuy]

There’s so much incredible history visible in the old abandoned buildings still standing in small towns out west that stopping frequently to photograph as many of them as I’d would like to would make way too long a day on the road when we have to get to Seattle in four days ?

If you get out this way, try to plan shorter days to enjoy this abundance of roadside history. We passed many ghostly, impressive brick and sandstone 2-3 story large buildings (old churches and courthouses), boarded up but still regal looking in several tiny, mostly empty towns on the backroads through Utah today.

As it was we drove @ 9 hours in ever changing weather where the bright rays of the sun and thick black, evil looking storm clouds did constant battle contesting who controlled the unpredictable skies.




Despite the denial of the forecast, we hit rain off and on (heavy at times) coupled with fierce winds and cold temps. But the ranchers and farmers here must love this weather as they’ve already cut and bales their first alfalfa hay crop and the corn looked pretty green and healthy for this early in the season.

 

[AbleGuy]

(BTW, between slow download speeds, my limited data plan and the typical misery of the crappy Expo platform, posting decent pictures is a real trial. And Mods…W T F is a parsing error? That’s the lame message I keep getting when trying to post even resized (smaller) pictures here???? Maybe the bandwidth being used by your most irritating pop up ads is what’s causing the mess?)

Anyway…here’s another attempt to share a scenic shot of one of the dramatic views from the road today:



The “pretty yellow flowers” in the foreground are loosestrife, a noxious invasive weed inedible to livestock and wildlife that has become more and more a nuisance to ranchers and farmers along this route, fwiw.

 

[AbleGuy]

Still some big snow fields showing up in the higher country, feeding muddy fast moving streams to an overflow as those waters forcefully run down to overfill many smaller mid state reservoirs. We saw quite a few raft groups riding wildly bucking brown rapids south of Butch’s cabin (raining too hard to get good shots of them). And all those vast lower elevation sage prairies are greener and healthier looking than they’ve been in many, many years.

 

[vintageracer]

Kanab Utah.

Site of some of the old Lone Ranger TV shows filming locations.

 

[AbleGuy]

Exactly! You really know your film history! Not many folks know how important this area was to westerns.

The long list of actors who made films and shows here shown on the street plaque was voluminous and included an odd assortment…Chuck Connors, Ronald Reagan, John Prine, Anthony Quinn, Audie Murphy, Brian Keith, Dale Robertson, Don Knotts(!) and so many more!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

(BTW, between slow download speeds, my limited data plan and the typical misery of the crappy Expo platform, posting decent pictures is a real trial. And Mods…W T F is a parsing error? That’s the lame message I keep getting when trying to post even resized (smaller) pictures here???? Maybe the bandwidth being used by your most irritating pop up ads is what’s causing the mess?)

Anyway…here’s another attempt to share a scenic shot of one of the dramatic views from the road today:

View attachment 783335

The “pretty yellow flowers” in the foreground are loosestrife, a noxious invasive weed inedible to livestock and wildlife that has become more and more a nuisance to ranchers and farmers along this route, fwiw.

Parsing Error: if you are using Android, your phone OS is too old to interface with the App correctly.

If using a computer, it's almost like a Syntax Error, but could be as simple as punctuation or spelling error in the coding

 

[ThundahBeagle]

View attachment 783212View attachment 783213

Headed to Southern Utah, going north of Tuba City across the wide open, empty backroads of the Navajo Reservation…the by far largest Native American tribal lands in the US. Fire season’s already upon us as you know, and we passed by or along 3 different forest fires yesterday, driving through very heavy smoke in the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world, SE of Mormon Lake (once the site of Expo West years ago)

Stopped in Kanab UT overnight, is a which is the lesser known hub of Utah’s off-roading adventuring compared to Moab…not even a quarter of those obnoxious crowds…and is the start of one of the very most scenic backroads in the western US, Hwy 89 up to Provo, going through the long, meandering Sevier River valley. If you’re ever out anywhere near here, this drive should really be on your bucket list.

We’re heading that way up to North Idyhoo again, to help out on a small ranch of a friend’s, and hike and pick wild huckleberries in those same raw, unspoiled Selkirk Mountains along the B.C. that made the news yesterday where a guy unfortunately, mistakenly shot a grizzly while hunting for blackies.

That there’s definitely God’s Own Country up there if you didn’t already know that. Remote, uncrowded and free…

But first detouring to the Puget Sound Wild Animal Safari and Zoo, (aka Seattle) to drop off my distaff for her cruise to Alaska, during which time bro and I will divert to a small island on the South Sound for some kayaking in those chilly waters, and then head over to the North Cascades.

Apologies in advance for likely posting fewer photos as I’m planning to not live this summer through the lens of a camera that much. Instead I’m just hoping to share some scenic shots to inspire others to pack the rig, grab the dogs and kiddos and Get Out West!

Tha is SOME sky there, Able.

Thanks for posting this trip. I've not been west of Big Sky/ Yellowstone/ Grand Tetons, so this is nice to see

 

[AbleGuy]

Flashback Friday

(Just for fun, here’s some shots of the area of we’re passing through along the Utah/Idaho border this morning, taken just a little over a year ago, late spring 2022. Everyone has been talking about how much snow we got out here this winter, but hey, last winter was pretty darn impressive too!)

 

[AbleGuy]

Parsing Error: if you are using Android, your phone OS is too old to interface with the App correctly.

If using a computer, it's almost like a Syntax Error, but could be as simple as punctuation or spelling error in the coding

Thx for explaining

I still feel stoopid tho?

Using an up to date iPhone ☹️

 

[AbleGuy]

More Flashback Friday (cause the high desert scenery we’re passing through is probably a bit boring for most folks at the moment )

Western face of the Wasatch Front late last spring:




(If you’ve somehow ignored Utah on your previous western US travels, you might want to seriously consider checking out this place next time you’re planning a Rocky Mountain area exploration)

 

[86scotty]

Great pics. I love 89. Pretty much all of it.