The Arizona Strip (AZ) and Little Finland (NV) - 9 Days in May 2023

[boyfester]

After many years of mapping and planning, I was able to complete one of my bucket list items last May 2023 and visit the Arizona Strip aka Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument (GCPNM). I hooked up with friends that I met on a 2015 Ultimate Yota trip (link to that inaugural Mojave Road trip is here and was actually my first Trip Report in this forum). The guys on this trip included JD - @JD914 , Sean, and Troy - @troyboy162 and we spent over a week on the trails completing over 450 miles of off-road driving. We left pavement in Mesquite, Nevada and didn’t see it again until St. George, Utah. There are no single books dedicated to the Arizona Strip and so my research was done from visiting the GCPNM website, reading other people's trips online in forums (Expedition Portal, ADV Rider, T4R), and talking to people thru social media over the years (Instagram, YouTube, and TrailsOffroad.com). With no visitor centers or service stations in an area larger than the entirety of Rhode Island, we each carried 20+ gallons of gas and 20+ gallons of water. Some of us had no cell service, so it was truly being off the grid with solar, extra batteries, tools, good tires, and great attitudes all required. We did visit the spectacular Bar 10 Ranch in Whitmore Canyon and after paying for an amazing dinner, we were treated like royalty and allowed to shower, procure some additional supplies and more fuel.

I also can’t say enough about this crew of friends. No drama, no politics, and willing to try anything. I proposed changes along the way (hikes to mountain peaks, more difficult travel routes, etc.) and they were all game. We also helped each other with any mechanical issues. Truly a great group of people. When I did finally have some cell coverage on Day 7, I spoke to my wife and when she asked if I was tired of driving, my reply was "Nope". This group of guys and this place are truly special.

The following photos were taken by all parties and so, I've compiled them for this report. For anyone else who wants to complete similar trip to the area, I strongly recommend the Trails Offroad website (www.trailsoffroad.com) and the GCPNM website for Road Descriptions and Conditions page (https://www.nps.gov/para/planyourvisit/road-descriptions-and-difficulty-ratings.htm). The road conditions are pretty up to date, although we were able to drive some of the roads in our trucks that the GCPNM recommended for UTV only.

Day 1 - Mesquite, NV to Red Pocket Tanks, AZ (18 miles)

We met up in Mesquite in the afternoon, but Troy was running late so we headed off without him. Just south of Mesquite, we found a great place to air down.



Nothing like a sign like this to get you ready for a week long trip.





The route that I had was along CR 242 through Lime Kiln Canyon. I tried experimenting with using an emergency mylar blanket on my roof to see if it would keep the plastic gas cans from expanding, but it didn't work well.



I thought it was going to be a fairly easy road, but we had to use 4LO a few times due to the rocky terrain. The surrounding hillside was RAD!





When we reached the top of the pass, we saw our first sign that we were in Grand Canyon Parashant NM.



We reached Red Pocket Tanks (small ponds for wildlife to drink from) by taking an unnamed trail west and kept driving until we found a good spot to camp for the night.



Day 1

 

[boyfester]

Day 2 - Red Pocket Tanks, Tweeds Point, Hudson Point (62 miles)

Campsite at Red Pocket Mountain. I was the only one in a tent as the others had constructed beds inside their trucks.



Red Pockets Mountain





A rock sculpture that we found walking around in the morning





We proceeded on CR101 with the red rocks of Paiute Wilderness to the north.



This was where I ripped off the Mylar sheet over my gas cans as it was a pain to keep it in place. I put some plastic vent caps onto all of my fuel cans before the trip for easy pouring and they were invaluable for venting my expanding plastic tanks throughout the trip.



On BLM1616 Trail to Tweeds Point for lunch





The view at Tweeds Point was magnificent and we had the place to ourselves. Tweeds Point overlooks the northern tip of the Grand Wash Cliffs Wilderness.

 

[boyfester]

Tweeds Point



JD hiked over the edge and climbed up one of the small towers. We spotted some trails below. These are BLM1003 and BLM1007. BLM1003 or Nutter Twists Road is supposed to be pretty hardcore per the GCPNM Road Descriptions page and this video I found on YouTube. It looks like a fun trail to explore some other time.





We left Tweeds and headed back toward BLM1034 by passing through Tweedie Hollow. This trail is unmarked on the GCPNM map from the BLM.



The mountains in the background form the Hidden Rim, south of Tweeds Point. At this point we're heading south on BLM1071 about to enter Last Chance Canyon.



Last Chance Canyon was really cool!



We reached Hudson Point in the afternoon for our campsite #2 and were treated to hail and rain over Grand Wash Cliffs. As shown below, there was a solar powered weather cam overlooking the Grand Wash Wilderness and Pakoon Basin. We walked in front of the lens a few times and when we got back from our trip, I looked up the webpage for the weather cam and found the webcam video on the day we were there (May 21). I didn't see our faces, but the weather changes look amazing.



It was about 80°F when we arrived at 3pm and then it began to rain and hail at about 4pm. When it began to hail, the temperature dropped almost 40°F and it was freezing (notice Sean wearing shorts and a heavy jacket below). Then, it stopped and it got warm again.



The awnings proved to be worth every penny. Soon afterwards though, the wind kicked up and we had to roll up our awnings. I had to move to a different location to shield my tent from the elements. The others stayed put as they were sleeping inside their trucks.



Day 2

 

[ITTOG]

Looks like a great trip. I look forward to seeing the rest of it.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thanks for posting. I look forward to following along. How many of those remote monitoring stations did you see?

 

[Luinil Explorations]

I was out there several years ago. Beautiful place and very remote.

 

[boyfester]

Thanks for posting. I look forward to following along. How many of those remote monitoring stations did you see?

We only saw that one on Hudson Point. The link to the webcam is here: https://www.nps.gov/media/webcam/view.htm?id=E1289F04-DC4B-2D46-34C4643DBE4F12F7. I actually saved the link on the date that we were there, May 21, and I added it above in the previous set of Day 2 photos.

 

[boyfester]

Day 3 - Wayne Gardner Monument, Grand Gulch Mine, Snap Canyon, Oak Grove, Waring Ranch, and Twin Point Overlook (86 miles)

We left Hudson Point in the morning and proceeded south and then east on BLM1071 and it was very wet and slippery. As many AZ travelers know, most of the terrain out here is clay. The rain had stopped the previous day, but there were large mud puddles and deep ruts. It was sketchy. We came upon a monument to Wayne Gardner that wasn't on any map. He died in a snowstorm in 1949 trying to save his sheepherder and his sheep. You can read more about him below.







We headed west through Pigeon Canyon on BLM1002 toward Grand Gulch Mine for lunch. This was another beautiful canyon!





We stopped at Grand Gulch Mine and I spent almost an hour trying to diagnose a rattle on my roof. I have a Sherpa Crestone roof rack and a Yakima Load Warrior basket on top of it. I found the noisy culprit as one of the bottom bolts on the basket was flexing and vibrating on one of the cross members of the Sherpa rack. It took about an hour to remove the gas cans, Yakima rack, and move the cross member. After that, the annoying rattle was gone! I only heard the sound of swirling water from my water jugs inside the truck for the rest of the trip.

At Grand Gulch Mine, there were some cool brick buildings and a cool looking furnace.

 

[boyfester]

After lunch, I had two trails identified to get to Twin Point Overlook, one more difficult and one very easy. We opted for the more difficult one along BLM1012 through Snap Canyon instead of the easier CR103. We'd actually be heading up CR103 the next day after Twin Point, so it was cool to go a different route. We figured if BLM1012 got too gnarly, we could turn around and go the easier way.

BLM1012 started off really easy, flowing through Snap Canyon. Troy took some very cool panorama photos with his Google Pixel camera. It was more like a large basin with Mustang Point in the background below.



We did come to a small shelf that needed some spotting, but it was easy.



Yep, that's a flexible solar panel on JD's 4Runner.





Further along Snap Canyon, just east of Snap Spring, we came upon an abandoned cabin. This must have been a nice place to live with water so close by.



We reached the end of BLM1012 at Oak Grove and decided to head northeast on CR103 and see the Oak Grove cabin and Waring Ranch shown on the BLM map. There wasn't much left of the Oak Grove residence (see below).



We proceeded east to Waring Ranch, where there was a garage with tools, a small standalone cabin, and an outhouse.





The cabin was locked up, but I was able to take some photos through the barred windows.

 

[boyfester]

The drive from Waring Ranch to Twin Point Overlook on BLM1019 was spectacular! The views were amazing along the way and Twin Point Overlook was unbelievable, camping within feet of the edge of the Grand Canyon.

This is looking west into Burnt Canyon. The trail is within 10' of this edge.



When we looked across the canyon at this location, we saw some buildings barely visible to the naked eye, but couldn't figure out what it was. JD identified it as the Grand Canyon Skywalk at Eagle Point with some binoculars and so I snagged a photo with my SLR camera. Very cool!!! The shadow shows the skywalk extending out over the cliff edge.



Reaching Twin Point Overlook was really cool as it was our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. There was rain across the canyon at certain spots, throughout the afternoon, providing a few rainbows too.



This is looking east at Amos Point and Kelly Point. We opted not to drive to these two points via BLM1203 as I read on multiple reports and YouTube videos that it takes an entire day to reach Kelly Point due to the rough and very rocky trail. And then you have to backtrack the same way the next day to get to the main road (CR103). We didn't want to waste two days for views that we could get elsewhere and we would, later in the trip.



Looking southwest toward Lake Havasu, 80 miles away. The sky was amazingly clear with over 75 miles of visibility.









The following photo location is where we ate dinner. It was especially eerie once the sun went down as it was pitch black. If you shone a flashlight on the ground, you'd see the ground and, at the cliff edge, pure blackness. There were no guardrails anywhere in this area and no signs warning to stay back. If you walked out here and had a misstep, you'd be gone forever. It was very creepy!



Day 3 GPX track on Google Earth

 

[boyfester]

I was out there several years ago. Beautiful place and very remote.

Yes, it was spectacular!

 

[boyfester]

Day 4 - Twin Point Overlook, Trumbull Schoolhouse, Whitmore Point (77 miles)

Day 4 was a shorter drive than the previous day to seldomly visited Whitmore Point for our next campsite overlooking the Grand Canyon. From my research, I couldn't find any reports or videos of people visiting this spot, so I was excited to see the views from there. Most people visit Whitmore Point Overlook to the east. I called a ranger at the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument office in St. George asking about Whitmore Point and he thought I was talking about Whitmore Canyon Overlook as well. He wasn't aware of Whitmore Point or the trail going down to it (BLM1263). The GCPNM website map below doesn't even show BLM1263 or Whitmore Point (see red arrow and 'X' below for its location). The more detailed paper map of the Arizona Strip does show it though. The Road Conditions page listed BLM1263 as "rough" and "trucks with low bumpers or running boards will most likely be damaged or torn off". It sounded like fun to all of us!



Before leaving Twin Point Overlook, I headed out for some photos when the sun was coming up and took a tripod selfie. It was beautiful!





We kicked off the majority of mud from underneath our trucks from the day before and topped off our solar batteries before heading out.



We then headed back up BLM1019 enjoying the views one last time of Burnt Canyon to the west.



We passed Oak Grove and jumped on the easterly road BLM1018 past Poverty to the Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse for lunch.

 

[boyfester]

After leaving the schoolhouse, we turned off of BLM1063 and drove south on BLM1263 when the road did start to get rougher, softer, and overgrown with weeds and flowers, but it was a great drive!



Just like the road to Twin Point Overlook earlier in the day, BLM1263 hugs the edge of the cliffs with amazing views of Parashant Canyon. The crescent canyon finger reminded me of the 'Canyon of the Crescent Moon' from the "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" film. Mollie's Nipple is in the center of the photo near the back.





We reached Parashant Point, which is a short drive west of Whitmore Point, and contemplated camping there, but the winds were strong, preventing us from setting up our awnings and my tent.



We drove back to Whitmore Point and found a great place that was sheltered from the wind. There was even a dilapidated sign.







I spotted a Whitmore Point benchmark while hiking around on top. I love finding these!



From Whitmore Point, Kelly Point is visible. It is just right of center in this photo.



Day 4 GPX track on Google Earth

 

[boyfester]

Day 5 - Whitmore Point, Whitmore Canyon Overlook, Bar 10, Pa's Pocket and Cabin (43 miles)

We left Whitmore Point and headed north on BLM1263 before turning northeast onto BLM1264 which descended a fairly steep and rocky road through Whitmore Canyon. Mt. Emma is in the center of this photo.



BLM1264 is a shortcut to BLM1045 which leads to the Bar 10 Resort - the only hotel in the entire monument. We stopped to check-in as we had prepaid for dinner, weeks in advance and they gave us some hiking tips as JD, Troy, and myself wanted to hike to the Colorado River. The big TIP was not to touch the lava rocks on the way down as they would be over 120°F to the touch in the noon sun.













We jumped in the trucks and made our way down Whitmore Canyon via BLM1045 and to the Colorado River.

 

[boyfester]

The drive down BLM1045 was pretty rocky with tons of sharp and jagged lava rocks and the canyons' walls became taller as we descended into the gorge.



At the overlook, the views up and down the canyon were spectacular! Turns out lava flowed across the Colorado River and dammed it thousands of years ago, but the river finally pushed through it, so you can see lava rock on both sides of the north and south canyon walls.







Sean stayed behind and JD, Troy, and I grabbed our swim trunks and hiked to the bottom. It was sweltering.





This overhang of columnar basalt was really cool!