Grand Canyon National Park North Rim Opening

Alot of hikers have been waiting for this announcement from the National Park Service:

"The Arizona Department of Transportation will open Highway 67 to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park on Friday, May 15 by 7:00 a.m. Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim, a Forever Resorts property and Grand Canyon Trail Rides will also commence their season operations on May 15, continuing through noon on October 16, 2009. Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim operations include lodging, camper services, food services, groceries and a service station. All concessions facilities will open at 10:00 a.m. with the exception of the dining room which will open at 11:30 a.m. for lunch. Lodge check-in will commence at 4:00 p.m."

Read more . . .

The Peaks District

If you want to plan recreational activities in the Coconino National Forest, here's the place to start. This is the Recreation on the Coconino Forest section of the Forest website. Before you go further, be sure to check out the yellow box with updates about road work and such. For safety's sake read the do's and don'ts under the heading The Coconino National Forest Welcomes Visitors.

After getting the basics out of the way, go down the page to So Much To Do & See. If you click on the "Peaks District" you'll be taken to a page all about the Volcanic Highlands area around the San Francisco Peaks.

Here' you'll find information on all the recreational activities available, including camping, hiking, scenic drives and more. There is a list giving the overview information and then a link to the detail page for each activity.

For instance, if you choose Fatmans Loop Trail #25, you then see a description of the trail, its length, its rating (easy, difficult), when its open, hiking time, elevation, where to access it and more. At the bottom of the page is a great map of the surrounding area and highlighted in red is Fatmans Loop.

You'll find similar information for each activity. There you have it. Just by visiting this website, you can get all the basic information you need, in a nutshell and from a very reliable source. Have fun exploring, the website and the area.

The Arboretum at Flagstaff This Weekend

The 2008 Wildflower Walks at the Arboretum are scheduled only four times. This weekend, Saturday, July 26, is one of those times. You can also participate in these Wildflower Walks on August 30 and September 27.

Sounds like this Saturday should be a great time to head out to the Arboretum, since the Wildflower Walk is included in the price of admission. You'll want to get there early because only 20 people can take the walk with Dr. Gwendolyn Waring. The walk starts and 9:30 a.m. and lasts about two hours.

You can also go on the Guided Birdwalk starting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. The Arboretum website says these walks guided by Audubon Society members are free. So, perhaps there is no admission here. Please check to be sure.

In addition, there are guided Tours of the Gardens every day at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and Wild Birds of Prey programs are scheduled at noon and 2:00 p.m. Both these are also included in the price of admission.

This 200-acre facility will certainly give you a lot for you money this Saturday. Check the hours and fees here. In case you aren't familiar with the Arboretum's location, see a map and directions here.

Flagstaff Hikes

A little trip down to Barnes and Noble Bookstore has yielded enough information for a good start on finding out about local day-trip hiking trails. Materials now in hand:

• Flagstaff Trails Map by Emmitt Barks Cartography


• Street Map of Flagstaff Plus Northern Arizona Rec. (this to replace one with such small print it was useless) by North Star Mapping


• Flagstaff Hikes--97 Day Hikes around Flagstaff, Arizona by Richard & Sherry Mangum

You know that Flagstaff has some of the best hiking trails in the world. You know they're out there, so how to find them? The Mangums have given us the perfect book to help us learn about the ones in and close to Flagstaff. He wrote the text and drew the maps and she took the photographs.

They used an ideal two-page spread layout for each hike, complete with a small detail map and photo. It's all here in a nutshell, directions, driving distance, hike distance, difficulty and rise in elevation. With all the little extra bits of information that only someone who had actually gone on the hikes, Flagstaff Hikes is a keeper.

Flagstaff July 10, 2008