Jeeping in Sedona

 We decided to finish the year with a day trip to Sedona to jeep on the Broken Arrow trail.

The Jeep path intersects with the hiking trail in several parts. We Jeep ed to Chicken Point (I think...) and then got out and started on a hiking trail. We were greeted with this dead critter.

It was a nice day so we could do a bit of hiking and take in the scenery.

Once back in the Jeep, we headed back down the trail.

But first, Steve needed to play in the rocks a bit.

Camp Creek Wash / Rio Verde

 Today we took a couple of hours to jeep at Camp Creek Wash and Rio Verde, on the northeast side of the Phoenix metro area.

Of course we needed to pose the jeep on a big rock!

Enjoying the view and peace and quiet at Rio Verde

Jeeping the back way to Crown King

 Today we got up early to meet with Steve's Jeep club to take the back route from Lake Pleasant to Crown King.

I hope the vultures in the trees aren't an omen for what's to come today!

The trail started out quite pleasant enough.

And then it got a bit steeper.

And turned from a road to more of an obstacle course.

There were several areas that needed rock climbing skills.

.... And high enough clearance to not need to be towed!

We eventually made it to Crown King and had a bite to eat at the Saloon, before driving back the normal route to Phoenix.

Summer Camping Trip (July 27-Aug 4, 2013)

We decided to take a camping trip that included northern AZ, CO, and UT. This is the general route we took, going north on the right side of the "8" and coming home on the left.

We loaded up the Jeep and trailer to start our trip towards Canyon de Chelly. 

Our first stop was to experience standing on a corner in Winslow AZ.

We  also decided to visit the Old Trails Museum across the road, just to give the girls a longer break.

From Winslow, we headed to the painted desert, where we stopped at various scenic overlooks for pictures.

We then headed to Chinle, to set up camp in the Spider Rock campground in Canyon de Chelly for the night.

While the campsite seemed a bit sketchy when we first arrived, it was actually quite nice. 

Summer Camping Trip - Day 2 - Canyon de Chelly to Durango

Day 2 - Canyon de Chelly to Durango

We planned to take a guided tour of the Canyon in the morning, but then got caught in the rain 

We also had car problems (some hose came off or was leaking), so we skipped the tour. and just took pictures from above, instead of a guide taking us into the canyon. 

We tried fixing the car issue in Chinle, but everything was closed for the day, so we cautiously headed to Four Corners.

After leaving Four Corners, we spent much of the day driving through rain as we reached Durango. 

To make life a bit easier, we camped at the Durango KOA. The weather improved once we set up our tent.