Dale & Debbie #65: Meteor Crater & the Red Rocks of Kanab

Our next stop was Meteor Crater in the desert of northern AZ. It’s an impact crater created about 50,000 years ago. Some science institutes claim it’s the best preserved meteorite crater on Earth!

NASA still does training here once a year. Despite an attempt to make it a public landmark, it remains privately owned. Hiking into the crater is no longer allowed. Tour-led groups walk partway around the rim.

Road and land to and from the crater. It was very dusty that day from the wind.

What’s wrong with this picture? We are not towing the jeep; I’m driving it! The jeep base plate for the tow bar cracked; it was unsafe to tow until we replaced it. Therefore, I followed Dale about 300 miles to Kanab, Utah.

The first thing on our agenda after arriving in Kanab was spending a day at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s the first time we’ve been close enough to visit when it was open. There is such a short window due to snow! And we went on the last day it was open in October 2024!

There is no color filter on this picture; it’s truly this majestic and breathtaking!

I am pointing to Angels Window on our hike out.

We walked across the top of the window to the lookout.

dizzying

Zoomed in on the Colorado River

Back in Kanab, Utah, the Jackson Flat Reservoir has a paved path around it, so we rode our bikes there.

This was our view from our campsite.

On our first hike, Dale swore this was the trail. I told him it wasn’t, and I wasn’t going to climb it because it looked too dangerous. Being hardheaded, he didn’t come back down, so I finally gave in, and we both made it up safely.  But, we found the actual trail before hiking back down. Once on the ridge, It’s a great hike overlooking the town of Kanab.

This shows part of the town and the reservoir.

I thought it was hard climbing up here, but it was worse coming back down!

Dale hiked alone one day, which took him through a field of steers ~ glad I wasn’t with him, although he said they didn’t even walk toward him.

This canyon looks a bit like the Grand Canyon. ;)

These eyes are watching you!

This area isn’t all red rocks; there are some white, yellow and pink ones also. ;)

We hiked up to this unusual rock wall. It’s very wide, but we couldn’t get back far enough to get it all in a picture. There’s a drop-off at the foot of the wall. Due to its location, it couldn’t be seen until we were right at it. And it was an incredible sight!

During our month-long stop in Kanab we found a shop to install a new base plate, do yearly maintenance on the motorhome, and we tried to get into shape for “Our Big Adventure.” Unfortunately, I was sick for the last 10 days, so I was a bit concerned about our upcoming hike into Havasu Canyon to Supai Village and beyond, but I made out okay as shown in that travel update.

Up Next: Our Big Adventure at Havasu Canyon

Until next time,

Debbie and Dale