ARIZONA,OR GO WEST NOT SO YOUNG MAN

another gary adventure, this will all be taking place in arizona, i flew jfk to phoenix this morning, spun the upgrade wheel at alamo, and scored a free upgrade to a sports car, a bright red hard top camaro 2 door to be precise.
first photos taken, from the sunset point rest area on interstate 17 northbound.



and critters be real out here yo



vegetation of a type that would have those critters




and a very cool end to a long day, after a great burger in downtown flagstaff at a place called diablo burger, reminded me of hodad's. up the hill overlooking flagstaff to the lowell observatory, created by percival lowell, who was so convinced pluto existed he spent a fair amount of his considerable fortune to build and staff with professional astronomers, this, a 24 inch clarke telescope, 121 years old, still has great lenses, they had it trained on the moon tonight, what detail, just stunning to look through, plus they had several other telescopes open, including one 10 inch hooked to a camera, time sequencing a nebulae, which was then projected onto a large flat screen. sir percival unfortunately did not live to see pluto discovered as he died the year before , but he financed the research




more photos to come, hopefully another daily travelogue, or at least some teaser shots, a week long arizona extravaganza, with diesel trains, steam trains, flagstaff, grand canyon, sedona, observatories, lava cones, pueblo ruins, and all manner of interesting roadside things.

and an add on, this was the telescope taking time lapse photos and blending them onto the large screen television set up outside at the observatory, viewing this night was awesome, it was in the high 20's and crystal clear starry night sky, perfect for a telescope


just got these scanned in, part of the guide given at the desk when you buy your admission ticket, a very reasonable $14.00 and they have memberships available for the locals and anyone able to be there more than one night

 

so yesterday became another long road day, walnut canyon national monument, winslow, sunset crater, wukoki pueblo, and desert view watchtower on the south rim of the grand canyon. just so everyone knows, all photos and grand canyon references from this trip will be south rim only. north rim unfortunately is closed in winter
first up, walnut canyon national monument, where i did the island trail, 285 steps down and 285 steps back up, my chubby ass was huffing and puffing coming up from that, especially since i am at 7,000 feet altitude here in the flagstaff area


and here is a shot of one of the cliff dwellings, this was the sinagua tribe, which literally means without water, they collected and stored snow melt and monsoon runoff against dry times. their crops were up on the flatter lands on the rim, so i guess no sympathy for my one climb in and out. they had quite developed rooms at their peak, well insulated and enclosed


standing on a corner in winslow arizona, such a fine sight to see, it's a girl my lord in a flatbed ford and she's slowing down to take a look at me. yep, that song, that place. we will see more of route 66, the mother road in this trip

 

Great stuff so far Gary. Always love your trips!

 

Looks like a fun trip so far. Thanks for taking us along with you!

 

Gary, check out Pete's post about snow on FB. You'll appreciate the humor!

 

michael, ironically when i checked out pete's post i was standing in kingman arizona, right in front of the locomotive he posted after the truck full of snow, small amounts of snow on the ground here in williams,but lots on the mountainsides. i guess from the posts pete arrived via las vegas, driving distance is about the same to williams,but i wanted to do some flagstaff area stuff and some sedona.

 

so today was not as long, i had original plans for a monumental effort, but i was pretty beat last night and elected to sleep in a little more today, so oatman got scrubbed, a b list item, mather point sunset got scrubbed, mainly because the forecast up at grand canyon village was clouds, and 50% chance of rain showers, no thanks. so today was a easy drive over to kingman, some trains in the canyon, and a return to williams via a large chunk of route 66, the mother road. in my williams hotel by 6:45 pm, already fed in a route 66 cafe, great chili. early start tomorrow, and wednesday is even earlier, and longer day out on the railroad, so i do not know how much posting will be done before thursday, but i promise plenty more. plus once i am home full expanded galleries will be up over on smug mug.
so first up, is that static steam engine display, atchison, topeka & santa fe 3759, right in the old historic part of downtown kingman
what a shame this isn't being restored to running, what a huge, magnificent machine



next up. a couple of shots in kingman canyon, one track up on the hillside, the other below at pretty much road level, the line above never had a train all day that i saw, i flagged down a bnsf mow truck going by, turned out to be from the mechanical department, not a signal maintainer, but real nice guy, looked up the trains coming on his phone, which apparently also shows location in real time, found out there were not many eastbound due by, and nearest was still 40 miles away. he said i was in the right spot, showed me the calendar given to employees, and the header photo was taken right about where i was set up
this was a cool S curve, on the right you can see some more of the train snaking back into the canyon


a westbound trailer, i was able to get on the opposite side of the tracks and get it curving past me, using my wide angle




another, i just really like the power on display in mountain/western railroading, some of the stack trains had 4-5 engines up front, and 2 distributed power units pushing on the rear. did not see any mid train units, UP uses them more out in the powder river basin coal trains.

 

i split tonights post as i am working off my 13 inch screen travel laptop and it gets a little lengthy working on a multiple photo post
so in early afternoon i left kingman, not because train action got slow, no indeed, after i talked to the mow guy, there were 3 more westbound, then a 30 minute downtime, and then i heard a train grinding uphill, and it was an eastbound traveling wrong main, followed within 20 minutes by another, and once they apparently got to where dispatch could cross them back over the westbound flood started, i timed it, i was getting a westbound every 10-12 minutes, and the tracks parallel route 66 all the way to peach springs, and there was a steady line of westbound trains.
so we are traveling the longest piece of intact route 66, the mother road, the one steinbeck referred to in grapes of wrath, the one so many okies and dustbowl refugees traveled in search of a better life in california. here is hackberry arizona, best exemplified by the hackberry general store, where indeed i got my kicks on route 66. loved the show, 2 white guys, with no visible means of support, traveling the country in a vette, rescuing damsels in distress. who wouldn't want to be them
the hackberry police


the front of the hackberry general store, and yes they have a lot of old autos and old gas pumps


and the soda fountain tableau inside



and if it wasn't for a full bag, this sign probably would have have come home with me and gone right to my desk at work, facing all who come to me in supplication

 

so let's get a couple up here from the main reason why i came all the way to arizona, in the winter. a 2 day lerro productions photo charter on the grand canyon railroad, today behind #29, it wasn't the best sunrise, in fact the day was miserable, gray and damp mist until early afternoon, then it cleared off and had some sun leading into sunset. and yes that is flame from the firebox below the engine, #29 burns used vegetable oil, and this is apparently something these types do, not to mention smelling vaguely like a combo of french fries and a donut shop


and another of the early runbys, not quite sunrise


and one during the misty part of the day, threw most of these out already


and late morning we had to take the siding, so the regular daily tourist train enroute to grand canyon village could pass us, what was cool was they normally run cast off amtrak fp-40's, but pete asked if they could put the alco A&B unit on it, and they said ok. these are classic early diesels, not too many are still around, we get two chances tomorrow at it, hopefully in full sun.



and later in the day, one of the runbys in coconino canyon, a dry canyon leading up to the grand canyon village area. dry meaning no natural water, no stream, no spring.

 

and a last couple from today, tomorrow is be at the station by 5:45 am, train leaves promptly at 6 to get to the planned sunrise shot, weather forecast is for a fully sunny day, that would be nice. so a cloudy day rim shot, from right next to bright angel lodge, the colorado river is so deep below, it's not actually visible at this place, even on a cloudy day it is awesome, and on the left side you can make out the little crevasse that bright angel trail makes as you hike down into the canyon. it's 9 miles to phantom ranch, and the elevation drop is measured in thousands of feet


and here is tonights goodnight shot, a sunset backlit of engine #29

 

Love those last two train shots! Even with the overcast sky, there is enough green trees and other color contrast that I didn't notice the lack of blue in the sky, and I am always drawn to the sky color first.

Sound like an awesome trip so far. Cant wait to see your stuff from today with sunny skies!

 

so it was a really long day today, left hotel for station, all of 2 blocks away at 5:25, back at 9:15, the long day due in large part to returning to the depot to allow folks to get off that had had a long enough day, and then return back out on the line, set up the lighting and return to depot again. so it'll be a somewhat brief post tonight, let's get right to the reason to be here, the doubleheader, we started today behind # 4960, and were joined mid morning by # 29. double headed steam is rare enough these days, and # 29 is due to go out of service for 15 year FRA inspection in 2019, and apparently there is a high likelihood due to the cost and lengthy overhaul, the grand canyon railroad will not return it to steam.
2 engines posed


and a double header runby



here is another doubleheader rugby

and a doubleheader sunset runby, more tomorrow folks, i need to sleep now.

 

Awesome!!!! Always great to have an opportunity to see rare things like the double!

 

Nice! Glad you had better weather on day 2!

 

so this is a 2 part post tonight, maybe even 3, i am in the best western plus in sedona, hopefully awake long enough to do some of this, i just had a fantastic sonoran mexican vegetarian dinner, and i am all relaxed and tidied up.

the backlit runby


and here is the posed night shot, i just wish there had been more light on the 4960, lighting was 5 nikon speed lights on tripods, set off at intervals, the lighting director told us how many flashes to stay open for, IE, iso 400, stay open for 5 flash cycles,

 

so today the forecast was for a sunny day, and it was, high in the 60's touching 70 in a few places, not the east coast blizzard some are enduring. so i made an executive decision and went north from williams to the south rim main visitor area of grand canyon village, i took a couple of the shuttle buses around , really a nice way to photograph the rim, they stop at well marked stops and are on a 15 minute headway, so it's easy to get off, grab a few photos and jump right back on again. first up, at the east end of the orange shuttle route, yaki point


pipe creek vista, i worked it east to west


mather point



and a real treat, one of four elk grazing opposite the maricopa point lookout area


and in early afternoon i took to the road again, back down south on 64, to williams, east to flagstaff and south to the exit for sedona, on into town, checked in, and on up to airport mesa, for the blue hour on the red rock formations around town.


more sedona tomorrow

 

starting todays post a little early, it's high sun now here in sedona. i am tired, so i am on an afternoon siesta break, going back out later this afternoon to try for a sunset on cathedral rock, i did my recon this morning and i now know where to go.
so first shot is from about 10:00 am, out at the crescent moon picnic area, where later i will be parking and taking a little hike for a cathedral rock shot over oak creek, cathedral rock is directly behind me in this shot


here is a shot from right outside the entrance to the chapel of the holy cross, a worldwide known sedona landmark, all kinds of tours were coming in there when i was there, probably lucky i arrived when i did, any later and parking might have been an issue


and here is the chapel from the entrance road, built of concrete, right into a natural crevice in the rock face. i am not religious by any means, but it is an impressive place.

that's it for this brief post, hopefully i'll have a couple more early tonight, tomorrow i drive back to phoenix and fly to new york, at least i hope so, it appears that many of the photo charter attendees trying to get home yesterday may have had problems, looks like ny, boston and philly were all shutdown, and for the sizable contingent that adamantly takes their chances with amtrak, who knows, that's a s**tshow under the best of circumstances.

 

well i went back out, and it started clouding up, not a real surprise as tomorrows forecast is for clouds and rain. i was just hoping it would hold out to sunset, no such luck, these next 2 are of bell rock, first from the south from bell rock parkway, next from the north end at the bell rock trail head parking area. when next i come to sedona, weather permitting i plan on the 4 mile circumference hike of bell rock, i did some research and it's pretty level, you just need to bring a couple of water bottles and a snack bar. unfortunately by the time i left shot # 2 and drove the 11 miles back to the picnic area, cathedral rock had no sun on it, as i got ready to hike the 1/4 mile in to oak creel to setup, out come 2 photographers carrying tripods, i asked and they said don't even bother unless i want the walk, no sunset shot worthy of the name at all. so it's 6 pm, i am back in my room after eating my picnic supper at the crescent moon picnic area, i am almost completely packed for flight, and since i expect no sun on anything tomorrow enroute to phoenix, i am calling it a trip.

and bell rock from the north end

 

Great stuff again Gary. I hope the weather for today is not as predicted, but maybe you can use it for some good food and a little rest. How much more time do you have out there?

 

Sorry to say none, it was overcast in sedona this morning. So i eased on down to phoenix, as it is. It is 11:00 and i am already at my gate for a 1:10 flight, good news trip was under budget by enough to upgrade to business class, comfort seat here i come

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