Category: National Monuments, National Historic Sites, Memorials, Battlefields, National Forests etc.

Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 23, 2024

Due to the park rangers doing a controlled burn, smoke obscured the hiking trail we wanted to go on, so we drove to another section of the park. This trail is 7.5 miles in length, and we hiked about 4.5 miles of it. The trail was challenging because much of it was over rugged lava flows. The hard black lava rock was unforgiving on our joints. The trail was marked by cairns, a series of rock piles because you can’t drive in stakes and signs into the hard lava rocks. Rosie graciously let me trailblazer again so that I could sight rattlesnakes first, but I was busy navigating and searching for cairns. The terrain was very uneven so I tripped a lot as I couldn’t watch where my feet were going as I was trying to spot cairns. This trail has been used for generations to connect the Zuni Pueblo (or settlement) to the Acoma Pueblo. The highlight of the hike was discovering a giant 1.5-foot-tall ant hill and sighting a large Collared Lizard. An interesting but scary note: signage stated to look for and report any former munitions/bombs as this area was once used for World War II bomber training.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: 1982, 2004 & May 6, 2024

We traveled across the Rio Grande River in Texas several times in the past. Here, it flows around “the big bend” on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. The water provides vital habitat for plants and animals and offers dramatic scenery, geology and thrilling recreational opportunities. Many wild and isolated canyons are great for rafting. A 200-mile stretch (of the 1,885 total miles) are designated the “National Wild & Scenic River”. We had a good view of the river at the summit of the Lost Mine Trail looking southeast as it snaked between USA and Mexico.

Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 15, 2024

We parked at the TJ Corral trailhead and ascended northwest across a prairie mixed with grasses, trees, shrubs, cactus, and yucca. We had some elevation gain but not too bad of a hike. Beautiful views of the Gila National Forest. At one point while Rosie waited, I went off trail about 50 yards to reach the Gila River and take photos. Overall, we hiked about 2.1 miles.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 23, 2024

El Malpais means “Badlands” which is a good name for this extremely barren and black volcanic field that covers most of the park. The park has lava tubes, caves, cinder cones, sandstone bluffs, and jagged volcanic landscape, a large part of which is the Zuni-Bandera Lava Field. The park has lots of birds, lizards, rattlesnakes and other critters. I saw many lizards during our hikes. We planned to hike the 4.8 mile of the El Calderon Trail which would take us through a Ponderosa pine forest up to the top of a cinder cone, but the rangers were doing a large control burn and the smoke covered most of that trail. Instead, we drove six miles and hiked four miles on the Zuni-Acoma Trail. Prior to the hike we visited and hiked Baldera Crater and the Baldera Ice Cave.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 23, 2024

We passed through several parts of this 1.6-million-acre forest. The luscious forest was first visited east of Albuquerque when I drove through the Sandia Mountains.  I took photos of Mount Taylor which is just north of Grants where we camped. We hiked briefly in the forest west of El Malpais National Monument and picked up some black lava rocks from the Bandera Volcano. 

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 20, 2024

Looking across the desert we could see the Colorado River cutting through the canyon. Behind it we could see Marble Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs. The Vermillion Cliffs have some of the most unusual geologic formations in the country from cliffs, slot canyons, rock formations and wavy sandstone formations, colorful curls of slickrock called “waves”. We did not get to hike any trails there this trip as we were focused on the antelope valley slot canyons, but we will return another time. 

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 20 & 21, 2024

Glen Canyon NRA consists of 1.25 million acres including Lake Powell at the center surrounded by vast canyon lands, soaring cliffs, buttes, sand dunes, backcountry wilderness, hiking trails and hanging gardens. It is popular for boaters, fishermen, hikers and bikers. On one side of USA’s largest dam is Lake Powell. On the other side is the Colorado River. We camped at the Antelope Point Marina Campground. As for Lake Powell, it is the second largest man-made lake in America behind Lake Mead.  We took a photo of Glen Canyon and the Colorado River cutting through the canyon.

Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 20, 2024

We were battered by 40mph winds as we drove through the park nestled between the Painted Desert and the ponderosa highlands to the north. You could still see 12,600-foot Humphrey’s Peak (still snow covered) southwest in the distance by Flagstaff which ironically would be clouded over by a wildfire two days later when we drove back by there. The park has ruins of Pueblo communities dating back to the 1100’s with one adobe structure having 104 rooms, a ballcourt and a natural blowhole feature. We saw elk across the white prairie grass but could not hike the park trail to the ruins due to the strong winds. Tumbleweeds were blowing everywhere. A large gust almost blew Rosie over when she posed for a photo.

Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 20, 2024

Not to be confused with the Sunset Meteor Crater (privately owned) down near Winslow that we visited with the kids about twenty years ago. Sunset Crater Volcano was on Loop Road that also connected with Wupatki National Monument. The crater is a cinder cone at an elevation of over 8,000. Flowers and plants grew in the lava. The park butts up to the Coconino National Forest. The two hiking trails that lead up to the dome that I wanted to hike were temporarily closed due to the high winds. The temperature in this higher altitude near Flagstaff dropped to 59 degrees. The 40 mph winds and blowing tumbleweeds made our truck and travel trailer hard to control at times.  We did sight some elk just off the park road.

Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: May 18-20, 2024

This 1.8-million-acre forest surrounds Flagstaff and Sedona and borders four other national forests. Elevations range from 2,600 feet to Humphrey’s Peak at 12,600 feet. It was a clear day, and I took a photo of the peak. When we returned two days later a forest fire was raging on the western slopes with smoke blocking my visibility for a mile or so on the state highway. The forests’ red rock buttes, mesas, canyons and trail around Sedona were beautiful. We hiked several trails overlooking the red rock Secret Mountain Wilderness and Munds Mountain Wilderness. The forest was thick with ponderosa pine, juniper and aspen trees. Just the Red Rock Ranger District of the forest contained Cathedral Rock, Chimney Rock, Bell Rock, other unique rock formations and over 150 hiking trails. We hiked three trails in the national forest.