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Native and Natural Interests near the Grand Canyon

Native and Natural Interests near the Grand Canyon

Old Feb 11th, 2016, 05:33 PM
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Native and Natural Interests near the Grand Canyon

We are taking our grandson to the Grand Canyon in April. He is 13 and we can spend as much as 4 days in and around the area. We can come in and out of phoenix or las vegas.

I want to show him native sites and natural rock sites. possibly a ghost town or other western activities. I do plan on us doing the junior ranger program and one good half day hike down angel trail. We have reservations for two nights at the south rim. Looking for more suggestions.

I would have loved to do a half day river raft trip but it seems like the one through the canyon would take an entire very long day.
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Old Feb 11th, 2016, 09:02 PM
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A raft trip from the town of Page, Arizona to Lees Ferry is the shortest Colorado River Raft trip. Drive to Page, raft to Lees Ferry and they will drive you back to Page.

Ghost Town - Oakman is near Laughlin Az. Drive there from Kingman on old Route 66. Google it.
The other is Jerome in mid-Arizona; however, it is more of a arts/crafts town now.

Native sites:
Elden Pueblo ruins north of Flagstaff a few miles.
Better is Waputaki also north of Flagstaff about 30 miles
http://www.nps.gov/wupa/index.htm

I don't know what a natural rock is. Are not they all natural?

Vaga
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Old Feb 12th, 2016, 03:51 AM
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If you use the east entrance to Grand Canyon, 89 north to 64 west, there is a ruined village a bit east of 89 between Flagstaff and 64 called Wupatki.

South of I-70 about 10 miles east of Flagstaff is Walnut Canyon, cliff dwellings that you can climb up to.

In Valley of Fire, about an hour NE of Vegas there are several sites with petroglyphs. One is marked atl-atl rock and if you take the path to Mouse's tank the rocks on the left on the way in are loaded with them.

There is a site on the rim of GC and if you go down Bright Angel Trail past the tunnel and look along the cliff above you might see rock art there too.

Between Phoenix and Flagstaff is Montezuma's Castle, another dwelling site.

South of Vegas, about 10 miles from Laughlin is Grapevine Canyon which also has lots of rock art.

North west of Vegas off the road from Beaty to Death Valley is Rhyolite, a ghost town with a house that was made of beer bottles.

If you click on my name then scroll down to the trip reports you will find descriptions of some of the places we've been to find sites of ancient habitation with links to the pictures of those.
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Old Feb 12th, 2016, 03:54 AM
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By the way the town RVvagabond gave is Oatman, on old rt 66 if you are looking for it on the map.
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Old Feb 12th, 2016, 11:38 AM
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Stop spamming srahava
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Old Feb 13th, 2016, 10:36 AM
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Thank you for the trip information. One of the things we were looking at was perhaps to take an extra day and circle through zion and bryce, one night, page one night, grand canyon two nights and then back to las vegas and perhaps take a day trip. any thoughts of the suggested sites compared to doing zion, bryce and page?/ thanks
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Old Feb 15th, 2016, 07:37 AM
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A circle route from Las Vegas, stopping at Valley of Fire State Park, then up I-15 through St George Utah, to Zion and to Bryce, and back around to east entrance of GCNP and back to LV might be doable, but 4-5 days is awfully short.

Thx emalloy for the info on additional sites for rock art!
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Old Feb 15th, 2016, 10:57 AM
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goldgrits, The circle route is certainly doable in a week if you pick a flight that gets into Vegas fairly early and one that leaves late in the day. The circle can be done in either direction and I would look at where I could get lodging before deciding which way to head. Zion id only 3 hours from Vegas, so could be first or last.

travlsolo2, if you click my name and scroll down to the TRs you will find lots with directions to many other rock art sites.
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Old Feb 16th, 2016, 04:34 PM
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By 'native sites', do you mean ancient sites? If so, I especially like Wupatki National Monument. There are several different buliding sites in addition to the main site. At the main site, be sure to go all the way to the blowhole and ball court. At the other buildings, you will probably be the nly ne there. Sunset Crater is also part of the monument.
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Old Feb 17th, 2016, 07:06 AM
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Bookmarking--love this whole area so much.
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