We looked around the informational displays about the cliff dwellings and then I got in line to ask one of the rangers about hike options. I don't think she was a hiker. She had a deep Southern drawl, which doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't hike, but, she doesn't hike. She pointed out the Island Trail, which dropped deep into the canyon (she emphasized twice the 200+ stairs) past the dwellings, and the Rim Trail, which went by two areas of ruins. I replied that those two hikes were only about a mile-and-a-half combined, and how far was the Arizona Trail we'd passed on the entrance road. She said, "That trail just goes into the trees." Um, we're OK with that. So we hiked both the trails she recommended, then drove a couple miles of dirt road to reach the Arizona Trail trailhead. It goes the length of Arizona, some 800+ miles. We only ran a couple, but it was a great, pretty flat, smooth singletrack.
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| View from inside one of the cliff dwellings. |
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| Cliff dwellings from across the canyon. |
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| After a little trail run. That no one takes. |
On to Flagstaff, where we tried another one of their breweries. This time we went to Mother Road. Another winner. The bartender was washing glasses right in front of us at the bar so we got to chatting. Turns out he has an old Toyota van he plans to fix up and drive all 48 continental states. We told him about freecamping.net and he was super-psyched to check it out. In fact, as we walked out, he was telling one of the locals sitting there about it.
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| Demographics here look pretty much like Blackfoot. |
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| Beautiful pour, inspiring motto. |
We quizzed him a little about living in Flagstaff. He said it's a great place if you have a job lined up first, or you're retired. He had a bachelor's and master's in some kind of engineering and is working in a tap room.
From there, we wandered back to Proper Meats and Provisions so Marc could get some of their homemade chorizo. And then we had to stop at Historic Brewing. Just like in Montana, they let you bring in food, so we grabbed some Vietnamese food from down the block and came back to enjoy a couple of beers. I had an orange Dreamsicle beer that was insane as far as fruity beers go. I ended up buying a baby growler to go.
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| Vietnamese food and Orangesicle beer. A delightful combo. |
And then we continued on to the Green Room for the Voodoo Glow Skulls concert. They had a great set-up where you could get near the stage with a drink, but a no-alcohol area right up front. I stood toward the left side of the stage, out of the fray of the pit (which, I should note, if I did get bumped, the friendly Flagstaffers apologized) and Marc was in the center. He did make a loop or two in the pit and his glasses got knocked off and broken right at the nosepiece. I thought he should've taped them up, engineer-style, and continued wearing them the rest of the trip. Luckily, though, he had just stocked up on contacts.
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| Cock Sparrer fan dad taking his daughter to a punk show. |
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| I touched the Voodoo Glow Skulls. Indirectly. |
We left the concert and camped for the night in the trees somewhere outside of town that we found on freecamping.net
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