Grand Falls

Weather:  71º, mix of sun, clouds, and rain

About this Hike:  Rainy weather has messed up my Sedona hiking plans for this week.  My originally scheduled hike up Secret Mountain via Loy Canyon has to be postponed to another time.  Even when there are breaks in the rain and the sun comes out, it is scorching at this elevation and the humidity is high.  The Loy Canyon hike needs to be for a cooler time of year. 

Regardless, today was a "when life gives you lemons..." scenario.  All the rain has led to high flow rates on the Little Colorado River which means Grand Falls are flowing strong.  I feel like I should have stayed in Flagstaff.  Three of the five days of this week in Sedona I've ended up going up to the Flagstaff area.  

Grand Falls is actually about a 40 mile drive east of Flagstaff on Navajo land.  There's about nine miles of dirt road after leaving the pavement to get out to the falls.  It's a very wide and good dirt road, but with extreme washboarding. 

Once you arrive, the parking area overlooks the falls.  There's picnic shelters and tables, interpretive signs, and a bathroom.  All of this comes with no fees or red tape, which is surprising.  

If you want to get down close to the falls, it's about a half-mile hike and it does have some scrambling near the end.  I downloaded the All Trails map.  While you wouldn't think this is necessary for such a short hike, following the trail is a bit tricky in spots, so it helps to have the map.  

The falls were roaring and showering their "chocolate" mist as we got up close.  Some of the falls are bigger than others, and some look like little ribbons.  The red rock canyon walls contrast with the black volcanic rock and soil that is so prevalent in this part of Arizona.  

A dark cloud formed over the canyon and outflow winds picked up—a sure sign of a thunderstorm.  Thankfully it blew past us and made for some interesting photo-ops when we hiked out of the canyon and back to the observation area.  The dark clouds had pushed along the Little Colorado and onto the distant plain. The lightning far off was dazzling to watch. 

We packed out and made the washboardy drive back to pavement.  There is a parking area at the junction with the paved highway that's good for adjusting tire pressure.  In this case I'd aired down below 25 PSI, in an effort to soften the constant vibration from the washboards.  

All in all, this was an important check off my Arizona bucket list.  I've wanted to see the Grand Falls for a while, and conditions were just such that it was a perfect day to do so.