Serenity TearDrop Build

[western traveler]

I wrote a detailed account of yesterday and launched it into the universe. It was too long anyway.
Recap; Arrived Bryce yesterday afternoon. The North campground is nearly empty. Sites dispersed amongst the trees. Free entrance with Senior Pass, half price camping. Fire pit, table and all pull through sites.
7 degrees last night. Warming trend predicted for next 7 days. Highs mid 50’s lows high teens/low 20’s.
Pictured, Sunset Point yesterday’s evening.
[album]
To me there is something special cooking over an open fire. This was delicious…

[western traveler]

Yes, I had cell service while in Bryce. The campground began filling up on Friday night and though there were still campsites available the choice ones had been taken. From Bryce I took a morning drive to Kodachrome Valley (named after an article by National Geographic in 1949) a short drive away. It is a State Park with campground and I thought worth the drive over to see. I thought the best area to camp was in the Bryce view loop. One thing of note, it appears they graze cattle during the summer in the area.

[tony.latham]

Highs mid 50’s...

It's been about the same here. I was glassing for elk on top of the Great Divide this week at 9,000'. No snow.

Tony

[western traveler]

I headed to Zion from Bryce.
Note; this is Thanksgiving week and the weather is spectacular.
It was a very different story in Zion. The drive into the canyon was packed. Every turnout was full. People walking along the shoulders and running across the road from them. Kind of a Glacier/Yellowstone experience. The drop into the canyon is like a mini Going to the Sun Rd In Glacier. There were vault toilets along the drive with lots of parking on each side of the buildings but there were lines of vehicles strung out waiting for a parking spot to open so they could use them. I headed down to the tram parking at the bottom for a ride but the parking was crowded and the crush of people was a bit much for me and I drove back up and out. (The last time I was there there were no trams and we drove ourselves). I knew about the vast changes I just wasn’t feeling it.

This tunnel is over a mile long…

There is dispersed camping outside the park between the towns of Rockville and Virgin but I chose to move on.

[western traveler]

Highs mid 50’s...

It's been about the same here. I was glassing for elk on top of the Great Divide this week at 9,000'. No snow.

Tony

Tony, I couldn’t believe how little snow was in the mountains on my drive down. This photo was taken down around Pocatello. It was probably the most I saw coming down not counting Monida Pass.

[tony.latham]

Tony, I couldn’t believe how little snow was in the mountains...

This was Friday. Normally there's 18" or more at this spot for this date and the elk should be much lower.



There's a bit of fresh stuff up there right now... I'll go see if I can't cut a track.

Tony

[western traveler]

Good luck and I hope you fill your freezer soon.
It is Whitetail (alfalfa fed) for us this year. It won’t last nearly long enough.

[western traveler]

From Zion I headed towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I didn’t know if there would be disbursed camping once I got on the highway into the park. It was late afternoon when I pulled in at the junction (89A-67). There is a gas station there. Pumps on but no attendant. A hunter flagged me down in the lot. He needed a jumpstart which I gave him and before he left I asked about FS roads. There are plenty. I found one close to the junction and camped for the night, Kaibab National Forest (note the fuel both gasoline and diesel inside the Park is cheaper due to controlled pricing and the pumps are on for credit card purchases).
The next morning I got on highway 67 in. The weather was awesome for this time of year! It should be noted they do not plow this highway and it is not patrolled at night.
The drive in a little after sunrise was beautiful once past a large burn on both sides of the Hwy.
Long stretches of golden meadows and forests. In fact when I pulled in to take a photo of the entrance sign a young lady that had been driving in front of me and had pulled in too, jumped out of her SUV and rushed back, exclaiming this is gorgeous at the same time I did. We both laughed at that. I saw her later in the day and she commented she had been at the South Rim the day before and it was was just too crowded to enjoy (It is said only 10% of visitors see the North Rim).
After I arrived at one of the parking lots I was walking across the lot in a t-shirt and flops and the Park Ranger pulled up. He pulled at the thermal top he was wearing and commented I’m overdressed. It was 55 degrees and clear. He said they got buried in a heavy snowfall in October but hadn’t had any since.
I asked about the Scenic drive route but it is limited to 22’ overall length. He said I was welcome to just park the TD in any of the lots and make the drive but I passed as the haze was just a bit too much to get the photos I wanted.
The How’s the view photo points out the San Francisco Peaks to the south. A long distance away.
Of course everything but the gas station is closed. The campground, visitor center etc.

[western traveler]

On leaving the North Rim I headed back to 89A and on towards Flagstaff passing the Vermilion Cliffs, Marble Canyon and Lee’s Ferry. The sun on the Vermilion Cliffs was striking but for what is relatively a short drive to Flagstaff it felt like it went on and on…It was pretty kewl coming to the San Francisco Peaks on this side. Not pictured.

[western traveler]

I arrived in Flagstaff at dusk and decided to see what the parking lot behind Cracker Barrel was looking like. It was over half full of overnight campers already so I decided to grab a spot and have dinner. Other than a couple of trains passing during the night it was quiet enough.
Having visited Meteor Crater and Walnut Canyon National Monument several times (things to see close to Flagstaff) I moved on.
I headed to Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Drive (Hwy 89A) hoping to find camping. It is a winding narrow road with length limits that drops into Sedona. Zero problem for a TD or small trailer.

Pine Flats Campground that I have stayed a couple of times was closed. There is a natural spring that is piped to a roadway turnout about a 1/4 mile north of it that locals come to fill water jugs. Someone was there so I passed on by.
Cave Springs Campground was closed as well. Manzanita Campground (the only other public campground I know on that stretch) was full and there was a waiting line of about a dozen rigs at the barrier for the FFS campsites.

I decided to spend the day around Sedona just visiting different hiking areas and planned on camping in the Wet Beaver Wilderness or Beaver Canyon, a couple of dispersed camping areas the ranger at the North Rim had told me about.

I’m glad the spaceship in Bell rock didn’t ultimately Rendezvous with Hale-Bopp as I like that hiking trail.

[western traveler]

Late afternoon I headed down to Beaver Creek as it had access off Hwy 17 south of Sedona and I figured it would be an easy start the next morning.

I headed in to one of the areas I was told about dispersed camping, went about a mile in on a paved road before the road turned washboard and narrow. Bad washboard. I was looking for a place to turn around but that took 2 miles and I actually found a pretty cool spot to camp for the night by a small desert creek. I pulled in and had dinner, sat at the fire pit for a while and then retired for the night. While setting up camp I had noticed a guy lurking in the bushes a couple hundred yards from me. I waved and he faded back and out of sight. It felt pretty strange.
At about 3AM I woke up and decided to creep back out to the highway to avoid someone coming the other way on the narrow road (I hadn’t seen that guy again but he had concerned me).

[western traveler]

Now things actually get a bit interesting.

I stopped in a small pullout where a couple of rigs were parked near the on-ramp to Hwy 17, made coffee and a bite to eat. I have seen Montezuma’s Castle and Montezuma’s Well a few times and decided to drive straight through to Quartzite about 250 miles and be as far past the Phoenix traffic I could be before morning drive time.

I did my normal check around the trailer and TV and headed out. The truck traffic was thick and they weren’t growing any moss on their tires and neither was I. Though I had taken it slow during the trip things were a pretty steady 75mph most of the way to Quartzite. On arrival I cruised around town to see where things were located, checked out the dispersed camping sites and settled on HI Jolly on Hwy 95 above town. I signed in at the host station and began to set up camp.

I noticed what looked like axle grease seeping out from behind the hubcap and thought, oh oh, am I losing a bearing? Except it wasn’t grease. It felt more like graphite. I popped the hubcap and as I was checking around the grease cap I realized a lug nut was loose. Then noticed another. I retrieved my lug wrench and the lug wouldn’t tighten. Actually 4 out of 5 loose lugs all spinning in both directions. 3 of them with a space about 1/2”

I can’t imagine what it would have been like losing that tire at 75mph! Only one lug holding the wheel on.

Because of the spinning studs I couldn’t get the wheel off without pulling the entire hub. Didn’t have jack stands with me or the tools needed. I decided to call a mobile mechanic and he came out the next morning, pulled the hub and I was on my way to Lake Havasu City with hub attached to tire and rim in hopes of finding a matching hub. Funny it was a beautiful ride up. I hadn’t been there in years and was amazed how much the place had grown.

I was directed to a trailer shop in town. They tack welded the studs on the back side to get the lug nuts off and miraculously had a matching hub. Insisted on cleaning everything up so I would have a spare at no charge for labor.

I texted the mobile mechanic that I had the hub and was heading back.

About 30 minutes from camp I got a call from him indicating he was hanging out at my camp and would wait for me.

After the repairs were made and we were chatting it turned out he was friends with the guy that had built out my old Willys Jeep over 25 years ago. Small world. It pays to be nice to people. The total parts and repairs with tip were less than $200. Half of what I was expecting out in the desert.

Seldom do we blame ourselves until we have exhausted all possibilities but both he and the repair shop said it was either incorrect studs in the hub or the wrong lug nuts in my new Dexter axle both leaning towards lug nuts.

I think it is on me but I’m just glad nothing major happened.

I never for a moment felt anything but gratitude for how everything evolved and enjoyed my Quartzite camping experience start to finish…

[Tom&Shelly]

One thing of note, it appears they graze cattle during the summer in the area.

It's a "he11 of a place to lose a cow!" --Ebenezer Bryce

Great travel log! Glad the spinning studs problem was resolved safely and effectively!

We're postponing our trip due to the increased covid cases . Shelly is a cancer survivor and we're paranoid about complications. She decided to stop substitute teaching after several teachers got it at our school system in Albuquerque.

Tom

[tony.latham]

I popped the hubcap and as I was checking around the grease cap I realized a lug nut was loose.

Dang!

Left side?

Tony

[swoody126]

a rather unusual event

so glad you found good folks to help out

just this week i found this picture on Pinterest and stole it for future reference

261f534bbb7442f5d19c29b8e84f2c08.jpg (32.89 KiB) Viewed 513 times

it is a spindle stub w/ a greased hub and spare mounted to it on the trailer tongue

consider it referenced

sw