When I first heard about this trail it gave me visions of the old west when, while life was simple, it was full of danger and adventure.  Being the history buff and Jeep Freek that I am it was time for some research about the trail and its history.

The stage line ran from 1892 to 1901 from Flagstaff to the Grandview Hotel at the Grand Canyon.    Also called the Moqui (the original name of the Hopi Indians) Stage Route,  it was the areas mass transit system at the time and the most popular route to the Canyon.   A six horse team covered 70 miles of trail in just 12 hours pulling a fully loaded stage with a trailer in tow an average 5 mph.    The all day ride cost $20 (a large sum for the time) and made three stops to give passengers a rest and to change horses, the final one at the Moqui Station,  .   An 1890s writer said, "The road is good and level with some heavy grades. It winds among the slopes of the San Francisco Mountains for the first 25 miles through a fine forest of pine. The next 25 miles lead across a rolling prairie and the rest through the forest which skirts the rim of the Grand Canyon”.   In 1901 the Grand Canyon Railroad was completed which ultimately brought an end to the stage line and a legend.

On this trip, members of Jeep Expeditions will spend two days getting to the Grand Canyon with a night of camping near the Moqui Stage Station.  It appears as if the stagecoach may have been a more efficient form of transportation as they did the trip in 12 hours.   For us it is going to be a leisurely weekend of exploration, camaraderie, living history and plenty of pictures. 

Most of my research on the internet seemed to deal with hiking or taking a bike on this 70 mile venture but little or nothing about 4x4 trips.    As most of the route is on Forest Service lands my first contact was  Brian Poturalski,  the Recreation Staff Officer for the Coconino NF. Brian told me that while he was familiar with the route and there was some promising future plans for it,  the expert was the Kaibab NF archeologist,  Neil Weintraub.    Neil told me the exciting thing about this historic trail is that the setting has changed very little in the 108 years since the stagecoach made its last journey.   The big difference is that there are more trees now than in the 1890’s and  they have taken over some of the meadowlands.   He also mentioned that a book by Richard and Sherry  Mangum called  “Grand Canyon-Flagstaff Stage Coach Line” was probably the best reference resource.    It is complete with the history of the trail and had plenty of pictures, maps and even directions.     A check with local book stores told me that the book was out of print and unavailable.    Amazon had two in stock,  I bought one!

Saturday morning, 7am, 5 Jeeps meet up at our usual spot when heading to the high country, a McDonalds just north of Phoenix.    One thing all of us noticed is that the old (really old) Ford truck with the pitchfork and scythe poking up out of the bed towards the sky that seems to be there every time we meet was again there.   Ready to roll, the drive to Flagstaff was just about 2 hours and then another 20 minutes or so to the trail head where we will meet up with one more of our members.    At one point in time I was talking to Jim who was nearly 50 miles ahead of us on the ham radio.  Jim told us which gas station to fill up at where the price was 20 cents lower than the first few that we would pass in Flagstaff.

The drive to Flagstaff  started off in the cactus laden hills of the low desert,  to the grassy high desert plateaus and finally to the tall pines, aspens and meadows of the high country.   Our starting elevation was about 1200 ft and our ending elevation just over 6000 feet higher at 7500 ft.  

The weather forecast mentioned a 30% of thunderstorms.   Now where we are from, a 30% chance usually means a 0% chance but in the high country things are different.  As we exited Interstate 17 at Flagstaff,  we could tell that they had gotten some rain that morning,  at the gas station,  the attendant said it poured for an hour or more.  Despite that,  the sky was more blue than gray now and things were looking good.  One thing for sure,  moisture keeps the trail dust down so breathing in the thinner air above 7000ft will be much easier sans dust.

At the trailhead, gray clouds hid the tops of the San Francisco peaks.   We spent 15 minutes reviewing the maps and “book” again.    We were off to find the 1^st of  3 way stations along the route.

Day one was interesting.   One thing we found out quick is that the trails on our GPS weren’t always there and there were trails not on our GPS that were.    To make matters worse,  the trails on the southern portion of the trail were poorly marked making navigation by way of the directions in the book pretty tough.   It might be good to point out that we had a number of GPS devices,  Slider had a laptop with Garmin InRoute on it using Topo 2008,  I had 5 devices set up (I have yet to find the perfect solution but I am getting close and until then….), a Garmin 2610 (Topo 2008), Garmin 7200 (Topo 2008),  Toughbook Laptop with Delorme Topo 7,   a Delorme PN40SE and my newest addition the Acer Aspire 1 Netbook using National Geographic Topo for Arizona. 

With all the technology,  we still found ourselves at dead ends that should not have been there and numerous corrections to our planned route.      I should point out that after the trip,  I talked to Garmin, National Geographic and Delorme about the software.    Garmin told me that they didn’t update Topo software that often because things rarely change.   National Geographic still sells the same software made in 2002.   Delorme has just updated to Topo 8 and while it may or may not have updated information for the area we were on,  they seem to update quite often.   In addition,  Delorme allows you to download USGS Topo quads and aerial images for many areas to integrate with their program which thinking back, I should have done.

As we left the pavement at the staging area and hit the trail we were greeted by tall, ponderosa pine and aspen trees.   Wild flowers with both scattered and concentrated to form a colorful carpet on the forest floor.   All of this fragile magnificence for us to enjoy as Mother Natures guests for the weekend but also to respect and protect.  We could see in some areas how a careless traveler (hiker, biker, equestrian or Jeeper) or perhaps a random lightening strike caused great damage and long term scarring.   It made me realize even more how venerable our forests are to both naturally caused fires and those caused by the carelessness of man.

Before long we had gone about 1/3 of the way and were entering the meadowlands and now realized that we must have missed the 1^st way station.  Ok, so we have to come back again in the future and spend more time on looking for these and less time trying to keep on schedule.   Despite our being unable to find our 1st historic landmark,  we did find that the forests were full of deer, squirrels and other wildlife which made for interesting viewing.     Crossing the vast grasslands, we were now seeing many “wild” horses and hundreds of free ranging cattle.   On several occasions the cows blocked the trail and looked as us as to say “we found some sweet grass so don’t expect us to move”.    I had the cure for that,  a set of 4 train horns powered by 150lbs of air pressure!    Even with a short blast of the horns,  they only slowly moved away, standing by the trail and looking at us  with that “how dare you” look. 

While driving the trail today,  one could only imagine being at the reins of the stagecoach as it made its way through field and forest.     I even felt myself at the trip leader slipping away 115 years and feeling the pounding of the hooves, the noise of the creaky stagecoach,  the dust swirling in the air as I shake the reins and yell “yeaww” to the six horse team.   As we passed by places with names like Missouri Bill Hill,  Tub Ranch, Rat Tank, Deadman Wash, Victory Lake and Colton Crater to name a few, one could only imagine how and why some of these names came to pass.

Well into the meadowlands, we came to a fork in the road, seeing no signs and as the GPS showed that either way ended up at the same place about 2 miles ahead we chose the left fork which actually was straight.   What we did not know was that while the fork we took might have been the trail shown in the book at one time,  it no longer was and we were greeted first by a “beware of dog” sign and then about a quarter mile later a pack of dogs.  Yes a pack, there were at least seven and they did not seem friendly.    As we slowly and carefully made our way thru the dogs we came upon a house where a woman came out and politely told us that we were on private property and this road was no longer part of the trail.    She explained that a couple of years ago a careless driver ran over and killed one of her dogs so she no longer allows vehicles to cross her property.    No problem I apologized for the intrusion and we made a u-turn and headed back the other way.   I made you think how one careless act by someone can limit or close access to trails that we have used for countless years.

By now we had passed thru Tub Ranch and were crossing the famous Babbit Ranch where they round up horses and auction them off annually.   As we continued the flat land gave way to more hilly ground.   Along the way noticed a carcass and even a skeleton or two of cows that perhaps wandered too far from their water supply or even too far from the protection of the herd.  The trail seemed to tell us that the smallest mistake can make you a victim,  good advice to heed.   

It’s late afternoon and we had conquered nearly 40 miles by now.   It was obvious that we somehow missed the 2^nd stop of the stage route.   Understand that the “book” tells us that the 1^st two stops are not marked as of yet and are just beyond the trail that we now ride on.   In the defense of our technology laden rigs, a good portion of the old stagecoach trail parallels the modern trail.    There are only a few sections where we actually ride on the old trail it seems.    The Forest Service is in the process of inventorying the trail to identify original tracks of the stage and preserve them for years to come.   We certainly welcome what the Forest Service is doing and our club, JeepExpeditions.org has offered to help the Forest Service in whatever way we can in the way of trail inventory, trail sign placement, interpretive sign placement, etc.

As we travel on the meadows start to fade away and scruffy pine trees begin to appear and start turning the landscape again to a kind of forest.    The GPS tells me that we are only a mile from the 3^rd and final stop of the old stage route,  the Moqui Station.   Just down the road a sign on our right welcomes us to the Moqui Stage Stop.   There is a good amount of room to park but not much left of the old station to look at.   We find some evidence of a foundation or two and what is left of a cistern at the sight.  There is evidence that people have camped there recently as we found a couple of fire rings.    While this would have made a nice place to set up for the night,  Neil, the archeologist asked us not to make camp at the historic site as there were plenty of larger areas within a half mile of the Moqui Stop.   And yes there were plenty of other places to camp,  we had passed on about a quarter mile back and that is where we went to set up our Saturday night camp.

The Saturday camp site was a nice flat area that had a large open area for a central campfire and lots of scruffy pines scattered around providing both some shade and a break from the winds.   I attracted some attention with a new tent that I bought recently that sets up pretty much in about a minute or so by one person.   It looks like any “real” tent with poles and such but it is made by a company called 1^st Up who also makes those quick, wall less sun tents you see at outdoor events.    Robert, one of our new members, was working on the roof top tent that was on top of his new JK.  Even though my new tent went up quick and easy,  I was missing my roof top tent as I decided to leave my trailer at home for this trip.

Within about 20 minutes or so you could smell dinner cooking and Slider was over at the fire ring setting up for the evening campfire.   My dinner was going slow, the mini charcoal grill with the “instant light” charcoal wasn’t lighting too well.  I was thinking an ounce or two of gas but my sane side took over and I just kept at it with my strike anywhere matches.   The good news was that  my butane stove made quick work of the pre-cooked baked potato and buttered corn that I had vacuum frozen earlier in the week.   I think everyone else had eaten as Jeepers with  chairs and malt beverages began circling the fire ring and my chicken breasts were still raw.

Slider and B-Rad had a great fire going,  possibly a record one as far as our group goes.    We brought our own and there was plenty of dead Pinon Pines laying around for the gathering.   My dinner finally done and gulped down I join the group at the fire.   Hey, who forgot the SMORES?  Not even a marshmallow.   Guess I will take the blame as it is me who usually brings those delicacies.    Anyway, the fire side at a Jeep Expeditions outing is always interesting.    Of course we talk about what we did and saw that day and what the plan is for the next but you also get some history, some tech and even the usual Jeep “tall tales”.    It was obvious that everyone enjoyed the days adventure and were excited about what was in store for day two.

Going on about midnight,  half of the group had already turned in for the night and the other half was still at the fire.   The cracking and dancing flames seemed to be telling us that we had enough wood on it to last half the night.    I think we used 10 gallons of water to douse it so we could get some sleep for the big day ahead.

I don’t know if it is anticipation, the clean air, the sound of the birds singing their morning songs or even the bright sun rising to the east, but I can never seem to sleep past 6am when camping.   Today was no different.   As I exited my tent there were a few people stirring and still some snoring going on in some tents.    The sun had already cleared the horizon and had a warm glow to it.    The sky was blue, the temps were very nice and foretold a great day ahead of us.  Over the next two hours the happy campers made breakfast and packed away their gear so that we could hit the trail by 8am.    As we left our stop for the night we knew that one day we would camp there again.

Back to the Moqui station.   More group photo’s and more exploring the site.   One of the group found the skull of what appeared to be a small predator.  It had some impressive teeth that said “carnivore” and we wondered what it might be.  We lined up the Jeeps for a few group shots with and without their crews.   After that it was time to hit the trail again.

How different the landscape changes over the course of 20 or so miles.   We are now back in to a mixture of large grassy areas,  tall pines,  some scrub brush and more evidence of forest fires.   As I lead the group down the trail I again have visions of driving the stage back in 1900 as my Jeep bounced and creaked on the trail.   It was a good feeling and I felt as if I could have been there way back when.   With every mile I was reminded of the statement the Forest Service Archeologist said “the neat thing is that the trail has changed very little in the last 100+ years.  

Next stop,  Grand Canyon National Park.    The sign on the trail greeted us as we crossed the cattle guard into the park.    A very short distance into the park we arrived at the Grand View Fire Tower.   This was a piece of history and time for a stop to do more exploring.

The 80ft - Grandview Lookout Tower is a fire lookout tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936.   There was a bit of a wind blowing and those who were brave enough to climb to the top said they could feel the tower swaying in the wind.

At the top of the tower you can get some great views of the Grand Canyon Rim and the Coconino.   The interpretive signs told us the history of the tower and fire towers in general in our National Forests and area information and history.    As a convenience, there were some real “facilities” here, the first since we hit the trail.

We hit the trail again heading for Grandview Point, a popular stop at the south rim of the canyon.   At 7406 feet, Grandview point is one of the highest points on the south rim.   As we left the dirt trail for the pavement, we had about 2 miles to the “point”.     The road was lined with a thick wall of pines and the air was sweet with the pine scent.   As we made the turn to Grandview Point,  it was evident as to just how popular it was.   The parking to the east as you entered was completely full.  Fortunately the west lot (which we could not see due to the trees) had enough spots for the group.    Walking to the “gateway” we noticed tourists from all corners of the world.    I heard German, French, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and even some of the Kings and Australian English.   Everyone was taking pictures and video.   The canyon below to the east, west and north was nothing less than impressive.   Although I had been there a few times before,  I continued to feed the memory card in my camera with image after image.   The north rim, many miles away loomed about 1000 or so feet higher.  Looking over the landscape one could not begin to imaging the power of the Colorado River and the time it took nature to carve out this natural wonder of the world.  One thing about the Grand Canyon,  like the Foreigner song, it feels like the first time, every time and this time was no different.

There were plenty of interpretive signs that told us of the old stage line that brought tourist there, you know the one we had been shadowing for the last day and a half.  The mining below, the old Grandview Hotel where the tourists spent their time after being brought there on the stage and how it all ended shortly after the railroad had been completed twelve miles to the west.   Some tourists were trying out at least part of the Grandview Trail but it is safe to assume that few of them ventured more than a few hundred yards.    The pictures of the trail were enough to keep me up top, just looking at the pictures of parts of the trail were enough to give you “pucker factor”.

With everyone ready to roll again we backtracked to the fire tower and continued on the trail out of the park.    Shortly after entering the Forest Service lands again we turned on FR310,  the Coconino Rim Trail which would take us south east.    This trail had a few rough spots on it but nothing our Jeeps could not handle.   One of the signs we saw said that there were some great views of the “Painted Desert” from the trail but try as we might,  every left turn we made in search of the rim and the promised views turned into a dead end.   At one of those dead ends we spotted the carcass of an elk hanging over a tree branch.   It gave me visions of Jason and the Golden Fleece (Jason and the Argonauts),  a movie from my early years.   A few feet away we found parts of the skeleton, minus the front quarters, hind quarters and the head.    It sure looked like the work of poachers.

Driving down the trail, I wondered if any stagecoach had gone this way in days past.   As we hit some areas with washouts and rocks I came to the conclusion probably not and as far as driving it goes,  this trail was pretty fun!    Eventually the trail smoothed out a bit and we came upon a large flat area of stone that made the perfect lunch stop.

Lunch on the trail is always interesting when some of our beloved dogs travel with us.   My Cassie stayed home for this trip but Jim brought Baron,  you know the huge Rottweiler.   Baron is always the gentle one when it comes to food.   Always wanting to let him know that you are “family”,  I fed him some Swiss cheese and Black Forest Ham.   Baron like any pet dog can be a beggar if you tempt him and his “smile” when he would like to share your lunch is irresistible.   Now with lunch over the interesting part happens.    It is time for Baron to get in the Jeep.   Step 1:  Jim lifts Barons front legs onto the seat of the lifted TJ with 35’s.   Step 2:  Jim wraps his arms around Barons belly and lifts him up into the Jeep.   Step 3: Baron growls with his dislike of being manhandled.  Step 4:  Jim is lucky if Baron doesn’t take a bite out of Jim!   This time, no bite.

Watching our GPS units as we continue down Coconino Rim Trail we watch carefully for our next turn.   Our goal here is to intersect with Gray Mountain Trail which takes us south, parallel to Route 89 and back to Flagstaff.   While not rocket science,  it sometimes is a challenge and even tricky with trails on the topo maps that aren’t on the trail.   The next 45 minutes brought us to the end of the trail and the intersection of the Gray Mtn. Trail.

There are some great views of some deep and narrow canyons running to the north here.   The area is now more of a grass land with few trees.   It should be noted that this trail is entirely on the Navajo Nation Reservation.  The trail began as many other trails we had been on,  rather tame but full of scenery and photo opportunities.    We passed many a wild Indian ponies roaming the grassy meadows and many cattle free ranging.   About half way down the trail we were stopped by a pick up truck with a huge tank of water on the back.   It was a Navajo rancher and he wanted to make sure that we knew were on tribal lands.    As I talked with him he gave me a lesson of how sacred the land is to them and asked us to be sure to respect it.   I told him that we would do nothing less and we were grateful to be able to drive this trail across their land.   He told us that we were in store for some great driving ahead when we hit the switchbacks that would take us from 8000 feet to about 5000 feet.

It wasn’t long and the prophecy came true,  the switchbacks were just in front of us.  And we were in store for some excellent views of the “Painted Desert”,  impressive canyons, the San Francisco Peaks to the south and the volcanic highlands all across the southern horizon.    This was one of the best driving parts of the trail.   Most switchbacks aren’t much of a challenge and this one was no different.  I was however fun to drive and made you pay close attention to the road.    The one thing that switchbacks do afford you is the opportunity to take pictures of the Jeeps in front of you as they go down (in my case as trip leader none) and the Jeeps behind you coming down.   I took advantage of the opportunity and took numerous pictures of everyone in our group.    While it seemed to take forever to get down to the 5000 ft level, we finally got there.    The landscape was more barren here as they get more rain in the higher elevations.    A huge man made lake to our left was being used by scores of cattle drinking and cooling off their hooves in the water.

It was just about 8 more miles until we hit pavement and the closer we got to the town of Gray Mountain the more signs of “civilization” we passed.   Lots of homes,  many of them with solar panels as there was no electricity this far out, all of them with outhouses and some of them with traditional Navajo Hogan’s next to their homes.  It was obvious that most of the inhabitants were ranchers of sort and many a driveway was home to pick up trucks and horse trailers.   Lots of them had horse corrals and stacks of hay and to my surprise almost all of them had Dish Network dishes on the side of their homes.    Closer to town we ran into small and large groups of sheep in the road and along the side looking for the sweet grass.

All trips have to come to an end eventually and this one is no different.    We arrived at the town of Gray Mountain with its souvenir shops, gas station, abandoned hotel and the local eatery.    We stopped to air up our tires before hitting the pavement and the 2-3 hour ride home,  or in Curly’s case 6 hours.   As the Jeeps were airing up we gathered around and talked about how enjoyable the whole trip was.  When I mentioned about doing it again and spending more time looking for the first two stage stops,   pretty much everyone said they were in for an encore.  With that we said our goodbyes until the next time and began the trip home.