Throwback Thursday; Aqua Fria National Monument (NOT A REST AREA!)

Might be a little late to the game for Throwback Thursday but it is still 9:35 PM West Coast Time. Ever been traveling on I-17 and wondered what is off the exit at Badger Springs Road? Since the 2000 has been the Agua Fria National Monument which as of my last visit in 2012 was proclaimed as "NOT A REST AREA."

Agua Fria National Monument is a 72,000 acre protected part of the Aqua Fria River Watershed mostly north of Black Canyon City. The Agua Fria National Monument was largely created to protect relics from the Native Tribes that inhabited the area between 1250 to 1450. The Aqua Fria River is a 120 mile tributary of the Gila River which begins north of Prescott and descends southward into the Phoenix Metro Area.

Badger Springs Road is one of the more popular access points for Aqua Fria National Monument. I used it along with Badger Springs Wash to get to the Agua Fria in Black Canyon.

Surprisingly the Aqua Fria River was still fairly wet which made traversing Black Canyon somewhat difficult. I don't recall finding any petroglyphs but I did have some worthwhile hiking for a couple hours.

Comments

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue. Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue. During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange. This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned. Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains. The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road. This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection. Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog