Painted Desert (Arizona) plateau's south border the Mogollon Rim, the north border of the Arizona transition zone. Owing to the strong rain shadow of the Mogollon Rim, the Painted Desert has a cold desert climate (Köppen "BWk"), with hot, dry summers and cold, though virtually snow-free winters. The annual precipitation is the lowest in northern Arizona and in many places is lower even than Phoenix. Much of the region is accessible only by foot or unpaved road though major highways and paved roads cut across the area. The towns of Cameron and Tuba City, both on the Navajo Nation, are two major settlements.
USS U. S. Grant (AP-29) and supplies along a route which included calls at San Francisco, California; Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii; Guam; Manila, Philippines; Chinwangtao and Shanghai, China; the Panama Canal Zone, and New York. For many of these years of service in the Pacific, "U. S. Grant" served as the sole source of refrigerated stores from the United States. Her periodic arrivals at Apra Harbor invariably produced a temporary improvement in the diet of Americans living in Guam. On one voyage to Guam, the transport was nearly lost. On the late afternoon of 19 May 1939, "U. S. Grant" ran aground on the dangerous