In the morning we left California behind and drove off into Arizonaland along old Route 66.
Arizona
Little did we know that we would be climbing so high in elevation on our way up to the Grand Canyon. Desert gave way to pine forest as we breached 6000ft. The sky was sunny and blue, and the road to the canyon was busy. Locals sold jerky out of their trucks along the roadside. Every crest of a hill gave us a glance at the emptiness ahead of us that the canyon had created, it was like driving towards the coast and not necessarily witnessing the ocean water, but seeing the vast emptiness of mountains and trees that signified it was near.
The canyon was astounding, or should have been. Our first look held more of a “there it is” kind of vibe. It was beautiful, no doubt. Mesmerizing to some degree. But…were we jaded by the PCT? Did our backpacking trip ruin all other landscapes for us?
I think we appreciated it more the longer we stayed. We traveled along the south rim and took a couple of small hikes off of the main throughways. It was quite a sight to behold. It was impressive. It was stark and empty. We took a look at some pueblo ruins and learned some of the history of the area, which continued to bolster our appreciation of the place. The museum had a large spearhead dated to be over 12,000 years old, wow!
Snow and ice remained in patches along the rim. One trail which led down into the canyon warned to wear crampons, and we saw that a portion of the trail was covered in ice and quite perilous.
We left the canyon at its eastern side. The road wound its way back down, giving views of smaller canyons and the ‘Little Colorado River’ along the way. Many popup shops lined the eastern road, all advertising Indian jewelry, native rugs, Navajo mocassins, and so on. There must have been a hundred ramshackle booths along the road. We drove past several small towns, appearing to be home to primarily Navajo natives, and they all looked so very poor. Desolate rest stops with abandoned trading posts and gas stations led the way out of the towns. It was quite a different view of the area, just outside of the national park.
Beyond the Navajo grounds we made our way to Flagstaff to check out the town and spend the night. We still had some daylight left and were delighted to see a turn off for the Wupatki National Monument. We had no idea what it was, but we decided to check it out. We had stumbled into a stunningly beautiful protected area. More preserved pueblos and native artifacts were found here. We followed the scenic road through the Strawberry Crater Wilderness and into the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The nearby San Francisco Mountains stood far higher than anything else as far as the eye could see.
The Sunset Crater Monument offered pleasant hiking trails and awesome volcanic views. We also got to see some of the Painted Desert.
After exhausting ourselves of all the views our eyes could stand we stumbled around downtown Flagstaff, taking in the cute streets and quiet nightlife. Later we crawled into our motel bed.
More Arizona and then New Mexico in part 3!
Part 1 West Coast
Part 2 Arizona
Part 3 New Mexico
Part 4 Midwest
Part 5 The South
Part 6 The Border
