Before we even made it to Utah to kick off our Mighty Five Adventure, we saw some awesome sights in and around Arizona. Most of these stops were completely unplanned but totally worth it.
I must admit that when we planned this trip we were so focused on the parks that we knew we were visiting that we did not stop to think about all of the bonus parks and adventures in between.
Road Trip!
Our trip began in the evening and we drove non-stop through the night to Sedona, AZ. We wanted to do the Mighty Five in West -> East order so we could end our trip closer to home. This gave us the opportunity to add on the Grand Canyon and sights around Sedona and Flagstaff. Also, we were able to sleep one night in a hotel after driving for 24 hours straight. Jake is a real trouper as he drove 20 of the 24 hours and then proceeded to drive the whole rest of the trip. I took over about 6 hours out from home on the way back. If you don’t have reliable companions, then others may have to break this up further. Just as we had gotten into Arizona one of our friends pointed out that we were going to drive right by Petrified Forest National Park. Unexpected adventure number one! We did not have time to hike but we did drive to several scenic lookouts in this park and explore the visitor’s center. This also began our second tradition: the van sticker collection. We now get a sticker for every park to put on our van. If you read our first blog post you know that we also have a National Parks Sign Photo tradition — not that original.
What we did see of this park was beautiful and I know there were many things we missed since this was unplanned. But we did have some fun playing in the wind.
Sedona Sights: Devil’s Bridge – Coconino National Forest – Slide Rock State Park
Right on the heels of a 24 hour drive, we had a hike scheduled. We may be crazy but we really made every minute of this trip worthwhile. This also gave us a chance to make the beautiful drive from Flagstaff to Sedona – we were blown away.
Our first, scheduled, stop of this trip was at the Chuck Wagon Trail Head in Coconino National Forest to hike to Devil’s Bridge. This was a great ease into hiking and there was plenty to see.
Grand Canyon National Park
We finally got a good nights sleep in Sedona and headed out bright and early to the Grand Canyon. This was the first planned national park on our list so we had a good amount of time to explore. We did stick to more of the scenic outlooks and did not have enough time to do any real hiking but it was amazing none the less. We will do a more thorough Grand Canyon trip at some point. Trails: South Rim Trail and Trail of Time. Lookouts: Yavapai Point and Mather Point.
Beautiful Surprise – Horseshoe Bend
Before we left the park we decided to ask one of the visitor center employees which way was the best way to drive to Zion National Park. She told us the scenic route had beautiful views and a delicious diner, so we decided to take her advice. We headed out for Zion and when we got to Page, AZ we realized we did not take the scenic route at all. Thank goodness we didn’t! We stopped for lunch in Page and noticed there was a huge line of cars waiting to get into a parking lot on the other side of the road. It looked like they were just waiting in line to climb a big sandy hill. One of our friends looked it up and turns out we had stumbled upon Horseshoe Bend; I never knew where it was. So, we decided we would try to go after lunch. We raced up the hill – literally – which I do not recommend and stumbled upon a great view.
UP NEXT
We got to Zion National Park with plenty of daylight left to enjoy the drive in and find camp. This is the first park we got to spend a full day in and it ended up being one of our favorites. We will break down this park and the rest of our trip in the next blogs!
Details:
- Our biggest piece of advice here is the same thing we keep saying, don’t over plan. Make time to stumble upon a few adventures.
- Speaking of planning, if you have a specific destinations planned make sure you look to see if you are going to be near anything else of beauty. You would just kick yourself if you found out you drove right past Horseshoe Bend.
- Bring something to take photos with! We haven’t talked much about photography but honestly we have tried it all. We have brought a heavier DSLR and we have just used our phones. On this trip we did have both and we can honestly say we used the cell phone more often. It’s lighter and actually took great photos. If you have a lighter camera then use that, if not a newer cell phone works great. You do not want to be weighed down by your gear on a hike.
- We have to take a moment during this National Park Week and around Earth Day to remind everyone to Leave No Trace. We take nothing but pictures…and stickers from the visitor’s center and leave nothing but footprints. While we have access to these parks, we are visitors.
Specifics
- Places Visited
- Petrified Forest National Park
- Coconino National Forest
- Slide Rock State Park
- Horseshoe Bend
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Sedona, AZ
- Hikes
- Chuck Wagon Trail to Devil’s Bridge – Coconino National Forest
- Distance: 5.7 miles | Elevation Gain: 728 Feet | Type: Out and Back | Difficulty: Moderate
- South Rim Trail (Mather and Yavapai Points) – Grand Canyon
- Distance: .7 miles to each point | Mostly Paved and Low – No Elevation | Difficulty: Easy
- Full Length of this trail is 13 miles, paved, and follows the rim
- Trail of Time – Grand Canyon
- Distance: 1.7 miles | Portion of Rim Trail | Paved | An interpretive geological timeline of the Grand Canyon’s many features | Difficulty: Easy | Walk and learn!
- Chuck Wagon Trail to Devil’s Bridge – Coconino National Forest
OFF THE CLOCK CAMPERS 