Arizona: More Than The Grand Canyon State
Welcome back to the blog and welcome to a new blog post. Last week I told you all about Las Vegas, and I was talking a lot about all the trips you can make from Las Vegas. Some of these trips were to locations in Arizona, that’s why this blog post is all about them, and everything else I saw when I started exploring this US state. After leaving Nevada, I was travelling alone.
Grand Canyon National Park – the South Rim
In the blog post about Los Angeles, I mentioned that I had already been to LA. It was in 2017, and while flying to California, I was flying above the Grand Canyon. I was admiring the canyon from the window seat for around half an hour, and while doing so, I swore to myself that one day I’m going to see this place in real life. Seeing it from above made me already feel so small, and I could only imagine how standing right there might feel. Let’s just say that I was definitely not disappointed.
But let’s start talking about the Grand Canyon and visiting it from Las Vegas. You can choose between various parts, like the North Rim, the West Rim and the South Rim. The Grand Canyon West Rim is the second most visited rim of the canyon, as it’s just two and a half hours from Vegas and offers the Skywalk. It is part of the Grand Canyon, but not of the Grand Canyon National Park. The North Rim is located about 6 hours from Las Vegas and 3 hours from Page, so it’s complicated to reach, and the South Rim is the most visited one, and the one I chose to visit, too.
The South Rim is around four and a half to five hours from Las Vegas. If you want to see lots of the canyon and then head on to see more of Arizona, I recommend you drive from the South Entrance to the East one. That’s what I did as it suited my route perfectly, and the views were astonishing. One of the most visited viewpoints is right next to the Grand Canyon Visitor Center. I might have to add that the visitor centre does not offer as much variety as the shops of other national parks did. But my favourite view was from Navajo Point. There were no boundaries, no other people, the sun was starting to set, and I just felt free. I missed the exit to it, and as it was the last one before the east entrance, I had to exit the park and enter it again to not disturb the traffic, and the park ranger at the checkpoint was kind enough to even suggest going to this exact point for one of the best views on the canyon.
As the South and East entrance are pretty far from Vegas and many other major cities, I suggest you head on to Page or other towns near, as there are other beautiful places around them. On the way to Page, I had another number of great views on the canyon, and all those colours and the sunset were pictures I’ll keep in my mind forever.
Horseshoe Bend
Of course, I’m not only suggesting you stay in Page because it’s located near the East Entrance. I do it mainly because Page is the perfect place to stay if you want to combine your trip to the Grand Canyon to a visit at the Horseshoe Bend. As you can imagine, the name of this place comes from how it looks. Here the Colorado River has carved a curve which looks just like a horseshoe.
The Horseshoe Bend is located not even 10 minutes from the city of Page, and Lake Powell is right next to it as well. For many years, visiting the Horseshoe Bend has been free. Due to its popularity in the past years, you now have to pay 10 $ for parking, parking along the highway is strictly forbidden. From the parking lot, you walk about 20 minutes until you get to the cliff from where you can admire the full beauty of the Horseshoe Bend. Bring comfortable and suitable shoes, as the sandy pavement makes the short trail pretty rough. I do not recommend you visit too early in the morning, as, as you can see in my pictures, the shadows are really harsh. While you can see the beauty of this place with your own eyes, cameras are struggling to capture it.
Sedona
The Horseshoe Bend and the Grand Canyon were trips I made during my time in Las Vegas. The combination of them made for a good round trip. Afterwards, I went on alone. My next major stop was the Monument Valley, but as this is a long way from Las Vegas, I decided to squeeze in Sedona for a night. Sedona is located right in the middle of Arizona, and I’m pretty sure you’ve seen pictures of the beautiful red rock formations somewhere online. As you might notice in the pictures, the tone of the red and orange sandstones changed from place to place, and this is what made each place unique. If you manage to stay in Sedona, or land at the mesa Airport, which is the airport of the city, make sure to squeeze in a quick hike in between the rocks, you’ll surely be amazed by the views!
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Now, on to the next stop of the trip, the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. It is located right at the border between Arizona and Utah, but I decided to include it in this post as I was coming from Arizona. A tribal park is the equivalent of a national park, but it is not owned by the US, but the Navajo Nation. This is also the reason why this park is not included in the Interagency Pass. Honestly, there were quite a few people who didn’t want to pay the additional fee, and therefore, decided to remain outside of the park for their pictures. Honestly, those people missed out on so much. If you are that focused on saving every cent while on the road, don’t be mad when you find out you missed the best views.
The view of the Monument Valley is iconic and was where lots of movies were filmed. The huge sandstone rocks are called Buttes and to get the best views of as many of them as possible, I recommend you drive the dirt road that can last up to 3 hours. Even though a lot of people are visiting the park while driving along the road, it felt as if I were exploring this place completely alone. For those of you who like horseriding, there are even tours to explore the valley on the back of a horse, but as I’ve never been on a horse before, that was not an option for me. Nevertheless, I had great fun. The dirt road was an experience on its own, and at some point, I even made friends with a dog that lived inside of the park. If you want, you can also explore some lesser-known parts of the park, but for those, you need a guided tour in a 4x4. Also, the more SUV like your car is, the better you’ll feel on this road, as I was very worried about my tires and all those rocks. But in the end, everything turned out well, and it was definitely unforgettable!
I hope you, too, were able to see how the scenery and nature changed along the trip, and Arizona was a stunning part of the whole road trip. I was able to visit some places I’ve been dreaming of for years, and they definitely did not disappoint! As you might have noticed, from this point on, I was heading back north, and so it is only obvious that my next stop was Utah, which I’ll tell you all about next week!
