Roadtripping Arizona, Navajo County and Utah

On top of the Yellowstone visit we did a roadtrip in Arizona (+Utah) which also included some excellent national parks, national monuments and some smaller points of interest.

Here is a short recap.

Meteor Crater (Winslow, Arizona) is the best preserved meteor crater in the world and it is big. How big exactly? Well, you could fit in 20 football fields and 2 million spectators - now that's a Superbowl!

While we were visiting, the Arizona winds were high and is was really difficult to take any photos. Hold on to your hats!

In Winslow there is also one other point of interest - Standin' on the corner - which a memorial for Eagles (the band) and especially their song "Take it Easy". It is located in historic downtown Winslow by legendary Route 66.

Standin' on the Corner

Petrified Wood National park (near Holbrook, Navajo County, AZ) actually includes so called Painted Desert which is a very colorful piece of desert - unfortunately for us the wind had picked up even more since the Meteor Crater so we had to cut our visit short since it was difficult even standing straight. There are some very interesting shops around the area and I would definitely recommend visiting Jim Gray's Petrified Wood Co if you are looking for one of a kind home decor.

The wind was still very much the theme for our roadtrip as we got to Canyon de Chelly (Chinle, Navajo County) where it was very very dusty since the wind had been going on for a few days. I had to visit a local hardware store to get some air to cleanup my camera after doing a canyon drive (which I think is not worth it). I recommend doing the White House Trail though.

Spider Rock, Canyon de Chelly

From Chinle we continued our loop to the one and only Monument Valley National Park (Kayenta, Navajo County) where we enjoyed the excellent views from the loop road and did couple of short hikes (there are only couple available, at least this was the case in May) - especially North Window trail behind Cly Butte is nice in daytime.

After a day in the valley we left monuments behind and headed towards Antilope Canyon just outside Page, AZ. Page is not in Navajo County anymore so you actually gain an hour on your way from Kayenta to Page even though you are in Arizona all the time.

Never mind the time. The canyon is spectacular! And the photography tour by Tadidiin Tours is excellent deal for your bucks if you carry a dslr camera and a tripod. You should also know what bracketing is and you will enjoy your visit for sure. There will be a lot dust, though - especially if you want to make the light beams to pop. Just great, I say! Clearly my favorite stop on the whole roadtrip.

Sitting in the Beam, Antilope Canyon X

Our last stop was in Utah where we enjoyed the great Bryce Canyon National Park red rock hoodoo views for the last couple of days of our trip before heading back to Phoenix. In Bryce there are dozens of hiking trails around the park so there is something for everyone. Unfortunalety the so called Wall Street was closed for the time being.

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Yellowstone National Park - you can not go wrong

I just recently finished my second trip to US national parks and they sure did deliver. Last time I visited US was six years ago back in 2012 when I did a trip that included Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and also a couple of smaller parks on our way.

This time the main attraction was the Yellowstone National Park which is the first national park in the US and in the world for that matter. Yellowstone is also very big – so car is obligatory is you want to explore outside the obvious points of interest. Yellowstone is also quite high meaning 1600-2400 meters minimum altitude all around park. And this, of course, has some effect on the weather which can change rapidly.

I'm by no means a professional videographer but here is my ~9 minutes take of Yellowstone:

We spend four nights in the park and every day was jam packed with new things to see. We started by driving to Old Faithful and visiting several different thermal wonders on our way. Only disappointment was Grand Prismatic Spring which produced so much steam on a cold day that it was basically impossible to actually see anything – let alone the beautiful colors that everyone is raving about.

Second day we did a round trip to East Yellowstone including Hayden Valley, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Lake area. Hayden Valley was still totally snow covered and you could tell that the snow fall had been exceptionally high this year.

Steamy shore of the Yellowstone Lake

Next day we visited Old Faithful Geyser area – so called upper geyser basin – in the morning time but we seemed to miss everything by 15 minutes because there were a lot of eruption activity there that morning, we just did not get there in time.

After Old Faithful it was time to head north – on the way we visited Grand Prismatic the second time which turned out to be the game changer because with the warmer temperature also the view had dramatically improved and we got a glimpse of the nature’s own color palette which is rather unreal. Unfortunately, the trail opposite (on the hillside) of the spring was closed (like many other things in the park) because of bear danger. Apparently, it is not a good idea to go head to head with a bear on deer carcass revealing from snow after winter (nature's own freezer they say..). 

Grizzlies of Yellowstone

Colors being the theme for the day – next out of this world views were just around the corner in Norris Geyser Basin area. Makes you wonder what the first people around here thought when they saw all this volcanic activity and thermal features for the first time.

After Norris we headed to Lamar Valley which was the main target for the remaining couple of days. And what a treat it was! Bisons everywhere, bears all around, deers, coyotes, sheeps, birds, wolves, you name it. Perfect place for wildlife spotting. And we sure did. I can recommend Specimen Ridge for a day hike – beautiful scenery, lots of wildlife, different views of the valley, very pleasant profile with only one steeper ascent if going on top of the ridge.

Specimen Ridge Day Hike

I can recommend Yellowstone to all travelers interested in nature, animals and natural environments. I’d say from my previous experiences only Serengeti and South Luangwa in Africa compare to wildlife here.

We took a chance by coming to the park in the beginning of the season but I’d say it paid of since amount of visitors was on ideal level. I would trade some services and trail closures to fewer people every time. 

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