Roadtrip 2022 Blog Post 3: Arizona - The Grand Canyon & Page, AZ

Day 6 - Grand Canyon & Page AZ

We left Flagstaff and headed north. The next few nights we would stay in Page, Arizona. It’s an area I knew almost nothing about, and there’s nothing more exciting than heading straight into the unknown. I knew that it bordered Utah, and that it was close to Lake Powell (a place I’d heard of a lot).

However, before Page, we would stop off at a familiar place, and our first official National Park on our trip - Grand Canyon National Park.

The Grand Canyon is a place that both Heiny and I had visited before. We’d hiked down into the canyon and experienced the brutal hike back up. This visit was going to be a relatively short, simple stop to break up the drive to Page. Betty and Jun had never seen the Grand Canyon before, we were excited to show them.

We were all starving when we arrived. We tried to stop at the visitor center, but the parking lot was full. Fortunately, we found picnic tables down the road in a pine forest, just a couple of minutes from the rim. Stepping out of the car, our noses were hit with the smell of pine trees. Our senses were brought to life - how invigorating it felt to be able to pull the car over in any random spot in the wilderness, and then have a fresh, delicious meal without making a dinner reservation or waiting in a line.

We unloaded the propane stove, and Betty began cooking multigrain pasta with tomato sauce. I sat near the ground with Jun and played trucks with him, loading up pine needles and making different piles. In no time at all, we were all sitting and eating together, our hunger replaced with satisfaction.

In moments like this, we really felt the joys of the nomadic life style. The temperature was perfect, birds were singing overhead. We felt freedom, and everything felt perfect.

With full bellies, we walked towards the edge of the canyon. Beyond the trees, the scenery came into full view - Betty let out a gasp, Jun let out an audible “Wow!”. Both memories and photographs fail to capture the vastness and the beauty of the scenery. We spent the next hour or so walking along the rim, Jun having an absolute blast running and jumping from rock to rock. If he remembers anything from the Grand Canyon though, it would be his favorite climbing tree. It took some exploring to find it, but once he did, he must’ve climbed up-and-down that the tree 10 different times. The tree was short, and had limbs that were just challenging enough to be fun. It took him some time to gain the confidence to climb, and I talked him through it at the beginning - which limbs to hold, how he should position himself. After he got the hang of it, he just kept wanting to climb - he could’ve stayed there the entire day.

We also spotted the first elk of our roadtrip here at the Grand Canyon. Some were grazing at the visitor center, and others were hiding right off the walkway in the bushes. They were used to tourists, and wandered around the park peacefully.

Overall, we had a blast at our stopover at the Grand Canyon. Soon, Jun was ready for his nap in the car, so we continued our drive north to Page.

The next few hours of driving seemed to last forever. We drove east along the Grand Canyon, catching views of it we’d never seen before. From this new angle and from a distance, you could really see parts of it as a deep, narrow rift in the land. It’s hard to believe that scenery like this exists on Earth.

Navajo roadside stands began popping up all over the road, they mostly seemed abandoned, but all the signs assuredly displayed “OPEN”. There was the occasional person out front, but still the stands stood empty or nearly empty. We made our way up Hwy 89, the main road heading north in Central Arizona. The landscape was desolate in all directions, but there was still a steady stream of cars on the road - mostly older, beaten up vehicles. From the signs around, it appeared that this was indigenous land, and the cars were those of the locals.

As we continued further North, towers of orange rock rose from the earth - old plateaus that had nearly crumbled into oblivion. There were almost no people here, it felt like driving in a forgotten land. It’s funny how tourists flock to places like the Grand Canyon or Zion, but there are so many in-between places (nearby the national parks, but just outside) that receive no attention. Places with beautiful geological features, but aren’t quite as grandiose as their brothers just further down the road, so they remain nameless and unvisited.

We pulled into Page as the sun was setting. The distances here were great, with sweeping vistas. A lot of the land was flat, but far away you could see the orange glow of the sun hitting craggy rock formations that shot vertically out of the terrain.

We pulled into an RV Park in Page, none of us had camped at an RV park before. Researched showed that this place had clean bathrooms and showers, something that was missing at the last place we camped. However, the campsites were a bit packed together, and we were surrounded by RVs. I was worried that tent camping at a place like this might feel too crowded for the rest of the family, thankfully the clean bathrooms and showers won everyone over, and the RV park was a hit. This was the start of multiple RV Park stays during our trip - a place where we could camp, use a clean restroom/shower, and often a place with an outlet so we could charge the car.

Our tent site at the RV park - close quarters, but convenient and clean. We were happy.

Sparkling bathrooms - yippee!

That night the sky was clear. I held Jun as we looked up at the pitch black sky, speckled with stars.

The first night of our trip, I had taught him how to spot two constellations - The Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt. I wondered if he’d remembered.

“Where’s The Big Dipper?” I asked.

His eyes darted up at the sky, and his head began turning as he scanned the stars.

“THERE!” he shouted while pointing.

Sure enough, he’d found it, no trouble at all.

“How about Orion’s Belt?”

His eyes darted up again, head turning. After about 20 seconds he gave up - “Say” he said (essentially asking me to tell him where it was).

I spun 180 degrees so he could get a better look at the opposite corner of the sky.

“How about now?”

He looked up again, and after a few seconds -

“THERE!”

Sure enough, he’d found Orion’s belt. I couldn’t believe that this two-year old human, who hadn’t even seen the outside world three years ago, was sitting here with me naming constellations out there in the Universe.

Day 7 - Horseshoe Bend & lake Powell

The next morning we drove 15 mins to Horseshoe Bend. I’d seen countless photos of the place, but was curious what it would be like in real life.

It was about a 10 minute walk down to the viewpoint from the parking lot. It was already pretty crowded. Jun walked down the rock wall, testing his balance.

As we approached, the canyon revealed itself. It was also a HUGE canyon, it never ceases to amaze me how photos can fail to convey how grandiose these places are in person.

I had always noticed that there was something otherworldly about Horseshoe Bend photos. The photos look almost too perfect.

For those non-photographers out there, you may have heard of the “fisheye” effect, it’s a distortion that’s introduced with wide-angle camera lenses - making everything look squeezed into an oval shape. Well standing at the edge of the canyon, I realized with the bend of the river and the shape of the cliffs - that the terrain had a natural fisheye “look” to it, without ever holding up a camera. So, when you actually use a fisheye or wide-angle camera lens to take a photo, the natural fish-eye look of the landscape is exaggerated even further, making it look extremely wild, like a landscape from an alien planet or a Dr. Seuss book. I was happy to have found some explanation behind my curiosity. Nature is lit.

We explored some more. Jun climbed more rocks, and we left.

That evening we visited Lake Powell, and crossed the border into Utah. I’d heard stories of Lake Powell from family and friends. The lake itself has over 2,000 miles of shoreline (more than the combined states on the Pacific Coast). We would be visiting just a tiny fraction of that at a place called Lone Rock Beach.

I was excited to visit, but a little scared. I’d read that many vehicles had gotten stuck in the deep sand around the beach. We arrived and the road disappeared. Between us and the edge of the lake was an impossibly large stretch of thick sand. Deep holes in the sand weren’t hard to find, places were vehicles had dug themselves into oblivion.

Our Rav4 Prime is the first vehicle we’ve owned that has all-wheel drive, which we were thankful for, but would it be enough? Or would we find ourselves stranded, needing a tow in our new car.

If we drove too slow, we’d get stuck, so we drove at a steady pace, approaching a downhill section in the sand. With holes dug everywhere, this was an obvious “point of no return” for some.

There were a few scary moments, but we finally made it down to the edge of the water. We all let out a sigh of relief.

Stepping out of the car, we finally had the chance to take in our surroundings. Behind us was the monolithic “lone rock” where the beach got its name. Along the shore were a handful of other vehicles that had braved the sand, and were car camping.

The “Lone Rock” of Lone Rock Beach - My father said long ago he used to kayak over to the rock to touch it. As you can see, the drought is so bad in 2022 that the rock is totally exposed.

There wasn’t much around - the sand, the water, and the sky. The area was peaceful and beautiful in its simplicity.

A large family stood at the water’s edge, laughing, talking, playing games.

Another young group of campers were drinking and laughing trying to keep their dog under control (who was mischievously chasing strangers in hopes of stealing their soccer ball).

We sat down and took in the sunset. Jun played with his own mini soccer ball, toying with the idea of playing ball with the dog (but in reality being too scared).

Being in such a calm, desolate place, with the laughter of strangers, and the orange glow reflecting off the water - everything felt like it was supposed to be.

Day 8 - Toadstool Hoodoos, Unexpected Wind, & forsaken land

The next morning we set off for a hike. The hike was called “Toadstool Hoodoos” and it was also on the Utah side of the border. We tried to leave early to beat the heat, but ended up arriving late.

From the moment we left the car, the sun beat down relentlessly. Jun was not having it - he did not want to hike in the heat. He immediately threw his arms up, “Hold me!”

It was a struggle that we would deal with the entire roadtrip, and one we were just starting to realize at the time. Jun loves hiking in the cold, he loves hiking in good weather - but in the heat, more often than not, he wants to be held.

We tried our best to distract him from the temperature - we made games out of “running to the next shaded spot” (there weren’t many) or “jumping off that big sandy hill”. By the end of the hike, he was clearly “done”.

We decided to take a rest in the shade of a huge column of rock at the end of the trail, the top of the rock was shaped like a mushroom. In the relief of the shade, we sat with Jun and threw rocks together, trying to see who could throw the furthest. This game kept him content, he was happy to be resting.

Looking out across the landscape, there were other mushroom-shaped rocks (the reason for the name of the trail). In fact, this landscape looked unlike anything I’d ever seen - it looked like we were in some abstract artist’s painting or on some distant alien planet. This was not some handcrafted, painstakingly designed theme park, science-fiction world, this was a naturally occurring place. If people never stepped foot there, it would still be there - on this Earth, in the “state” us people call “Utah”.

The hike back to the car seemed straightforward, but the weather took an unexpected turn as we started walking.

Now I’ve seen photos and videos of sandstorms, but I’ve never experienced one firsthand. While what we experienced on the hike back might not be considered a “real” sandstorm, it was close enough for me to understand that they are no joke. Nature does not care if you’re caught in the middle.

We began walking faster, as the wind picked up. I carried Jun in both arms, holding his hat to his head, so it wouldn’t blow off.

The strength of the wind gusts picked up dramatically with each passing second. Without warning, the wind became painful. It was a type of pain I’d never felt - countless grains of sand, continuously hitting our exposed skin like an endless whip.

I held Jun against my chest, keeping his face against my shirt, and clutching him tightly. I was able to keep most of his body covered, using my body as a shield with the wind at my back. He still screamed as the wind hit us.

In-between gusts, I ran with him. Every second the wind weakened, was an opportunity to get closer to the car. Thankfully the trail wasn’t long, and the car came into view quickly.

We opened the doors, and leapt into the seats. As I shut the car door, the wind whipped one last handful of sand through the crack, blasting the little pebbles across the dash and seats.

Checking the weather report, it looked like the wind was going to stick around the whole day. We had planned to put Jun down for his nap in the tent, but we’d have to come up with a different plan. Being in the middle of nowhere, we couldn’t come up with any activities out of the wind, Page was too small of a town. The only solution - for both the nap and the activity - was to go for a drive.

There were three different roads out of town, and we had already explored two of them, so we decided to drive East on highway 98, and see where it took us.

An overview of where we drove over the course of our four-day visit to Page, AZ

It was a lonely highway, and there wasn’t much to see. When we first drove to Page, we had missed the turn for Tuba City. Curious about what we missed, we ended up heading there and driving in a loop that lasted 3 hours.

I’ve always been curious about the Navajo people. My name, “Nav”, was inspired by the Navajo.

During the drive we saw various plots of Navajo government housing, mostly small communities. They were all tracts of buildings that looked identical, surrounded by lots of fences, no decorations. No children playing outside, no activity at all really, the neighborhoods seemed lifeless. I wondered were people home? Were they working? What was life like here?

I had read that Tuba City was the most populous city within the Navajo nation. I thought this would be a good opportunity to visit and learn more about their culture. I knew there was a museum in town, that would be an excellent place to start.

We pulled into Tuba City just after 4pm, interested to see what it was like. We drove up Main Street, and found an unbelievable amount of houses with boarded up windows and doors, burnt buildings that were half collapsed. Almost no people could be found on the streets , and the ones that were looked homeless and miserable. It looked like the entire place had been abandoned - a ghost town.

The museum we wanted to visit was closed, with nothing else to do, we turned around and headed back towards the highway.

I couldn’t believe that we had just passed through the most populous city of the largest federally recognized Native American tribe within the U.S. - and it felt like being witness to the apocalypse.

Haven’t the indigenous peoples of this land suffered enough? Is it an impossibility to live in a world where we treat them with the respect?

For a people to live a humble life, living off the land, in balance with the natural world - I cannot fathom anyone who deserves a higher degree of respect.

To see everything firsthand was deeply disturbing, the experience left me marked.

Driving back towards Page, the sandstorms didn’t let-up. Ribbons of sand blew across the highway like snakes. The sun was low on the horizon as we pulled back into the RV park. We opened the door of the tent and discovered the entire thing was filled with sand. It was dark by the time the tent was cleaned. Betty was trying to cook our dinner on the propane stove, but the wind was blowing so hard that the flame wasn’t cooking properly. The weather report had said the wind was supposed to die down after sunset, but in reality it seemed as strong as ever. By the time dinner was ready, sand was already filling up the tent again.

Heiny and I talked, we couldn’t stay sleep here tonight. I found a cheap motel down the road, we packed up all our things (leaving the tent to break down in the morning) and left.

Day 9 - Glen Canyon Dam & the final goodbye to arizona

The next day was our final day in Page, and the state of Arizona. The motel we’d stayed at was a bit rundown, but at least we were safe from the wind. In the morning we returned to our campsite to pack-up the tent and all our things.

Our neighbors at the next tent site over were also breaking down their tent. They were a couple it looked like they were in their 50s. They had an accent, I thought they might be Australian. The woman came over and spoke to us, she said it was a actually a good thing we left, because the wind was bad the entire night.

I asked about the accent, and she said they were actually from the U.K. but have been living in the U.S. for over 10 years. She said they had originally planned a big trip to Africa last year, but covid wrecked their plans. They finally decided to instead do a big roadtrip, like us. She played soccer with Jun, while we packed everything into the car. We said our goodbyes, and left the RV park for good.

Before we left town, we stopped by the Glen Canyon Dam, the second highest highest concrete-arch dam in the United States. Lake Powell was literally created by the dam - and it’s an impressive sight to see in person.

I’d heard that they have really good walking tours, but unfortunately we discovered that they don’t do tours anymore since the pandemic. We walked out to the bridge and took in the view, before continuing on.

We drove a few more minutes, and reached the border with Utah. We took a photo, and said goodbye to Arizona. I’d never been to Utah before, which made this the first NEW state to visit on the roadtrip! We couldn’t contain our excitement! (EDIT: I later realized, that Heiny and I had visited Zion five years previously, I also visited Utah as a baby, so it wasn’t technically new, but it was the least-explored state up until this point!)

Until next blog post, where we’ll explore our stay in Kanab, Utah and began our Utah-National-Park tour where we hit FIVE different national parks in Utah alone! Thanks for reading!