"Tell me, what is your plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver
Sometimes you start the trip thinking it will be a somewhat mundane travel day to your intended destination. You know the highways you will take, but other than that, there are no expectations. That is what I thought when we left Sedona for Zion on this beautiful morning, but I was wrong! I had no idea about the adventure that was in store for us. So much so that I decided this travel day deserved its own post.
We had breakfast and hit the road to Hurricane, Utah. It is about 30 minutes from Zion National Park and was a place to stay until we got the lay of the land. On the map, it was an easy 5-hour drive on Hwy 89 most of the way. The first treat was coming into Flagstaff. This beautiful and unexpected mountain appeared in the distance. This is Mount Humphreys and is the tallest point in the state of Arizona.
I don't know what I expected from Flagstaff, but it was beautiful. We followed this mountain range for miles.
We came across this graffitied abandoned hotel not far outside Flagstaff and close to Gray Mountain, which you don't see every day.
This was when things started getting fun! The topography of the land began to change. I thought this was incredibly interesting until what happened a little further down the highway.
Until this point, I had never seen anything like this. I had spent some time in the Desert in California and the stretch country between Joshua Tree and Scottsdale, but it didn't look like this. Of course, I had no idea where we were until later. It turns out... We were driving through the actual Painted Desert! I had read and heard about it in songs but couldn't begin to imagine how extraordinary it was in person.
I now know what all the hype was about! I was in awe, and the colors were just stunning.
The Painted Desert covers over 93,500 acres of badland hills and buttes and stretches over 160 miles. It begins about 30 miles outside of Cameron, where we stopped and hung out on a fantastic abandoned bridge to take a break. It gets its name from many rainbow colors ranging from lavender to shades of gray, red, orange, and pink. It reminded me of the sand art we did as kids.
Just another one of the MANY pictures I took in the Painted Desert.
As if the day wasn't exciting enough, things started changing again... And in a big way!
This was the view several miles before we entered the Marble Canyon. It was still part of the Painted Desert, but things were changing. This was enormous though my picture doesn't reflect that.
This a view overlooking the highway we took through the Marble Canyon. It was breathtaking to see in person, but unfortunately, my pictures don't do it justice.
Another fantastic surprise was driving through the Marble Canyon! I must have said, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this." a hundred times.
Fern in the Marble Canyon, where we stopped for lunch
We stopped here and made a couple of sandwiches. Talk about lunch with a view! I felt so lucky and blessed to be sitting here witnessing the enormity of this beauty. Just three months before, I wasn't even considering this trip, and it wasn't even a thought in my mind, and here I was. I wholeheartedly believe in being open to ideas, thoughts, and people I encounter. The thought of this trip came up, and it was small, to begin with, and then, with some brainstorming with my friend Becky, it became this life-changing journey that was put into motion in a matter of weeks. If I hadn't been open to it, I would have never left Minnesota and missed all this and much more!
These are the Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments. It is a remote and unspoiled 280,000-acre monument that is a geologic treasure. It boarders the Kaibab National Forest
Not far from where we ate lunch, we drove around this curve and found another surprise.
It was a park full of giant skull-like rock formations, and it was incredible and randomly scattered everywhere.
This photograph does not accurately show the scale of how large it was, and I would be a speck in this picture.
You can see their size in contrast with my friend, Jim.
There were some unique rocks. I could have hung out here for hours.
Highway 89 took us through the snowy Kaibab National Forest after visiting Skull Rock Park.
This is the view from the opposite side of the Marble Canyon, where I took a picture earlier in the day.
Several miles down the road, we encountered... this. Lol, These cows were in no hurry to cross the road, and we waited on them for quite a while. This scene is eerily reminiscent of a late-night drive home from my son's basketball game years ago involving a hill and a herd of cows. I'll spare you the details, but oof! 🤦♀️
My windshield was filthy, but it was a pretty sunset. A big travel day was winding down.
After an entire day of exploring The Painted Desert, The Marble Canyon, The Vermillion Cliff Monument, Skull Rock Park, and Kaibab National Forest, we finally made it to St George/Hurricane KOA later in the evening and after dark. Our 5-hour travel day easily turned into 10 hours, but I wouldn't have traded a minute of it.
It's fun to wake up after arriving somewhere at dark to see what awaits in the morning. I had no idea there were mountains outside around the campsite, and this was the view I woke up to in Fern.
The view was even more beautiful from outside of Fern. I feel the happiest surrounded by mountains, and I don't take a single moment of this magnificent trip for granted.
Next stop... ZION!
Stay Wild 🌿
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