Desert Solitare - Southwestern USA
- Lucy and the lens
- Sep 22, 2018
- 4 min read
The Rocky Mountain High is a three-week American road trip with solo tour company Trek America. At the time of writing, you'll see my face slapped across the information page for the tour on the company's website - and I don't even care, because I'd happily recommend this tour to everyone! I wrote about the first leg of the tour (the American Rockies and Yellowstone) here. This post will cover the second half of the trip, which we unofficially named 'Desert Solitaire' in honour of Edward Abbey's memoir describing his adventures in Utah.
Here's what our desert adventure looked like. Looking at Trek America's current itinerary, it seems that they've dropped the Utah leg of the trip - a shame!
-Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
-Four Corners Monument
-Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah
-Grand Canyon, Arizona
-Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
-Zion National Park, Utah
-Las Vegas, Nevada (see this post!)
1. Mesa Verde, Colorado
Mesa Verde was an unplanned detour, thanks to our super proactive tour guide/driver/all-round great guy who, throughout our trip, listened to our requests and took us to places he thought we'd like (he took us to a ghost town in Colorado, for example, because I'd mentioned how awesome it would be to see one!) . Mesa Verde is an ancient Pueblo settlement hewn out of the rock. The area has been settled for thousands of years, but the buildings we saw were built some time around 600 AD, sheltered by a rocky overhang. We were even able to climb down through holes in the earth, to see mysterious cave chambers.
After this, it was less than an hour's drive to the Four Corners Monument, where you can stand on the point where four states - New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and and Colorado - meet. It's a bit touristy but totally worth a photo standing on the central point if you're passing that way anyway!
2. Monument Valley
If visiting Monument Valley, although you can drive through the park, I'd still recommend taking a tour with a Navajo guide. As Monument Valley is in fact the Navajo Nation, there is nobody better to teach you about the area's cultural significance. We visited a whole range of different rock formations and learned about their spiritual meanings - a rock that looks just like an eagle when you lie in the exact right spot, or a hole that is known as the 'sun's eye'.
As well as these more obscure rocks, you also get great views of the iconic Mitten formations!
The nice thing about our tour was that we were treated to a fiery sunset over the valley while enjoying a traditional Navajo meal - served in the middle of the valley itself!
3. Grand Canyon, Arizona
I'd been to the Grand Canyon for a few hours before, back in 2007, but barely scratched the surface of this awesome place. The Grand Canyon is so big - 18 miles wide and a mile deep - that it causes a strange phenomenon where you brain just cannot comprehend how big it actually is. As a result, your first sight of the Grand Canyon can be sort of...underwhelming. It takes some time and exploration to help your brain make sense of what you're seeing, and then.....wow.
To speed up this process, I opted for a helicopter flight over the canyon! I can't think of a better way to really appreciate its scale. At first, you fly over a forest, until all of a sudden, the earth drops away and you're left flying over a terrifying void. You can just see the Colorado River snaking its away along the canyon floor, between jagged rock formations. You definitely have to have nerves of steel to see the Canyon this way, but if you can handle it, it's an incomparable experience.
That evening, our guide took us to a quiet, hidden little spot, just beneath the rim of the canyon, and surprised us with a hamper of cheese, crackers and wine while we watched the sunset. It was like a romantic date shared with thirteen other people who had once been strangers but were now very good friends.
4. Horseshoe Bend
Horseshoe Bend isn't exactly an off-the-beaten-track place to view the Colorado River these days. But when we stopped by back in 2013, we were some of only a handful of people making the short hike to the viewpoint. These days, I hear, there is a specially-built viewing platform with safety barriers - but not when we went! This news makes me wonder, now, how dangerous viewing Horseshoe Bend can actually be - because at the time, sitting on the edge seemed as safe as anything! Or perhaps it only seemed safe because I'd been flying over the Grand Canyon in a tiny helicopter the day before!
5. Zion National Park
We arrived at Zion on the hottest day of our trip, and the idea of hiking anywhere seemed like something only insane people would do. Our guide suggested we wait out the heat of the day and head in for some hiking from 4pm onwards, and we enthusiastically agreed.
A few crazy members of our group opted for the famous uphill climb to Angel's Landing, for epic views over Zion. I and a few others chose the cooler option: hiking the Narrows.
The Narrows is actually a shallow river running through a narrow slot canyon, meaning not only is it the shadiest spot in the park, but hiking through water in special waterproof shoes means you stay nice and cool, too. I'd never hiked through a slot canyon or through a river before, so it was really an exciting and unique way to experience the park. At its narrowest points, the water was up to my upper thighs, and I'm tall - so you have to think carefully about what you bring in your backpacks or pockets!
6. Las Vegas
Our final stop - click here for my list of reasons why Vegas is a must-visit even for non-gamblers like me!
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