Every spring, RV owners everywhere take their rigs out of winter storage and get them ready for the camping months ahead. Here is me preparing out Outdoors RV 24RKS for the Southwest Canyons Road Trip and the many other camping opportunities (including a hike to the top of Mount Saint Helens) that will come our way this spring, summer and fall.
The first leg of our journey was in Grand Junction, Colorado where we visited Colorado National Monument. The canyon structure cut into the Colorado Plateau is truly breathtaking. There is a rim drive that takes you around the canyon so you can see the various layered rock formations that make up the canyon walls. We've lived here for 7 years now and this is the first time we've been here. Please like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you hit the notify button it will alert you every time we post a video.
Stop #2 on the Southwest Canyons Road Trip is Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah just outside of Bryce National Park. The landscape is characterized by badland mesas, sandstone spires and layered rock formations. It was spring so thing were relatively green despite the drought. While we were there we did the Panorama Trail Long Loop, Angel's Palace Trail and an out of park hike at Willis Creek Narrows which is a slot canyon with a creek running through it. We had a great time exploring the area.
Every road trip has it's big rocks... this things that you will bend over backwards to do. If you don't do them, you are left witha feeling of missing something significant. Buckskin Gulch was the biggest rock on this trip and something that I really wanted to do Buckskin Gulch is the longest slot canyon in the world at 23 miles long. It was worth every minute we spent in the canyon. It was a challenging and beautiful hike. Just off the Wire Pass Trailhead was a cutoff for The Wave. We applied but, alas... did not get selected. Maybe next year!
The search for the best burger has led me to Kanab, Utah... I think I may have found it!
While we were in Kanab, Utah, we decided to take the afternoon and visit Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. What a beautiful place to visit except if you want to see the dunes up close, you have to go hiking in the sand! Did I ever tell you how much I hate hiking in the sand? It would be fun to rent an ATV and go for a ride on the dunes. Maybe next time.
This is a time-lapse video of clouds passing over Tower Butte outside of Paige, Arizona. This was such a striking visual from our campsite at the Antelope Point Marina and RV Park. The scenery in the Southwest Canyons area is so outstanding.
Today was our first day in Page Arizona. In the morning we had plans to visit Lower Antelope Canyon where you had to descend on ladders into a deeper part of the canyon and we got to see the most beautiful, twisted rock formations formed by the flash floods in the area. Our second adventure took us to the New Wave at the Beehive trailhead to view the above ground formations formed by wind and water erosion. The New Wave was a short 1.5 mile hike but didn't capture the beauty of the original Wave at Wire Pass Trailhead IMHO.
It's our 2nd full day in Page, AZ *and* it's our 29th Wedding Anniversary! We have reservations for the Upper Antelope Canyon Tour this morning. Did you know that both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons are complete the result of flash floods through these canyons? The afternoon was spent going to Horseshoe Bend to do a little photography. One of the things that I've learning on this road trip is that there are a lot of people who like to visit these sights so you have to get your reservations early!
It's unusual to celebrate your wedding anniversary on the road but that is just what we did this year on our Southwest Canyons Road Trip. We were in Page, Arizona for our 29th anniversary and we made the most of it while we were there. In addition to the things we did on surrounding days, we visited Upper Antelope Canyon and Horse Shoe Bend on our anniversary. Both were beautiful and scenic. And Adrienne did a fantastic job at cooking up a meal that was fit for newly weds!
Day 3 in Page, Arizona . We spent the afternoon on a kayaking & hiking tour of Antelope Canyon where it empties into Lake Powell. Our guide was Jayden and he was a non-stop wealth of historic and geologic knowledge about Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. During this serious drought, we learned that it will take a lot of water to refill the reservoir! After our excursion, we stopped at The Bird House for dinner. It is a popular fried chicken restaurant in Page and considered by Jayden to be the best restaurant in the city. Even Toby liked it!