Day 5 Valle AZ

We woke up and made the Richfield, UT to Zion National park in about 2.5 hours. While approaching the park we started seeing warning signs for full parking lots and full shuttle parking as well. It was crazy. As we approached the park, traffic was heavy. Cars were parked nose to tail and shoe horned in every cubby hole on either side of the road for miles leading to the entrance. After a fairly quiet two days in Arches and Canyonland this was a shock to the system. We made the executive decision to abandon the overcrowded park before we even entered and headed for the Grand Canyon instead.

A quick four hour or so drive (lol) through lower Utah and upper Arizona brought us to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Complete with construction in the middle of absolutely nowhere!

Arizona is an amazing state.  It starts out with scenery much like Utah. As we traveled further into the state the plains opened up and the buttes and mesas became the anchors in a vast rolling hillside of red soil, rocks and scrub trees and bushes. 

After climbing from about 5000 to 7000 feet we found ourselves smack in the center of the Kaibab National Forrest. Sparse trees and groundcover gave way to tall pine trees and the lush smell of pine needles. Temps cooled by 20 degrees and there was a whispering sound as the wind came through the pines on the hillside.

We plunged back down to 5000 feet and encountered what I always thought would be Arizona landscape. Dry, arid and hot with barren plains and high cliffs. It was mesmerizing. 

This lasted until we made the climb into the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Kaibab Forrest was back along with cooler temps. The entrance on Rt 64 is about 24 miles from the visitor center. We drove and parked, stopped to get our passport book stamped, took in the canyon as the sun was starting to set and then left for the day. 

We are resting tonight about 20 miles south of the park in Valle. Tomorrow we will be up and finish our tour of the park and then start our journey home.....