This week we have continued our early retirement road trip around Arizona and have briefly stumbled into beautiful Utah. We headed north to Lake Powell and the stunning Colorado river, made a pilgrimage to Monument Valley the location of the Western films I watched in my youth and finished the week hiking in the stunning Zion National Park in Utah.
A sense of Awe and Wonder
I was lucky enough to listen to a podcast at the start of the week with Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Dr Dacher Keltner on the science of Awe and how it improves our physical and mental wellbeing. Not only did it really resonate with me at the time, but I was lucky enough to have a number of real life experiences over the course of the week that illustrated the power of Awe to me. This week we have been on the road, travelling around Arizona from Page, to Monument Valley, back to Page and onwards to the Zion National Park in Utah. All of these places were so awe inspiring in so many different ways, they really did have a positive effect on our mental health and wellbeing.
We visited the Instagram famous Horseshoe bend on the Colorado river, looking down the huge cliffs carved out by the river over millions of years. We walked around the huge monoliths that make up Monument Valley, so famous from the Western films I used to watch as a child with my Dad. Dad would have absolutely loved it, and I like to think that in some way he was with us as we wandered through the desert.
We stumbled upon by complete chance the little known Cathedral Wash that provided us with a route down to the Colorado river for a paddle, not to mention a hair-raising scrambling experience! All of these places we so vast and so beautiful, yet created by nature in such a random way over million of years. Wandering around these sites made us reflect on how really insignificant we are in the grand scheme of time and that we really do need to get on with living each day to the max.
Get away from the crowds
We often say this, but making the effort to get more than 10 minutes away from the nearest car park makes such a difference to the experience of visiting popular destinations. Most visitors are not prepared to go beyond this distance so consequently for those that do, it is a much more fulfilling experience.
Horseshoe Bend was a prime example of this. It has a huge car park and a 1km walk down to the viewing platform where all the instagram images are taken from. We went along with the crowds but wanted a little bit more of an experience rather than just heading back to the car. We spotted a route on the AllTrail app that took us away from the crowds, into the desert and into a hidden canyon…and back again, all in a round trip of less than 10km (6 miles). The solitude that we felt and the sense of adventure and the unknown as we scrambled down the stunning canyon was unbelievable. We didn’t come across another person the whole way. When we got back to the viewing platform, the crowds were still there as we smugly passed them by, little did they know what adventures were only a short distance away!
When we got to Monument Valley, we were gutted that our beautiful Ford Mustang hire car was not suitable for the scenic drive route that really required AWD rather than our low slung, rear wheel drive muscle car!
There was however a published hike from the visitors centre that took you into Monument Valley on foot. It was only a 7km walk, but you had to sign in and out of the walk at the visitors centre. When we did this, we realised we were two of only six people who had done the walk that day! The Wildcat Trail was amazing- well sign posted and well away from the roads of the scenic drive. The trail circumnavigated the huge monoliths that were West and East Mitten Buttes, giving us unique 360 degree views of these monuments. We took great delight in spotting animal tracks in the undisturbed sand of the trail, trying to imagine what made those particular tracks as we passed by.
We found the Cathedral Wash trail again on the AllTrails app, whist visiting the popular Navaho bridges over the Colorado river. This trail was not widely publicised by the National Park and it really should have been, but we understand why not. It was quite challenging, with lots of scrambling problems to solve within the deep canyon…it was certainly not for your average National Park leisure hiker who are more used to well prepared and marked trails. The hike was other worldly as we made our way down the deep gorge towards the Colorado. It was only a 5km out and back trail, but it felt like such an adventure. We came across only a few other hikers during the course of the walk, and yet we were only a 10 minute drive from one of the most popular tourist spots in the area.
So the outcome of all of this? If you fancy an adventure to find the hidden places, you often need to look no further than 10 minutes from the nearest tourist car park. There is a big wide world out there waiting to be explored- go out and find it!
We are at the mercy of the weather.
If there is one thing for sure, travelling around this small corner of this vast country, we are certainly at the mercy of Mother Nature and the weather. We have had it all. We made a last minute booking to head north to Zion on the strength of good weather forecast, and seemingly the moment we conformed the booking the forecast turned foul! We were initially disappointed by this turn of events, but quickly realised that there was nothing we could do about it and we just needed to get on and enjoy our adventures. Unsettled skies in Monument Valley made for stunning sunset conditions, the rain and hail in Zion made memorable moments and helped the waterfalls flow so much more dramatically. Colder days have meant that we have appreciated the comfort of our hotel rooms at the end of the day. There is always something positive to draw out of something negative.
I guess we have realised that it is never really the weather that effects our days, it is our attitude and approach to that weather that determines our daily mood. We are entirely in control of our own thoughts, so we can choose to be positive and get the best out of each day.
If you want to see more of our Arizona adventures, check out our latest Grand Canyon YouTube video:
So that’s it for another week. We are currently sat on a Sunday morning in a hotel room surrounded by all of our luggage in various states of disarray! We are coming into our final week of our State side adventures as we look to head south to Sedona- a place which no one on our travels has said a bad word about, and is on the top of everyones recommendations list. Our expectations are high- we can hardly wait.
Have a brilliant week,
Richard and Jackie.
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