Day Eighteen --Arizona Calling

Kaibab National Forest/Grand Canyon:North Rim/Vermillion Cliffs/Glen Canyon/Flagstaff

A couple of spectacular drives out of Utah (a state I was sad to leave): traveling south along Route 89 to Kaibab National Forest (yes, Arizona has pine trees and mountains) onto a road leading to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon, and moving through a desert on Route 89 that paralleled the Vermillion Cliffs. The latter almost rivaled the Scenic Byway from Bryce Canyon a couple of days earlier, and it was pretty amazing. In fact, on the ride back from the byway, I stopped at a filling station in a town called Tropic, and while paying for the gas, I remarked to a local resident about my excitement of traveling on Route 12 for the first time. To which he succinctly remarked, "To me, every time I travel on that road, it's always different."

Kaibab National Forest opened onto a meadow that stretched for miles before reaching the entrance of the Grand Canyon. You can view that area of the canyon from the Grand Canyon Lodge, which has been in operation since 1928. Note to self is to go back there, with a designated driver, and have a few beers at the the Lodge's bar and at the Roughrider Saloon. (NB: since the trip's start, I've actually not had any alcoholic beverage.)

Back on Route 89 toward Flagstaff, the road opened into a valley (still at about 5,000 feet) and a seemingly endless view of red stone known as the Vermillion Cliffs. At the visitor center of Kaibab National Forest, a diagram explained all the different colors of stone at various parks including Zion's white, Bryce's pink and Grand Canyon's chocolate, but more on that another time.

I was impressed by the long stretch of red stone. A detour to Glen Canyon brought me up close to massive boulders that stood on pedestals, and these stones are almost the size of a small house. I drove down to the river. While the temperature was a dry 102 degrees Fahrenheit, the touch of the river was refreshingly cool.

Of course, there was just so much to tell that I've skipped on a lot of details. Maybe a few beers in NYC, I can tell you all about it.

Total trip to Flagstaff, Arizona was 389 miles.