Had a long slog today across a couple of hundred miles of open plains and pushing against very strong headwinds. We got to Santa Fe in New Mexico and after doing a bit of a wild goose chase finding an RV park (due to FRED as usual) we finally got settled into a park to be told that we had to have our hoses disconnected before nightfall as they were expecting 26 degrees farenheight and the possibility of everything freezing! Yuk. Went to bed with all our clothes on and two pairs of socks. Santa Fe is a medium size city with a lot of adobe type dwellings. Just a city but somewhere to catch up on the washing as we had been free camping for a few days. The bonus was that we met up with another Australian couple who are doing a seven week road trip starting in Los Angeles and finishing in Orlando Florida. It was good to speak to someone who was on our wavelength for a change.
Wednesday-Thursday, 7-8th April - Red Rock State Park NM – near Gallup
Travelled through Albuqurque on historic Route 66 and now can’t get the song out of my head. Ended up in a state park called Red Rock. What a wonderful place (and only $10 a night to camp with boiling hot showers). The landscape is similar to Ayres Rock but on a smaller scale and with a huge canyon behind it. We were so impressed and so glad to have left Santa Fe that we ended up staying a second night and spent the whole day walking through the canyon where we saw a huge footprint of a mountain lion (which is the closest we’ve come to seeing one although everywhere we go there are warning signs about them) also met a native Navajo indian who was very interesting to talk to. Got some great photos. The place was full of prairie dogs which were quite cute and fun to watch.
Red Rock State Park
Shiprock
Spot the mouse
Friday, 9th April - Williams AZ
Well, we had to keep moving on. Next stop Williams, just past Flagstaff, still on route 66. We’ve booked in to stay at the south rim of the Grand Canyon but can’t get in till tomorrow. We wanted to stay at Lake Haibib which is a state park but found that most of the parks in Arizona are closed due to budget cuts which is a bit of a pain. We much prefer to stay in national or state forests than in RV parks as most of them are just bare dirty and dusty and right on the main road and then you have to pay for the privilage. I might add that it’s the same with the hotels, they are all on the main highway as well.
Lake Kaibab near Flagstaff Arizona
Grand Canyon train out the front of our RV Park
Saturday - Monday, 10-12th April – Grand Canyon AZ
All we can say is awesome! This has got to be the biggest and best natural landscape that we’ve ever seen and we’ve seen a few, including Ayres Rock and Jungfrau in Switzerland and we haven’t been to the north rim yet which is supposed to be even better. Over the last two days I have taken so many photos that I’ll probably drive myself crazy trying to pick out the best ones. We have walked about 20 kms along the rim in both directions and will climb partway down into the canyon tomorrow. This is what we came to America for and it’s worth it. The canyon is 277 miles long, covers an area of 1,900 square miles, is a mile deep and is about 18 miles across from rim to rim. If you want metric you’ll have to convert it yourself. I’m only quoting out of the book.
This is the map of the trails on the south rim
Still a bit of snow on the edges
Took about 80 photos over two days
Spot the mouse
Photos don't do this justice
hi ma and pa
ReplyDeleteive finally got time to have a good look at your blog ....with out kids or someone annoying me ....and its great ....i cant wait to look at all the photos when youz get home
luv trace