Detour

Many people claim Zion National Park to be an unexpected favorite. My wife left wishing we had allotted as much time there as Bryce Canyon. One of several things that set this park apart from the rest is that you can only take your vehicle so far before you are required to use a shuttle bus system. That, and the sheer beauty of it all.

The shuttle buses are widely regarded as more efficient. They are used to better protect the landscape and cut down on traffic congestion. Although I sincerely believe all that to be true, on this particular excursion, it wasn’t the case. We ventured into the park when a major road construction project was in full swing. This meant shuttles were delayed. And when you finally got on one, it was painfully slow to get anywhere. Going up a mountain we had to pull over and wait long periods of time for oncoming shuttles to filter through before ours could continue. On and off, start and stop, with limited time to begin with, this made it worse. The consensus was to heck with it, let’s take a shuttle back to the car and get out of here. It was a real shame because the surroundings were so inviting, we just assumed get lost in them.

Wait a minute. We can’t leave without doing something here. Anything!

So we picked out a gorgeous access point to a river and disappeared into the wild. It wasn’t far off the beaten path but far enough to not see it. So we waded out into the river and down a small, shallow but wide cascade of water falls. It made me feel like a bear in the wild standing in a stream on the hunt for fish. I suppose if I saw one I might try to catch it with my mouth.

The water was as refreshing as the day was hot. The current’s strength was more than anticipated so we made a human chain holding hands to more safely explore the watery fun. This would be our memory of deep inside Zion National Park. But the incredible rock formations we had access to entering and leaving the park with our own vehicle were of monumental beauty and uniqueness.  It must have been one helluva task to lay a road here. Other than the snaking asphalt, both sides abruptly turned into rough terrain. One mountain side was the strangest geological sight I had ever seen. The entire face of the bare rock side of this anomaly looked like God etched the outline of a mega checker board into it. Lines crisscrossed horizontally and vertically forming symmetrical squares all the way up and across. Weird.

We parked the car on the edge of the road behind a couple of people who got out and looked like they weren’t coming back today as they disappeared with their bulging backpacks. Our hike or climb wouldn’t be that long. Ascending on a slight and then steeper grade, I was fascinated that there was no earth at all. We were walking up solid rock. But the rock was like someone knocked over a tall stack of pancakes now draping over a crooked terrain, layered but so widely staggered it was more like walking up a slanted, barren, flat-faced surface. The family took a breather but I pressed on. Finally, when I looked back, they were but specs on the broad-side of this strange rock face. Distance was very deceiving. Something that would be amplified even more when we hit the Grand Canyon.

Return to main story featuring the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Meteor Crater and Lowell Observatory.

Holiday Road Travel Series
by Frank R. Satullo

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ARIZONA

Featuring the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Meteor Crater and Lowell Observatory

After our all-day Detour, we rolled into our hotel, found out we picked up an hour due to hitting a different time zone so we went out to dinner.  Before turning in for the night, we were watching a western movie we all enjoyed but it ended with a cliff-hanger and caption that read it was part one of two.

The next day, we set out to see the Grand Canyon from as many vantage points as time would allow. Our favorite lookout was Lipon Point along the South Rim. My daughter had us take a picture of her with her arms spread straight out. It looked like they were resting on the far rim of the canyon. Above her arms and head nothing but blue sky. Below was the Grand Canyon. From high above the canyon, as grand as it is, it appears as a crack in an otherwise perfectly flat desert. We were told that there were fewer crowds this far north, along the south rim, and it proved true. Plus, we had a breathtaking view following the Colorado River as far as the eye could see.

Even staring into this wonder of the world in-person, it was difficult to comprehend its vastness. You had to fixate on something like the river far below through a good zoom lens and then slowly pan out to make distinctions of major rock landmarks that would have just blend in with a normal stare. Just when you think you must be zoomed all the way out, you look up and amazingly discover you are only a third of the way. In fact, the last rock outcrop you had fixated on is hardly noticeable with your naked eye. We all found perches and got lost in thought and time as we allowed the canyon to consume us.

It dawns on you how easily people die just going on a walk into the canyon. Once you are in it, everything looks infinitely the same. Get turned around and you may lose your sense of direction. And water will seep out of your skin as fast as you pour it down your throat. Heed any warnings of danger.

Our day of bouncing around to different canyon views was only interrupted by a stop at the Pueblo Ruins there at the Grand Canyon. The place seemed so void of flora and fauna that it hardly seemed conceivable that natives lived there. But the ruins would indicate otherwise. The ruins consisted of large kiva rock remains positioned to frame foundations of buildings or what not.

Later that evening, while back at the Grand Hotel in Grand Canyon, our timing was perfect. A Native American tribe was putting on a show in the main dining room. Even though we already ate elsewhere, we were allowed in to have coffee and dessert since there were empty tables. So for the cost of dessert, we sat back and enjoyed an hour of really cool pageantry. The festive colors of the dyed animal skins, ornamental feathers, musical instruments and head dresses were as vivid as the hypnotic movement of the native dancers. The hoop dance topped it all. Then, for tip money, we could pose with these wonderful entertainers for photos that we were allowed to take with our own cameras. Feeling rejuvenated after an adventurous day, we went for a late night swim and dip in the hot tub.

Over the next couple of days, our stay in the Flagstaff area included a couple of Pit Stops.

Arizona
Attractions
Worth Consideration

Glen Canyon

Lake Mead

Montezuma

Petrified Forest

Sedona

Pit Stop

(Meteor Crater and Lowell Observatory)

Out on the open road, it was just that – wide open – everywhere we looked. It was flat dessert except for a minimal ridge of some sort off in the distance. As we approached, it still didn’t look like it stuck up from the ground very much but it sure did extend along the horizon for quite a ways. The vast, slightly raised area was the outer part of Meteor Crater. Inside it plunged deep into the earth. From an aerial view it would be like looking at the moon if the moon’s surface were flat except for one humongous crater. Much like the Grand Canyon, you couldn’t grasp the enormity of it unless you had something to lock your eyes onto at the bottom providing an anchor for perspective.

Although this was an impressive sight, you couldn’t escape the fact that a bundle of dough was being made off nothing more than a hole in the ground. It did have a pretty cool museum to boot. It was very difficult to peel my daughter from there. She wanted to read every display. It was very interesting and interactive.

Speaking of holes in the ground, our accommodations for the night weren’t the Ritz.

We tried to find a room in Flagstaff but dive hotels cost about $170 per night. So we headed east on the Interstate. Then, my wife said it would have been nice to stay in town. That way we could go to the Lowell Observatory that night. We circled back and found a place in Flagstaff on Route 66 – which is still very happening by the way; at least this stretch of the historic road. The nightlife could be heard at all hours of the night. We ate dinner at a true Mexican restaurant. In fact, it was rated the best in Flagstaff for like the past 17 years. It was cozy, friendly, casual and reasonably priced. And it was a meal to remember even if I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant.

The night sky didn’t have near the light pollution we were accustomed to back in Cincinnati. It was a great night to be outside. That’s a good thing because we had to wait in a line for an hour to get inside an old tin can of an observatory. Next to it was a distinct building that on closer inspection revealed it to be Lowell’s Mausoleum. Good grief.

Finally inside the old observatory, the good times rolled. By the way, driving up, there was a super large, modern-looking observatory just beyond the trees. Unfortunately, that was not the one we’d tour but there was a more modern one that we did gain access. Still, the old tin can was entertaining. The kids got to operate the controls to open the roof and move the two-story telescope. Would you believe that the apparatus that rolled the roof open relied on old automobile tires and the telescope’s lens cover was an old frying pan? The latter was because there wasn’t a lens cover in existence large enough to cover the enormous lens on the telescope when it was created.

All and all, we had a really nice night at the observatory with friendly people we met in the crowd, informative lecturers, hands-on demonstrations and cool views of the night sky.