The Great Southwest Road Trip - Albuquerque to the Grand Canyon
I again got up with the rising sun to set off on day three of the Route 66 portion of my road trip on September 29. Having a body on Central Time helped me get going a little earlier, and billeyler was nice enough to make sure I was packed away and had left nothing behind. I was looking at about a 4 hour trip to Flagstaff where I hoped I would be able to get an early check-in to my hotel so I could unload things there, then the plan was to head on north for the Grand Canyon where I planned to stay until sunset and maybe try to get photos again of the moon rising.
The drive was pretty uneventful as drives go - lots of open space interrupted by formations that I could tell were either former volcanic flows that have eroded, or raised layers of sandstone from ancient coastal erosion. One of the reasons I scheduled this trip to begin with is that I am a bit of a geography and geology freak. I always have been fascinated by earth processes as well as cultures, and lord knows there is plenty of both in New Mexico and Arizona where there often the native culture is very strongly tied into the geography.
The last time I did this drive, I was in May 1982 when I was 18 with a group of other college students from NC and TN. We were winging out way west to California to make what we thought would be a fortune selling dictionaries. Yeah right. Anyway, My impression back then was that the drive between Albuquerque was nothing but a wasteland until we got to Flagstaff where the San Francisco Peaks offered what I considered to be sufficient "scenery". Funny how things changed. I absolutely loved driving through this way where the landscape sometimes was seeming flat and unending, but then suddenly there were beautiful cliffs allong a canyon wall off the highway, or mounds of fractured rocks that had been weathered by wind and blowing sand. If I had not been on the agenda to make it to the Canyon, I would have stopped more to get some photos, as I really felt like I was truly seeing the this part of the country for the first time, even though I had been there before.
Anyhoo, I made it to Flagstaff, and of course the hotel said no to early check in, so off the the Canyon I went. I decided to drive the more scenic highway 180 since it would put me at a higher elevation where I would get to see some Aspen in bloom. It does take longer, as you have to wind through downtown Flagstaff for a bit, then there are two serious school zones as you are getting out of town. However it is worth it as you get to drive through the San Francisco Peaks, mountains that are the remains of a good number of ancient cindercone volcanoes that surround one large stratovolcano, Humphrey's Peak, that formed in the area 2.8 million to 200,000 years ago. The field of volcanoes in the area covers an area near 50 miles and includes approximately 600 total volcanoes.
Flagstaff is in a beautiful setting, but I also paid the most for gas here than I did anywhere else on the trip, $2.59 per gallon. The problem was I should have got gas closer in to town, instead of driving out first. Still this was relatively cheap in my mind as opposed to my last trip in May to Portland where the gas was something like $2.80 per gallon. After the gas up, about half-way up to the south rim of the Canyon, I did catch a couple of photos on the way up...
One of the peaks, with just a little color showing...
Sort of cool old cars I saw at a convenience store/tourist trap shop in Valle, AZ...
When I arrived at the National Park, I went ahead and bought an America the Beautiful Pass for $80.00. I thought it would be well worth it as it affords free admission to any national park, national recreation area, national historic site, national monument, or any other fee area that is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, or National Forest service. I had hoped to get one at Tent Rocks, but they did not have any to sell. Anyway, since the Grand Canyon entry alone was $30.00, I knew I would get more than my money worth in the next year that it is valid.
The main reason I chose to do this trip at all was because I had long wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I anticipated the wonder and awe of it all, and the closer I got to the rim, I started feeling really emotional. I have had very strong emotional reactions my entire life to seeing iconic natural wonders, remote places, sacred spaces, or even peices of art I had admired for years. I had hoped that seeing the Canyon would do the same. It did up to a point. That point was the mass of humanity I was sharing the view with. All along the rim there were masses of people, masses of people on the shuttles, in the shops, on the trails, and in the parking lots. I had been told that I would run into fewer people at the north rim, but since I was not able to budget a stay there in my trip, I had to do with what I did. Even with all this, the views are majestic, and in hindsight I think I should have turned on some inspiring music and kept my earbuds on. I did get a few photos I liked though.
Gratuitous selfie with a canyon behind me. I think this was at Hermit's Rest...
The drive was pretty uneventful as drives go - lots of open space interrupted by formations that I could tell were either former volcanic flows that have eroded, or raised layers of sandstone from ancient coastal erosion. One of the reasons I scheduled this trip to begin with is that I am a bit of a geography and geology freak. I always have been fascinated by earth processes as well as cultures, and lord knows there is plenty of both in New Mexico and Arizona where there often the native culture is very strongly tied into the geography.
The last time I did this drive, I was in May 1982 when I was 18 with a group of other college students from NC and TN. We were winging out way west to California to make what we thought would be a fortune selling dictionaries. Yeah right. Anyway, My impression back then was that the drive between Albuquerque was nothing but a wasteland until we got to Flagstaff where the San Francisco Peaks offered what I considered to be sufficient "scenery". Funny how things changed. I absolutely loved driving through this way where the landscape sometimes was seeming flat and unending, but then suddenly there were beautiful cliffs allong a canyon wall off the highway, or mounds of fractured rocks that had been weathered by wind and blowing sand. If I had not been on the agenda to make it to the Canyon, I would have stopped more to get some photos, as I really felt like I was truly seeing the this part of the country for the first time, even though I had been there before.
Anyhoo, I made it to Flagstaff, and of course the hotel said no to early check in, so off the the Canyon I went. I decided to drive the more scenic highway 180 since it would put me at a higher elevation where I would get to see some Aspen in bloom. It does take longer, as you have to wind through downtown Flagstaff for a bit, then there are two serious school zones as you are getting out of town. However it is worth it as you get to drive through the San Francisco Peaks, mountains that are the remains of a good number of ancient cindercone volcanoes that surround one large stratovolcano, Humphrey's Peak, that formed in the area 2.8 million to 200,000 years ago. The field of volcanoes in the area covers an area near 50 miles and includes approximately 600 total volcanoes.
Flagstaff is in a beautiful setting, but I also paid the most for gas here than I did anywhere else on the trip, $2.59 per gallon. The problem was I should have got gas closer in to town, instead of driving out first. Still this was relatively cheap in my mind as opposed to my last trip in May to Portland where the gas was something like $2.80 per gallon. After the gas up, about half-way up to the south rim of the Canyon, I did catch a couple of photos on the way up...
One of the peaks, with just a little color showing...
Sort of cool old cars I saw at a convenience store/tourist trap shop in Valle, AZ...
When I arrived at the National Park, I went ahead and bought an America the Beautiful Pass for $80.00. I thought it would be well worth it as it affords free admission to any national park, national recreation area, national historic site, national monument, or any other fee area that is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, or National Forest service. I had hoped to get one at Tent Rocks, but they did not have any to sell. Anyway, since the Grand Canyon entry alone was $30.00, I knew I would get more than my money worth in the next year that it is valid.
The main reason I chose to do this trip at all was because I had long wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I anticipated the wonder and awe of it all, and the closer I got to the rim, I started feeling really emotional. I have had very strong emotional reactions my entire life to seeing iconic natural wonders, remote places, sacred spaces, or even peices of art I had admired for years. I had hoped that seeing the Canyon would do the same. It did up to a point. That point was the mass of humanity I was sharing the view with. All along the rim there were masses of people, masses of people on the shuttles, in the shops, on the trails, and in the parking lots. I had been told that I would run into fewer people at the north rim, but since I was not able to budget a stay there in my trip, I had to do with what I did. Even with all this, the views are majestic, and in hindsight I think I should have turned on some inspiring music and kept my earbuds on. I did get a few photos I liked though.
Gratuitous selfie with a canyon behind me. I think this was at Hermit's Rest...
