After our second night in the motel in Hurricane, Utah, we were back on the road.

We drove back north to Zion National Park but continued east on Scenic Route 9 past the entrance to the canyon, up a winding road through the sandstone canyons and through a 1.1 mile long tunnel carved out of the hills, with windows cut through the cliff face every so often giving amazing but brief views of the canyons below.

Once through the tunnel we found ourselves in the eastern side of Zion National Park where the towering cliffs of sandstone had given way to shorter, smoother but equally as impressive slickrock. The red, orange and cream sandstone sloped upwards in incredible layered formations, ending in puff pastry-like vertical walls where the road was cut through it.

Eventually the sandstone formations became more sparse and meadows of buffalo surrounded the road, though with red, flat-topped mesas always on the horizon, as we continued our journey eastward, joining Highway 89.

Eventually we descended towards Page, Arizona, a massive red expanse of the desert laid out before us, interrupted by the odd towering butte or mesa. We drove along with the occasional view of Lake Powell until we reached the amazing Glen Canyon Dam, responsible for the massive lake. Similar in size and scale to the Hoover Dam, but just slightly less breathtaking, the dam spans the Colorado between Utah and Arizona, with another impressive bridge crossing the canyon just downstream.

After taking some snaps of the dam, bridge, and a display of fossilised dinosaur footprints outside the visitor centre, we continued across the bridge into Arizona and to Page. We had planned to stay in Page but after realising how popular it was with its proximity to Lake Powell, we decided to carry on towards Flagstaff, which would involve driving around Grand Canyon and some distance south.

We carried on eastward, but stopped shortly after Page, to walk 3/4 of a mile into the desert to an overlook above the epic Horseshoe Bend. Here, the Colorado River makes a 270-degree bend at the bottom of a 1,000 ft deep canyon. After taking in the awesome view and snapping some photos of us as near the edge as we dared go, we got back in the car and continued east.

Soon we climbed into some hills where the road wound around a number of bends, often giving excellent views back over the dusty red desert towards Page. After passing through a canyon cut through a hill we emerged some 6,000 ft above the plains of northeastern Arizona, to an incredible view. The flat ground stretched off seemingly infinitely, only interrupted by canyons cut into the sandstone by rivers here and there.

We descended from the hills onto the flat plains and into the Navajo Nation. Driving along straight roads for miles across the plains, we passed rundown shacks and roadside stalls selling jewellery, arts and crafts. The landscape was always the same, with the red scrubland all around, and mesas rising occasionally from the flat, dusty desert.

Eventually tiredness began to take its toll and we revised our plans, deciding to stay somewhere further north, then driving via the south rim of the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff the next day, rather than doing a loop north from Flagstaff around the rim as we had originally planned.

We eventually reached the town of Tuba City, the only settlement of any size in the area, in the heart of the Navajo Nation. With accommodation scarce, we settled for a basic motel which was fairly expensive compared to what we'd been paying so far. However, it served a purpose and we spent a comfortable night there.

The following morning, we set off on our journey to the Grand Canyon. Stopping off at an overlook by the Little Colorado River at the rim of an impressive sandstone canyon, we bought some Navajo jewellery for Lucy. We continued on our way, heading ever upwards towards the rim of the canyon. The dry, dusty desert slowly became more green as we climbed, until eventually as we entered the National Park at the eastern end of the canyon we were in forests of small pines trees growing in grassy groves.

After entering the park, we stopped at the first view of the canyon at Desert View. From here you could see the canyon coming down from the north, towards Lake Powell, a well as look east over the painted desert of northeastern Arizona. After admiring the view, we made our way west along the south rim of the canyon, stopping at various viewpoints, each giving a new perspective on the massive canyon, almost too big to comprehend.

We eventually reached Grand Canyon village where we boarded a free shuttle bus taking us further west, to Hermits Rest, miles west of where we had entered the park. After stopping to admire the entirely different view here, including the Colorado River about a mile below us, we took the bus back down to the village, stopping off at some other viewpoints.

At every point we stopped, the view into the canyon was breathtaking. Over 10 miles wide at most points, the canyon dropped off sharply from the perfectly flat plateau it is carved into, before levelling out on the Tonto Plain, thousands of feet below. This plain was criscrossed with trails and dotted with brush, and carved down the centre by a narrower valley along which the Colorado River flows.

We made our way back to the car and, canyoned-out, continued on our way south towards Flagstaff. We remained at a fairly high elevation, crossing high plains from the 7,000 ft elevation of the south rim, towards and into the San Francisco mountains where Flagstaff is located. After passing across a fantastic flat meadow surrounded by the snowy mountains and continuing down through the tall pine trees, we emerged in Flagstaff.

We found our way to the old downtown area, situated along the historic Route 66 where 4 or so square blocks of red brick buildings from the turn of the 20th century form a cute but vibrant centre to the town, with bars, shops and restaurants. We found a motel right next to the downtown area and relaxed for the night, only heading out to grab some Thai food for dinner.

The following morning, the weather was amazing. Lucy wasn't feeling well so she stayed in the motel while I went out to do some laundry and see the town centre during the daylight. With that done, I returned to the motel and the two of us headed out for some lunch, finding an amazing BBQ place in the basement of an Urban Outfitters-type shop. The location was strange but the food was amazing.
After our lunch we tried some local beer from the Flagstaff Brewing Co in their sunny beer garden before heading back to the motel to sort out some photos and relax. We stayed there for a while, before having some of our leftover Thai food for dinner and heading out in the evening. We went to another local brewpub where they had a special offer on, with a 32oz jar of their own beer (909 ml) for $5.95, a pretty good deal for good beer. We stayed in the pub, the Lumberyard, until we decided it was time to head back to bed.

The next morning, it was time to leave Flagstaff, but we both wanted to get some hats before we left, as the sun had been taking its toll on our heads over the last few days. We managed to pick up Lucy a hat downtown before making our way west on Route 66. We stopped off at a strip mall on the way out of town to get some toiletries, and I managed to find a hat in a western store.

Fully equipped, we carried on west, following Route 66 as much as possible, and Interstate 40 where the old road had been superceded. We stopped in the town of Williams, Arizona at a classic 50s diner for some lunch and carried on through the deserts of Arizona.

As we headed west, the pine trees around Flagstaff gave way to low scrub again, and the flat-topped, sloping red mesas were eventually replaced once again by the rugged, barren brown hills which had surrounded us on our last trip through the California's deserts. The temperature also climbed as we headed west, reaching a high of 102 fahrenheit as we crossed the Colorado again, back into California.


Not long after crossing the border, we reached the small desert town of Needles where we planned to stay before driving into the Mojave desert and through Joshua Tree National Park the next day. We found yet another motel and settled down for yet another night of HBO before our last desert expedition.