#1 Road Tripping Across the United States
Hi! Hi! Hi! We are so excited to share the first country we traveled in together. Yes, we have traveled around together to several different locations across the United States — such as Lake Tahoe, Seattle, Newport Beach, Malibu, Venice Beach, and several rock faces and mountain trails across Colorado, but this specific trip was a special trip, this trip was our farewell to America tour (for the next six or so years) and we want to share our journey with you. This trip was an amazing 10 day road trip across the southwest of the United States. Join us below as we share our trip from Colorado to California, stopping and hiking at every national park along the way.
Stop 1: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Our first stop was the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. Sand dunes in Colorado? No way! Yes! And they are the tallest dunes in North America. Although most of us might equate sand dunes with warm weather and the ocean, these dunes are tucked up right against the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. In the distance on a clear day, you can see Blanca Peak and Crestone Peak, a couple of Colorado’s southern most 14ers (14,000+ ft mountains). However, as you can see in the pictures below, there was quite a snow storm when we stopped there the day after Christmas and we could barely see 100 yards! Nevertheless, we were able to get in some hiking and admire the beautiful snow covered dunes.
Michael had always wanted to travel to these dunes since grad school at Colorado State University. A lab mate of his used to describe how stunning they were, especially during spring when the snow melt meanders across and down the dunes, covering the landscape with new temporary streams each year.
We can’t wait to go back during milder climate to camp, snowboard the dunes, and explore what more the park has to offer!
Stop 2: Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
Our next stop was Page, Arizona. There we were able to see the Upper Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe bend. Most of the slot canyons in and around Page require a guided tour because most of them are located on Navajo land and there is a serious danger of flash floods during the monsoon season. In 1997, 11 tourists were killed in the Lower Antelope Canyon from a flash flood. Since Antelope Canyon is the most photographed slot canyon in the world, tickets often have to be booked months if not a year in advance! However, with Suzy’s persistence to check cancellations every single morning for several months, we were able to secure two tickets to visit Upper Antelope Canyon and it was totally worth it! See for yourself in the pictures below.
What illusions do you see that were created by centuries of erosion?
Antelope Canyon
Just up the road from Antelope Canyon is the iconic Horseshoe Bend. Often referred to as the “east rim” of the Grand Canyon, this horseshoe-shape was carved into the earth by the meandering Colorado River.
The wildest part was the lack of railings for such a large tourist attraction. We believe in leaving things as natural as possible but the overlook is a steep cliff with over a 1,000 foot drop! As you can see with Suzy’s hair, it is really windy up there.
Horseshoe Bend
Stop 3: Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Our next stop was the south rim of the Grand Canyon. This stop was probably one of our favorites because it was breath-taking both figuratively and literally. We wanted to see all of what the Grand Canyon had to offer, we didn’t just want to see what 99% of the other tourists see, we wanted to see the bottom! Seriously, less than 1% of all tourists actually get to see the bottom! So we decided to take on one of the most challenging day hikes that we could find — South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch to Bright Angel. The total mileage according to our GPS was 19.72 miles with an elevation loss of 4,780 feet and gain of 4,380 feet. We set out on the South Kaibab trail at sunrise and finished the hike in the late afternoon. What was really wild was that at the rim it was below freezing and covered in snow and at the bottom is was over 60F! We can’t image how hot it would be in the summer time. Overall, this was one of the most mentally challenging hikes we’ve been on due to several “false rims,” and we have hiked some pretty intense mountains in Colorado.
In the future, we can’t wait to return to hike rim to rim and camp at Phantom Ranch, the base camp at the bottom of the canyon.
Sunrise at The Grand Canyon
Stop 4: Las Vegas, Nevada
After our grueling hike, it was time to take a load off and have some fun in sin city! The rest of our trip was planned around getting to Vegas for New Year’s Eve because we had tickets to see our favorite band — Stick Figure!!
On our drive into Vegas we made a brief pit stop to see one of the most successful construction projects of the 20th century, the Hoover Dam. The dam impounds the largest reservoir by volume in the United States, Lake Mead. What was fascinating to Michael (being a project manager) was that the dam was completed in only 5 years — 2 years ahead of schedule! A rarity in project management in today’s era. Definitely worth a stop and a dam tour if you are ever in Vegas!
In addition to seeing the best band on earth, we were able to get tickets to see Tiesto and Chris Angel and of course indulge in a little bit of craps, blackjack, and Suzy’s favorite — the Wheel of Fortune slots.
Of course Vegas never disappoints but after Stick Figure brought us into the New Year, it was time to say goodbye, for now. But not before stopping by the Seven Magic Mountains on the way out of Vegas. These colorful stacked rocks are a kind of psychedelic Stonehenge in the desert near Las Vegas.
Stick Figure! - NYE 2019-2020
Stop 5: Death Valley National Park, Nevada/California
From Vegas, we headed northwest to Death Valley on our way to several more National Parks in California. Although Death Valley is notorious for being extraordinarily hot year in the summer time, it was actually quite pleasant on New Year’s Day. As we drove through the park as the sun was setting, we had to continuously pull over and take in the beautiful landscapes. We hope we were able to capture what we saw in the pictures below!
Stop 6: Sequoia National Park, California
“I’ve never felt so small in my entire life.” Michael mumbled as he attempted to hug a giant sequoia tree.
Sequoia National Park was our next stop where we embarked on one of the coolest hikes we have ever been on, the Moro Rock Trail. It was Suzy’s first inversion! An inversion is where you hike above the clouds and can see clear skies above and clouds below, see the pictures if it’s still cloudy for you ;). Moro Rock offers beautiful 365 views and a steep climb. With hiking in January, we didn’t see a lot of people on the trail and had complete privacy at the top. The road to the trail closes when there is snow or ice so be aware of those conditions if you ever hike this trail. This short hike can definitely turn into a long one when you have to park at the bottom of the hill. Hiking from the bottom gave us so much more land to explore and we always love that. In one of the pictures below, Suzy is standing underneath the iconic Tunnel Log, it’s wild to imagine cars driving through it everyday.
Beautiful Inversion
Stop 7: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Once we finally made it to southern California, we made our way out to Joshua Tree. Here we were able to tackle the Ryan Mountain trail hike. A moderate/hard 3 mile hike to the top of large hill (we are refraining from calling it a mountain since Colorado is our home) that overlooked a majority of the National Park giving you 360 degree views.
As a bonus, Michael got to drive a Tesla model 3 on autopilot on the way back! That was nerve-racking but incredible, you can see how excited he was in the photo below!
Stop 8: Los Angeles Area, California
A few of our last stops were the Hollywood sign (obligatory for Michael, although Suzy has seen it many times), San Juan Capistrano (where Suzy’s parents live), Dana Point Harbor, and surfing at the San Onofre Beach between San Clemente and Oceanside.
Surfing into the sunset
If you were able to road trip across America, what places would you want to see? Comment below!
Until our next adventure…
Reset. Adventure on.
