Day 5: Tusayan to Springdale

We set our alarms for 6am this morning in Tusayan. Once we'd packed up and stepped outside to get breakfast, we were surprised to find that it was quite a damp, rainy morning. Not what you expect in Arizona! I had been looking forward to wearing my new Grand Canyon cap, but it felt like I might not get chance today.

We were on the road shortly after 7am, driving back into Grand Canyon National Park. The plan for today was to drive through northern Arizona and ultimately cross into Utah. The best way to do that was to drive along a road called Desert View Drive, which goes east along the southern rim of the canyon. We needed to be at a location just outside the town of Page, around 140 miles away, by 10.40. By setting off this early, we were giving ourselves plenty of time to enjoy the viewpoints along the road.

And we really did enjoy the viewpoints

We were looking at the canyon from a slightly different perspective to yesterday and while it was a rather dull morning, the views were still superb.

I was particularly excited when we got to a viewpoint called Duck on a Rock.

If you look at the rock closely, you should be able to see the shape of the duck's head and beak.

At some of the viewpoints where we stopped, the view was slightly restricted by trees.

At others, we had really clear views of the Colorado river down below.

I don't think I'd ever get tired of looking at the Grand Canyon!

We did need to progress with our journey though, because we had a busy day of activities planned! So after a final look, it was back on the road

The day continued to be quite wet as we continued through Arizona. You can probably see some raindrops on the windscreen here.

There was some spectacular scenery, particularly as we got closer to the town of Page.

By this point we had crossed into the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the USA. 

Antelope Canyon X

We had come here to visit Antelope Canyon, an attraction you may never have heard of. But, if you saw a picture of it, you would very probably recognise it; the canyon became famous after Microsoft used a photo of it as a desktop background for Windows 7!

It's a very photogenic place and in the era of Instagram, the original Upper Antelope canyon which featured on Windows has become a very busy and overcrowded place to visit. We were visiting a slightly different – but equally photogenic – canyon called Antelope Canyon X.

Because the canyons are on land that belongs to the Navajo Nation, you are only allowed to visit as part of a tour with a Navajo guide. We don't normally enjoy being part of guided tour groups, but on this occasion we felt like it was going to be worth a try

We arrived at the starting point for the tour and checked in. Our group boarded one of these large white vehicles and was driven a few miles down the road towards the canyon entrance.

We then had a steep downhill walk via a series of staircases.

Then we got our first glimpse of the entrance to the canyon.

Antelope Canyon is what is known as a slot canyon.

It was formed by the erosion of sandstone rock by flash flooding.

Flash flooding still occurs, so we were lucky that it had stopped raining and turned into a bright sunny day now; otherwise our tour would have been cancelled.

Our guide explained that recent flooding had resulted in lots of sand being washed into the canyon, which they'd had to try and dig out. We could see the big pile of resulting sand just outside the canyon entrance.

We were touring the canyon in a small group of around 12 people. Our guide was really good at pointing out the best places to take photos and making sure that everyone got a chance for a good shot.

She even helped advise on the best settings to use on your phone to make sure that the red colours of the canyon walls came out.

She took a photo of us together too  

When you see people alongside the canyon walls for scale you can really see how huge it is.

The wave-like shapes of the canyon walls almost don't look real. 

It's such a beautiful place

Walking through the canyon was a lot of fun. It was sandy underfoot, but mostly quite flat.

In places it was quite narrow.

There is a different part of the canyon – Lower Antelope Canyon – where the tour involves climbing up and down on ladders. I deliberately hadn't booked us on to that!

The part of the canyon we were visiting was divided into two bits. We emerged from the first part and began walking towards the second.

Even outside of the slot canyons, the scenery here is quite spectacular.

I really loved the red colours of the sandstone.

We came to the entrance of the second part of the canyon.

This part gives the canyon it's name: Antelope X. Our guide told us to look upwards, and we could just make out an x-shape in the roof of the canyon.

Tim captured it best in this photo

That was really cool to see and this side of the canyon was really beautiful too.

We'd ended up at the front of the tour group, which meant it was easy to get good photos without anyone else in them

It was hard to resist taking a photo every time we turned a corner.

Eventually we emerged at the far end of the canyon.

The rest of the tour group were still a bit behind us, taking their photos.

We admired some more of the canyon walls while we waited for them to catch up.

This was definitely one of my favourites

Once everyone had caught up, it was time to turn around and make our way back to the starting point.

Our guide took another photo of us by one of the prettiest walls

Then it was back through the sand ...

... and up the enormous staircases.

Getting back up was tiring, but it was such a unique place to visit that I definitely don't regret it

Horseshoe Bend

On the agenda for the rest of the day, we had another rather unique place: Horseshoe Bend. We visited Horseshoe Bend back in 2022 and we loved it so much that it was hard to pass up the opportunity to see it for a second time when we were just a few miles away. 

We drove down the road for a few minutes, paid $10 to park, and then began a short walk through the desert.

The route is only about 1.5 miles as a round trip, so it wasn't long before we got to the spectacular viewpoint which we remembered from 2022.

Horseshoe Bend is a place that got very popular on Instagram a few years ago, so there were tonnes of people there today. But that didn't detract from how stunning the location is.

The Colorado river – the same one that flows through the Grand Canyon – makes a huge loop in a horseshoe-shape here.

The viewpoint we were at is about 300 metres above the river, which is why the views are so fantastic.

Though it's sometimes difficult to get a photo of the view without other people in it  

We experimented with taking selfies from a few different angles.

It was a bit challenging to fit ourselves in, and the bend too!

Some people were clearly here for more elaborate photo shoots than us!

We climbed a little bit higher up the rocks and found a good spot which was a bit less busy.

The new selfie stick I've got is really great

And I eventually got to wear my Grand Canyon cap, although it was a bit windy so I had to be careful it didn't blow away down to the river.

For some photos it felt safer to take it off  

After a final look at the view, we set off back to the car and drove into Page to get some food. We both had variations on breaded chicken for lunch. Mine came with a side of macaroni cheese ...

... while Tim's came with the white sauce that American's call gravy.

Onwards to Utah

We had a further two hours or so of driving ahead of us to get to Springdale, our destination for the evening. Springdale is in Utah, and it wasn't long before we were crossing the border into a new state

We'd had a fantastic day in Arizona, but the scenery in Utah seemed pretty impressive too.

At first everywhere was quite sandy ...

... then later the rocks began to look redder ...

... before ultimately turning sandy again.

The plan for tomorrow is to visit Zion National Park and we got a sneak preview of it this evening, as our route took us right through the middle of the park.

It looks like another really beautiful location.

We've seen so many beautiful places within the past few days that it already feels like we've been on holiday forever!

The road took us through a long tunnel ...

... and then we emerged to more incredible scenery.

Within another couple of miles we'd arrived in the small village of Springdale, just outside the park limits. We're only staying here for one night but we've got a really nice room where we could definitely have stayed longer.

It has been another long day of driving though, so after catching up on the blog it was definitely time for an early night!