29. Monument Valley, Utah and Grand Canyon, Arizona

Dates: December 26-30, 2015

On December 26, we left Moab and drove on the very icy, windy, snow-covered roads towards Gooseneck State Park. The view here was really cool, and we enjoyed walking around to explore this place. We ate lunch staring down into the canyon, and then drove on to Monument Valley. 

The drive was filled with more amazing scenery, which always makes the travel time fly by! 

After a visit to the traditional Navajo hogan we were staying in that night and talking to our host, we learned that our hiking would be very limited without a guide. Most of the hiking and tours in the valley are led by a guide from the area, and hiking was discouraged at this time of year. Since we really wanted to explore the area on foot, we decided to do the Wildcat Trail, which is the only self-guided trail in the park. We started the trail at 4:30pm, and hiked quickly to stay warm and finish before it got too dark. We completed the 6.1km loop around the West Mitten Butte in an hour, which had us finishing with a beautiful sunset. We then enjoyed a traditional Navajo dinner before settling into the Hogan for the night. There was a very strong, cold wind that day, so we were very surprised at how toasty warm our mud hut was that night!

In the morning, we headed towards the Grand Canyon! After a couple hours of driving, we arrived to the mobs of people flocking the canyon. We were shocked at the volume of people, and quickly learned that this was the busiest day of the year! We stopped at a few pullouts to check out the view, and then got great hiking advice at the Visitor Center. We travelled into the little village area on the shuttle provided, had a yummy lunch with a view of the canyon, and then walked a 2 mile trail along the rim. We then drove back Flagstaff where we were staying, and prepped for our big hike the next day. 

After an early breakfast, we set off for our 21.4km hike. We parked and got the shuttle to the South Kaibab Trailhead, starting off on our trail at 9am. There was some ice on the trail, but no snow. We travelled down into the canyon for 2 hours, and then turned at the Tip Off point to travel across the Tonto trail to the Bright Angel trail. The views along the trail were spectacular, and it was a lot easier to enjoy the trail when we were away from the crowds! We enjoyed our lunch along the Tonto trail, soaking up the view and the solitude. At Indian Gardens, we started the trip upwards, which we couldn’t fathom doing in the heat of summer. We got back up to the top after just under 7 hours of hiking, and I felt absolutely fantastic after a little ice cream treat at the top! We then drove back into Flagstaff, stopping at the Beaver Street Brewery for great food and drink! 

Our final day on our trip had us travelling from Flagstaff back to Vegas, with a stop off at the Hoover Dam. We waited in a line up of cars for almost an hour before we were able to walk over the bridge near the dam. We then drove down to the dam and walked around there for a while. It was a cool spot to see, and definitely makes you wonder how they were able to create something of that magnitude in the 1930’s! From there, we made our way back to Vegas. After a little shopping, we got ourselves settled into our room at Harrah’s and ventured out to the Yard House to celebrate the end of another great trip!