Grand Canyon 2019

The start of our long journey began on a Friday morning. We drove all day and made it to Kearney, NE. The next morning, we woke up early and headed to Jay and Karen Pegel’s house in Colorado Springs. The weather was beautiful and we finally made it to the mountains. The guys golfed on Saturday while the boys and Heather played at the park. The next day we headed up to the top of Pike’s Peak. The sky was clear and the views were great. Heather was a little frightened on the way up to the top. She had a hard time looking out the window on the ride up the mountain. The top of the mountains shop was getting renovated and so we had to take a shuttle from mile 16. We saw some big horned sheep on the way up too. In the afternoon the guys went golfing again and the boys and Heather went to Skyzone. The next morning, we headed to Pagosa Springs.

The car ride from Colorado Springs to Pagosa Springs became a memorable one. Along the way just past Pueblo on Highway 160 we saw the Spanish Peaks, two standalone peaks that are extremely high. We then started to climb up the San Juan Mountain range that was amazing. I saw two Elk and one was a nice 6 x 6 just past the Spanish Peaks. We headed to the Great Sand Dunes off of highway 150. We were in complete aww and disbelief on how huge the dunes where and the amount of sand that got built up just below the Sangre De Cristo Mountains over hundreds of years. We hiked across the water that is a river in the early summer. Once we got across, we made it up the first Dune which was very difficult due to the sand being very soft. The sand was also extremely HOT. We wore sandals, which was a big mistake. Our feet at times felt like there were on fire. Heather and Evan headed back after a few photos and Aiden and Dad went up a few higher dunes almost to the top. It’s somewhat unreal to see 30 miles of sand over 700 feet high at the base of a very tall mountain. After the Dunes we did some off roading on a very rough 3-mile rock road up the mountain to see Zapata Falls. It was a long drive, but a short ½ mile hike to the falls. We walked up the stream in between the rock crevasse to see the large waterfall. It was very unique and probably not possible to get to at times depending on the time of year when the snow is melting quickly. We got back on Hwy 160 and drove one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever seen through the San Juan National Forest. The climb up to Wolf Creek at 10,586 was awesome and the decent was just as beautiful. We stopped at Treasure Falls right off the highway. It was short steep hike, but very beautiful. We took some pictures got our feet wet and felt the mist of the tall waterfall. The rainbow from the mist was very pretty, we even got it in some of the pictures. We finally arrived at our resort in Pagosa Springs.

We had a few adventures while staying in Pagosa Springs. We drove to the Piedra River and hiked up a cliff overlooking the river. The river valley down below was quite the sight to see from high up on the cliff. The hike wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t the easiest either. On the way up the cliff we came across the fissures, which were huge cracks in the mountain side. Some of the fissures where over 30 feet deep. We went down in one that was only about 12 feet deep and enjoyed the temperature difference. It was very cool down in the fissure. After our cliff hike we headed to Williams creek reservoir to cool off. We ate lunch and got our feet wet. After lunch we headed to what we thought was Peidra Falls. After heading down a gravel road for over 10 miles and then up a mountain side that only one vehicle could fit on, we ran into a road grader. We had to back up on a steep mountain side and turn around. We ended up going the wrong way. We stopped at the campground and got better directions and headed 8 miles to Piedra Falls. Once at the parking lot we took the short hike to the falls. The falls was worth the drive. It was cool and refreshing. We even saw a trout in the river near the base of the falls. We headed back to the resort to rest our legs.

While in Pagosa we took a trip to Chimney Rock. We hiked up to the monument and took some pictures. We learned all about the Pueblo people and how lived hundreds of years ago. We saw their rock homes, which must have taken a very long time to build. It was very interesting to learn about their history.

After spending 4 days in Pagosa we were on to our next destination. Along the way to Flagstaff we stopped at Mesa Verde. We took the long drive and did the Balcony House tour. It was a little more adventurous since you need to climb a 32 foot wooden ladder along the side of the cliff. Heather was a little nervous driving along the steep roads and especially climbing the ladder and walking up the side of the cliff. The views and the way people lived a long time ago were very educational.

Next stop was the four corners. We had to stop and take pictures. It’s not often that you can be in 4 states at one time. We even had each family member in a different state at once.

We arrived in Flagstaff after a very boring drive through somewhat of a desert. There wasn’t much to see between the four corners and outside of Flagstaff. Once we came up on Flagstaff there was green again along with some mountains. We really liked Flagstaff until we got into the traffic by our hotel. It turned out to be college move in day. We checked in ordered pizza and relaxed for the evening.

The next morning, we head up to the Grand Canyon. It was about a 1.5-hour drive to finally get there. We parked along the side of the road and walked out to a point at the Canyon and starred at one of the wonders of the earth. It’s hard to image that water could create such a canyon. It looked like a picture that an artist drew from every direction we looked. We spent the whole day at the Grand Canyon’s south rim. We started from the very east and then went to the west stopping and taking pictures at every look out point. We climb down on some rock formations that hung out over the Grand Canyon. It was very relaxing and peaceful.

The next day we took a trip to Bearizona to see a wildlife area that you can drive through and see wolves, bears, and other animals right outside your car window. It was a very cool and fun place. We saw a raptor free flight show, which was pretty fun. The owls flew right over our heads during the show. We also saw a Jaguar up close in one of the exhibits. He was very big and pretty.

After visiting Bearizona, we hopped back in the car to our last destination, Sedona. The drive to Sedona was our shortest of the trip. We drove down a few thousand feet with very scenic views. We made it to our resort and relaxed for the night. The next day we set out to hike to Devils Bridge. It’s a somewhat of a hike, but nothing we couldn’t handle at 3.6 miles roundtrip. We really didn’t factor in the 101 degrees heat though. It became a little bit more of a challenge than expected. We made it up to the top of the bridge and the views were amazing. It was totally worth the hike. We ran out of water on the way down because there was a hiker in need. The fire department rescue team was called in to help the hiker get back safely. We made it back to the car and cranked the A/C to cool down.

We also visited Slide Rock State Park. Slide Rock is a creek with rocks that were shaped from running water. The rocks were very slippery and many people slipped and fell. There is also a cliff that we all jumped off of. The cliff was about 10-12 feet high and the boys loved it.

The rest of the week we hung out by the pool and did resort activities. We played junk food bingo one day and everyone in the family won big. We ended up with a ton of snacks for the ride home. We also did a tour of Sedona and saw an 11 million dollar house. Sedona was a great place to visit and we are hoping to stop back again someday in the future.

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