Traversing Central Arizona

So far in Arizona, we've explored the west side and the east side of the state, but the one route we haven’t done so far is right up through the middle of the state. The only logistical issue here is trying to avoid Phoenix (referred to as the blob that ate Arizona). Our route took us through Tucson and north, then slightly east. We ended up going past Lake Roosevelt, which is apparently one of the reservoirs that supplies Phoenix. This turned out to be a National Recreation Area with free campgrounds, solar-heated showers, nice views and easy access to Tonto National Monument where there are some cliff-dwelling ruins to see. We also had a continuation of the sunny weather we’d been having for the past 2 weeks, so it was a great place to spend a night.

The next day, we pretty much finished off the trip north through AZ. Along the way, we went through some really nice scenery and great areas that will warrant future visits. One notable area was Oak Canyon, between Sedona and Flagstaff. Quite spectacular but apparently somewhat overshadowed by the nearby Grand Canyon.

North of Flagstaff was a volcanic area that we wandered around and another set of native ruins, which were quite nice. Then it was further north to the Colorado River, which we crossed at Navajo Bridge, downstream from Page and the Grand Canyon Dam there. We ended up, sort of by accident, at Lees Ferry, the location of one of the first crossings of the Colorado, at a very scenic area on the Colorado. We spent the next morning wandering around the area and one of our views is in this post's photo. We also saw 3 California Condors, perched on rocks below the bridge.

A couple of more hours of driving got us to Zion National Park, our last place to visit before the long drive straight home.