Words & photographs provided by Michael Casatico
This spring break my girl friend and I planned a road trip that would pass through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. With a fully loaded schedule and bags packed to the brim, we hit the road to our first stop, the Grand Canyon. Six hours of driving, two Mcgriddles, a couple cups of coffee and a bag of Takis later, we arrived. The view was marvelous and I honestly was pretty taken back by how massive this gorge in the Earth truly was. We sat on top of a rock dangling our feet over the canyon, a little off the beaten path and enjoyed the next hour just taking in the landscape before we had to get back in the car and head to our next stop, Sedona.
The following morning we woke up to catch the sunrise and hike around Red Rock National park. Sedona is notorious for it’s energy vortexes and bright reddish orange sandstone. After about 10 minutes of hiking, your shoes are covered in this red dust that makes it look like you just set foot on Mars. The scenery was so beautiful, the vibes were amazing, and I wish we could of stayed and explored for another few days. Sedona is the kind of place I could see myself retiring and volunteering for the National Park. I had this epiphany as we were driving out of Sedona and decided to officially add becoming a National Park ranger to the bucket list.
Our last stop in Arizona was going to be in a little city called Page. Here we had a tour booked to go check out the legendary Antelope Slot Canyons. The canyons have been formed over thousands of years of flash flooding and natural erosion. It’s absolutely incredible to think that places like this still exist and are so well preserved. Once again I was walking around with the feeling of being on a different planet. The walls of the canyons were painted orange by the sun, and carved flawlessly by the water. Photos do not do the location any justice, and it is truly one of those places you have to go see for yourself to understand how cool this place really is!
After Antelope we decided to head over to horseshoe bend to catch the sunset. The bluff over looking the Colorado River was lined with families, couples, friends, and photographers everywhere. Luckily we walked right up and found a nice little spot to sit and take in the view. I could have sat there for hours and listened to the wind whistle through the walls of the canyon, but the sun set and it was time to call it a day. Walking away from horseshoe it was hard to process all the things we had seen in the last 48 hours. From San Diego to Mars, who would of thought? It was even harder to believe that there was still so much more to see and explore. Arizona was only the tip of the berg. Next stop… Zion.
