The plan for the day was to drive through the park and exit the eastern entrance and head for Flagstaff. Our first stop was made because there was an elk on the side of the road and I was determined to get a good shot of one. Of course as soon as I parked it crossed the road where it blended in with the brush.
The views along the southern rim away from the touristy area are pretty spectacular.
The last stop before you exit the park is an old stone building that has been turned into a shop (I didn't pay attention to the name of the place which is totally typical for me, lol). The views are unbelievable. You can see all the way past the canyon to the plateau beyond and the view of the river below was much clearer than at the touristy section.
After we exited the park we drove for a long while in the Kaibab National Forest. I thought we may have gotten lost there for a moment because the road just went on and on without a sign and no cell service anywhere. Then we rounded a corner and the plateau opened up before us. It was the most spectacular sight I saw on the whole trip and the one I have no photos of. The only places to stop where on the opposite side of the road and I didn't want to go out of the way when we had a long drive ahead of us. Forget about being at the southern rim at sunset. The place to be would be on the plateau in the Navajo reservation just before you enter the forest to head to the park. It is on my list of places to go back to in the future. I did stop once along the way when the road opened up and a shoulder was available. The route we took to Flagstaff was exceptionally long but so worth the picturesque views.
Sedona.. bright and hot (50 degrees in the Canyon to 85 degrees in Sedona).
It was a whorl wind weekend. As much as my legs ached from hiking along the southern rim on Sunday with 15-lbs of camera gear, by Monday my bum was numb from sitting in the car all day.. and then again on Tuesday driving home.
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