Colorado - Utah - Arizona
At the end of the spring of 2015 I was lucky enough to make a road trip heading west (starting from St. Louis MO, my home-base city).
A few co-workers and me took the map, and start sketching a route.
The desert of USA is one of the most beautiful places that I have seen. Full of variety of landscapes, mountains, canyons. desert, deep forest,... It blows my mind how beautiful is out there!
In the following map you can see the route that we created and following I will talk about the stops that we did and what you should expect from it. Let's Explore!
A few co-workers and me took the map, and start sketching a route.
The desert of USA is one of the most beautiful places that I have seen. Full of variety of landscapes, mountains, canyons. desert, deep forest,... It blows my mind how beautiful is out there!
In the following map you can see the route that we created and following I will talk about the stops that we did and what you should expect from it. Let's Explore!
Travel Breakdown
|
Travel InfoIt is true that we covered big mileages in this road trip because we wanted to take advantage of being in Utah/Arizona and try to see all we could in 6 days.
But you can see that the final cost, it was only $125 per person. Almost a vacation that anybody could afford. Just avoiding eating out, camping instead of sleeping in hotels, and sharing the transportation expenses between the travelers made this experience really affordable. |
Saint Louis - Denver (Point B)
A lot of people call me crazy when I go on a long road trips. But this is indeed an important key fact for a low budget traveling.
I always try to drive as long as it is possible because one important reason; car pooling.
In this road trip we were 4 people in the car. Traveling from St. Louis to Denver is around 12.5 h of driving, which it may seem a lot, but shifting drivers every 3 h is not really that much. We left early at night, with the goal to get to Denver in the morning, so we would be driving throughout the night.
I am not going to lie, this road from St. Louis to Denver, can be quite boring, specially at night, basically because Kansas does not have much to see really (please Kansas people don't kill me).
But I would say one thing, at least, for spectacular storms, Kansas is a good State.
Every time I have crossed this states I have seen a big storm in the distance. It is nice to be distracted by a lighting storm while just driving throughout a long, hypnotizing and completely straight road.
Also, lucky me, around 4am needing to fill the gas tank up, I was able to stop in a remote gas station and take a look at the clear pitch black sky, being able to look at what it would be my first milky way watch.
Here a few photos of a lighting storm of this route and my first milky way!
I always try to drive as long as it is possible because one important reason; car pooling.
In this road trip we were 4 people in the car. Traveling from St. Louis to Denver is around 12.5 h of driving, which it may seem a lot, but shifting drivers every 3 h is not really that much. We left early at night, with the goal to get to Denver in the morning, so we would be driving throughout the night.
I am not going to lie, this road from St. Louis to Denver, can be quite boring, specially at night, basically because Kansas does not have much to see really (please Kansas people don't kill me).
But I would say one thing, at least, for spectacular storms, Kansas is a good State.
Every time I have crossed this states I have seen a big storm in the distance. It is nice to be distracted by a lighting storm while just driving throughout a long, hypnotizing and completely straight road.
Also, lucky me, around 4am needing to fill the gas tank up, I was able to stop in a remote gas station and take a look at the clear pitch black sky, being able to look at what it would be my first milky way watch.
Here a few photos of a lighting storm of this route and my first milky way!
Moab (Point C)
In this road trip we didn't stop much in Colorado (only in our way back home), so after the shocked that it is to see a completely flat land become a bast snow mountain land, we took a break getting breakfast close to Glendwood Springs , surrounded by the beautiful landscape.
A few hours more of driving, and soon enough we were at Moab, next to Arches National Park. which is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful National Parks I have been.
You can enter the park heading a few miles north of the city of Moab. In the following link you can download the map of the park in PDF.
A few hours more of driving, and soon enough we were at Moab, next to Arches National Park. which is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful National Parks I have been.
You can enter the park heading a few miles north of the city of Moab. In the following link you can download the map of the park in PDF.
Like its name states, this park is beautifully fulled by arches, stone arches everywhere.
We didn't have time to check out all the places in the park (I am already planning on coming back to discover it fully) but I would say that the main stops in the park are the Parade of Elephants and Delicate Arch.
The Parade of Elephants is a really easy stop of the park. Really accessible for people that don't like to hike much, and it is quite spectacular.
In the other hand, to access the Delicate Arch (symbol of Utah), get ready for a hike. I heard people complaining that this hike was hard, but in my opinion it wasn't at all. It's only like 2 miles of a hike with a few hills, and it is totally worth it.
Indeed, I did it basically running, because I was running out of light for the sunset photo I wanted to take there. And I was totally fine. So I totally recommend it.
Here are a few photos of this magic place.
We didn't have time to check out all the places in the park (I am already planning on coming back to discover it fully) but I would say that the main stops in the park are the Parade of Elephants and Delicate Arch.
The Parade of Elephants is a really easy stop of the park. Really accessible for people that don't like to hike much, and it is quite spectacular.
In the other hand, to access the Delicate Arch (symbol of Utah), get ready for a hike. I heard people complaining that this hike was hard, but in my opinion it wasn't at all. It's only like 2 miles of a hike with a few hills, and it is totally worth it.
Indeed, I did it basically running, because I was running out of light for the sunset photo I wanted to take there. And I was totally fine. So I totally recommend it.
Here are a few photos of this magic place.
