Oo la la, today we’re talking about kept secrets!

Last fall, my husband and I set out on an ambitious road trip! Seven National Parks in about nine days, in Arizona and Utah. It sounds daunting, but when you start looking at it, the drives in between each of our intended parks were never more than 4 hours. In fact, the average was probably more like 2 hours in between each park, if that. So if you’re ever thinking, I could never hit all of Utah’s Mighty Five Parks in one week, think again. You absolutely can! We added a few days so that we could start with two of Arizona’s gems: Petrified Forest / Painted Desert, and Grand Canyon.

First up, Arizona’s best kept secret: Petrified Forest National Park.

Okay, it’s not really a secret, it’s just (in my opinion) a really underrated park. As our first park of our road trip, I was surprised at how chill it was. As always, the early you get there, the better, but in this case, you’ve got to remember that the earliest this park opens is 8 AM! No sunrise visits if you’re typically an early bird! (Yep, I say this from my desk at the school of hard knocks. We thought we’d go out at sunrise, check out the trails in the early morning, and get done long before lunch. Nope, we ended up going back to our motel and eating breakfast, then coming back out to get in line again to enter. It honestly didn’t set us back that much. Just be aware that you can’t get a sunrise start.)

Everyone has their preferences, but if you want my advice, start at the bottom of the park and work your way up to the main visitor center. If you’re staying in Holbrook, it’s really a straight shot to get out to the park, no matter if you head to the North or South entrance. There are fewer people at the south entrance, and it feels very unassuming. I liked this park being a slow burn, where you grow to love it as you go along.

We made a few pit stops during the scenic drive to see the “forests”, especially at Crystal Forest Trail. The colors that sparkle in these crystalized wood chunks are so pretty. Definitely worth the short hike! Our main event, though, was the Blue Mesa Trail. We were lucky enough to be the only ones on the trail the whole time! (We only ran into other hikers as we exited the trail. Excellent timing, 10/10.)

This trail is so cool. The scenery is gorgeous and otherworldly, and when the sky is mostly clear with just a few clouds painted in the sky…chef’s kiss. There were also plenty more large petrified wood pieces to see along the trail!

To top it all off, we drove up to the northern visitor center, where we got to watch archaeologists clean and organize dinosaur fossils. Which was SO COOL. Mailed off a few post cards, and filled up our water, bought souvenirs (there are at least 2 gift shops here, important info, I know), and then we headed out to: (drumroll please)

Arizona’s worst-kept secret: the Grand Canyon!

So that whole thing about the Grand Canyon being the worst-kept secret…it was BUSY. Busy on a Friday afternoon. Not too surprising, but don’t go here and think it’s going to be easy for you to get a good picture at the hot spots.

We’d love to go back and try more trails, but for this trip, we only did part of the Rim Trail. There are so many little stop-offs that you can take in amazing views of the canyon at, but again, people.

One helpful hint for those of you who like to get pictures with the park signs-the main south entrance to Grand Canyon can get PACKED, and the lines to get in can be super long, which means getting to the south entrance’s sign area can be harder to get into and out of, not to mention, everyone and their brother is stopping there. If you want a more peaceful sign experience, when you head east out of the park (or if you come in from the east), there is a sign you can stop and take a picture with!

Also also, you get a ton more gorgeous views of the canyon as you drive out that way. Let’s say, for instance, like you’re heading to Zion National Park next…hmmm…

To be continued! Thanks for letting me blab about Arizona’s best and worst kept secrets!

Until next time! Til then, follow me on Instagram or on Pinterest to get inspiration for photos and travel!