"Hiking" to Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

During our roadtrip from Las Vegas, Nevada to Austin, Texas we wanted to see a lot of the spectacular nature in the south west, especially in Utah and Arizona. We had planned a stop at Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, to get a glimpse of the Grand Canyon before moving on to Sedona from stops in Zion and Bryce Canyon.

We knew it was close to the city Page, but we didn't have any specific directions and headed towards the local tourist office in Page. On our way to the tourist office, I'm not kidding here, we passed at least ten different churches next to each other on the same curved road. There they were, church after church, religion after religion, quite interesting when you think about it. Anyway, that's not the funny part of the story.

The very kind lady in the tourist office gave us map and directions to Horseshoe Bend. She also told us it was important to have solid hiking shoes and to bring enough water. Well, since we hiked a bit before, we took her directions quite seriously and drove for about 5 minutes to get to the parking lot where all Horseshoe Bend-hikers gather before starting the hike. We kitted up as usual by packing our backpacks with water, an extra sweater, some power bars and the camera gear.

Based on the number of people at the parking and their choice of clothes, our suspicions started already here, but we take hiking seriuosly, locked the car and started on our way. We walked up the first hill and realised that's the only hill and that it takes like 5 minutes to climb, and then it's a gentle slope downhill for like another 15 minutes along a marked path until you're at the bend. People around us were wearing flipflops and we had our hiking boots on, feeling just a tiny bit stupid, but hey the views are truly spectacular and definitely worth the 20 min walk!

If you would like to know more about the entire road trip, you're always welcome to check out our American Southwest road trip article.

/Jessica