Left New Mexico for Arizona via a drive through the Petrified Forest National Park, an apocalyptic looking place containing giant deposits of petrified wood, which is basically wood that has turned completely to stone. Worth a drive through, but since there’s very little camping done here, I moved on to the Grand Canyon, where I was joined by the boyfriend Ben! It’s been a long stretch alone, and while I make great company, I was tiring of myself. We camped in the park with lots of elk and giant ravens, eventually making our way through the crowds to do a pretty intense hike down the canyon. Of course the intense part came on the way back up when the temperature had climbed to sauna level. But what an enormous crack it is, so much so that it almost looked fake. Quite an amazing thing to see, I’d love to get back for a rafting trip someday. The pictures do a better job of summing up this impressive park.