Homolovi State Park, Little Painted Desert Park, Grand Canyon National Park
Don’t blink!! If you do, you will miss one of the best stops along I40!
Winslow, Az is a small town located on Route 66, but is easily overlooked. I have driven I40 many times during my travels, but never knew the secrets this small town was hiding!
Homolovi State Park was created to preserve the Hopi Natives ancestral homes and was our second stop on this Arizona adventure!
Not only was Homolovi State Park beautiful and full of history, it was also the perfect place to call home while exploring the area! On Sunday, we reserved our spots on the tour of Homolovi 4. This site is not open to the public and can only be accessed via a guided tour that happens twice a month. It was perfect timing and I am so glad we were able to see this pueblo.
Now, I know it doesn’t look like much… but if you know what your looking for, this place was boasting with history!!
As we walked up to the butte, right away I started to notice shards of pottery littering the ground! You could hardly walk without stepping on it.
“The Hopi people today still consider the Homolovi part of their homeland. They continue to make pilgrimages to these sites, renewing the ties of the people with the land. The Hopi say that the broken pottery and stones are now part of the land and are the trail the Bahana will follow when he returns.”- AZ state park flyer
There were a few walls still visible and standing, but most of the village has been destroyed over time due to the elements and vandalism. Petroglyphs can also still be seen, but they too have been vandalized over the years.
Homolovi 4 site was oldest of the sites we visited and had the most pottery of them all! Homolovi 2 definitely was the largest but was badly damaged from treasure hunters! Most of the area looked exactly like that movie Holes with Shia LaBeouf… nothing but holes in the ground!! A few walls remained though.
A Kiva was also still mostly intact. A kiva is said to be a ceremonial room used primarily by men and occasionally women.
We also visited Homolovi 1 site, but with its proximity to the river, it has been “reburied” to help prevent erosion. Only a few brick rows can be seen that indicate where rooms would have been.
All 3 sites we visited were so incredibly unique and had their own interesting facts and sights! It is said that no single Homolovi site was lived in at the same time. Each site was constructed, lived in for X number of years, then abandoned leading to the construction of the next site. Homolovi 4 being the oldest and Homolovi 1 being the most recent, the question of why the Hopi people moved in this way is unknown.
Hopi ancestral homeland is not the only thing that can be found in Homolovi State Park though! This state park is home to an abundance of wildlife as well! From Cotton Tail bunnies, Jackrabbits, wild mustangs, and Donkeys to name just a few! I had seen a donkey walk behind my campsite on the first day there… but I hadn’t seen them again until I ventured out to see Homolovi 2 site.
I LOVE donkeys. I have no idea why, but I have always wanted a donkey… so seeing them was spectacular! The white fluffy baby donkey just made my day!
Homolovi State Park alone is a special place worth a stop, but it is not the only secret hiding in Winslow, Az. Little Painted Desert Park is only a few miles down the road and you do NOT want to miss this sunset masterpiece!
The way the setting sun cast the shadows on these million year old layers of rock was indescribable! I have never seen such beauty in my life! The moment I pulled up and got out of the truck, I was flabbergasted.
Places like this always amaze me and, for some reason, they never seem to be on anyones map!
The park Ranger gave me a map of all the things to do in the area… all the “must see” places… and this city park, not more than 15 miles up the road, was never mentioned!! Remember Little Painted Desert Park if you are ever in Winslow, Az. It is off of AZ 87, just north of the state park… go at sunset, you won’t regret it! No hiking involved. Pull up and enjoy the show as the last light of day dances on the hills!!
Winslow is also in great proximity to a number of places worth a day trips drive! Petrified National Forest is about an hour east, and Flagstaff is roughly an hour west… If you really want to get fancy like I did, Grand Canyon National Park is about 2.5 hours northwest!
In all my years, I have never seen the Grand Canyon. Being this close to the National Park, I definitely wanted to take the time to visit it at least once. We got their early and man was it cold!!
20 degrees with a frigid windchill! Absolutely freezing morning but that kept most people away and we practically had the park to ourselves!! We were able to hike and explore, take pictures and never have to worry about another person. Ridiculously early and during the worst weather is how we roll here at Discover The Imagined!!
That tiny orange spec in the center of the picture… that’s Chris enjoying the view in the peace and quiet with not a soul around!
Having the place to ourselves meant we could spend all the time in the world enjoying this moment. The Grand Canyon is truly overwhelming. Its size and magnitude is indescribable and impossible to capture.
Remember, I have a horrible fear of heights so I did not get any pictures looking down… but there was plenty to see looking out!
During our 6 mile hike, we even crossed paths with a gang of elk.
They were not interested in us at all and were slowly eating their way deeper into the wilderness, leaving us on the trail watching them from behind.
After leaving the Grand Canyon, we made one last stop to play disc golf at a course in Flagstaff before heading home. Our days in Winslow were packed with memories to last a lifetime and now, we head to our final stop, Black Canyon City!
We will be spending the month of November exploring this central Arizona region… Hiking, photography, discovery… you know, doing all the things I love!
