Two things make a big difference to a trip. Local knowledge and explorer instinct. With our friend David, I stayed up late in the night tapping into the first and swapping the second.
Back in the day, I’d used Google Maps and Google Earth to find random interesting sites off the main trail; he had his own platforms and approaches to do the same. And that’s how we found the “Little Painted Desert County Park” on a lonely back road out of Winslow, Arizona. “I bet that’s beautiful”, he said with so much enthusiasm I felt honour-bound to go check it out. And after a long, snowy drive out of Santa Fe and down the I-40, I did just that.
Say “Painted Desert” out that way and most people will point you to the Petrified Forest National Park. Its northern third – all of it north of the interstate – is a beautiful “painted desert”, a colourful jumbled mass of twisting gullies amongst steep hills. Known as “badlands”, such landscapes are described by Wikipedia as “dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. They are characterized by steep slopes, minimal vegetation [and] are often difficult to navigate by foot”.
 Lunar Crater |
 Wheeler Peak |
 Landmannalaugar |
But at the National Park, you can’t hike in the badlands and you can’t fly a drone over them (for good reasons – no-one wants scores of drones flying around in a crowded National Park). We visited late in the afternoon at the end of a day of sightseeing in the petrified forest section of the Park. It was half an hour before closing as we pulled into the lookout, and an overcast sky dulled the colours. Obviously it would be stunning on a clear evening with bright sunlight, but while still beautiful it wasn’t at its best and we had a long drive ahead.
A few days later in Santa Fe, David and I were discussing what we should do on our way back towards Phoenix. Around Winslow, which was about the limit for how far I wanted to drive in one day, we looked on the paper map for inspiration. There, in tiny script along a straight line of minor country road, stood the words “Little Painted Desert”.
What’s that, he wondered aloud. Within seconds we had our phones up and Google images delivered the goods. Wow! That was definitely at the top of the list. The few reviews noted it was empty and its minimal infrastructure was crumbling, apparently through lack of local funding to keep it up.
We reached Winslow a few days later after a long drive along the I-40 on a stormy, snowy day. We were’t held back by the weather, but it was not nice and I was glad to be sitting at the bar of the Relic Road Brewery that night with a big burger and a craft beer. We walked home through the freezing dark streets and wondered how the day would dawn.
Bright and sunny, that’s how. We were off early and within minutes were zooming up that road I’d known until then as a black, straight line on the map. Snow lay either side on the desert plain but the road was clear and dry and we made good speed. Even the access road to the old county park was clear, and only the road along the rim of the badlands themselves had some snow on it that made me decide to park closer to the entrance.
The moment we climbed out of the car, we knew this place was worth the trip.
An old wooden stair case lay ruined on the slope; Yon tested it and quickly decided it was a bit foolish in those snowy conditions to head down there. Besides, these landscapes don’t react well to footprints and they really call for strict adherence to marked routes. Where there are none, it’s best to stay off completely. The best views were from the rim anyway – except for those from the drone.
There was not a soul in sight for as far as the eye could see, so I pulled out the drone and captured some nice shots, and the video posted at the top of the page.
Sometimes the smaller places punch far above their weight. “Little Painted Desert County Park” in Winslow, Arizona, is a fine example.
