Michael Huntley, Author at Traveling Huntleys

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Page, Arizona: Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend

April 13, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 4, 2026

Page, Arizona sits at the edge of something extraordinary — a small city of roughly 7,000 perched on a mesa above the Colorado River, where the Colorado Plateau meets the Navajo Nation, surrounded by some of the most spectacular canyon country in North America. It was founded in 1957 as a housing community for the workers who built Glen Canyon Dam, and it has served as a gateway to the canyon country ever since. From this single base in April 2018, we reached Lake Powell by boat, walked deep into Lower Antelope Canyon beneath Navajo land, stood at the rim of Horseshoe Bend, and drove to the Colorado River at Lees Ferry where the Grand Canyon begins. We could have spent another week and still not covered everything.

Horseshoe Bend the iconic horseshoe shaped meander of the Colorado River near Page Arizona photographed by Michael Huntley travel blogger and photographer from the canyon rim

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Grand Canyon South Rim: RV Camping, Wildlife & Honest Visitor Tips

April 7, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2, 2026

There are few places on earth that stop you cold the moment you see them. The Grand Canyon is one of them. No photograph, no description, nothing fully prepares you for standing at the rim and looking down at 277 miles of geological history carved by the Colorado River over five million years. It’s one of those rare places where “breathtaking” is not an exaggeration — it’s the only accurate word.

We rolled in from Black Canyon City at about 2,000 feet elevation, climbing steadily for three hours through the high desert until the ponderosa pines replaced the saguaro and we arrived at the South Rim at 7,000 feet. The temperature drop was immediate and noticeable — we’d gone from warm desert spring to mountain cool in a single drive. From our base at Trailer Village, we spent several days exploring the rim, watching elk wander through the campground, photographing the canyon in every light, and doing our best to time our visits for the magical hours before the day-trippers arrived in force.

Grand Canyon South Rim sunset with brilliant orange and red light illuminating the layered canyon walls and Colorado River far below in Arizona

Black Canyon City, Arizona: RV Camping, Shooting Ranges & Desert Gardens

April 5, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2, 2026

If you’re road-tripping through Arizona and looking for a laid-back base camp between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon, Black Canyon City, Arizona is worth a longer look. Located about 45 miles north of Phoenix along I-17, it’s easy to overlook — but we spent a week here and discovered it punches well above its weight for outdoor activities, wildlife, and relaxation.

After Petrified Forest National Park and Sedona, our goal was simple: soak up some warmth before heading north to the Grand Canyon, restock at a nearby Costco, and wait on a few Amazon deliveries. What we got was fresh-squeezed juice every morning, daily hot tub soaks, a trip to a world-class botanical garden, and a visit to the largest public shooting facility in the United States. Sometimes the practical stops turn into the best ones.

White peacock butterfly feeding on desert flowers at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix Arizona in late March during spring bloom season

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Sedona, Arizona: Best Hiking Trails, Vortexes & RV Camping Guide

March 31, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Updated May 3, 2026

If there’s one place in Arizona that consistently stops people in their tracks, it’s Sedona. The red sandstone formations rising against a sky that seems impossibly blue, the pine forest threading between the rocks, the creek-fed canyons — it’s one of those places that looks almost too vivid to be real.

We visited during spring break, which meant crowds, parking battles, and tour jeeps on every trail. Even so, Sedona absolutely delivered. We hiked four trails, soaked up a vortex, stayed at one of the best-located RV parks in Arizona, and watched a pair of Great Blue Herons nesting just behind our site. Here’s everything we did and everything you need to know before you go.

Sedona, Arizona

Winslow, Arizona: Meteor Crater, Hopi Ruins & Standin’ on a Corner

March 27, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2, 2026

Most people driving I-40 through northern Arizona think of Winslow — if they think of it at all — as the town from that Eagles song. And yes, we’ll get to that. But Winslow, Arizona turned out to be a genuinely rewarding base camp for three destinations that couldn’t be more different from each other: the Homolovi State Park ruins of an ancient Hopi village, the extraordinary Meteor Crater, and the luminous Little Painted Desert County Park at sunset. We came for a corner and stayed for all of it.

Sandy Huntley on the historic Route 66 main street of Winslow Arizona with classic American Southwest storefronts and clear blue skies

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Petrified Forest National Park & Painted Desert: Our First Visit

March 24, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2, 2026

We’d seen Petrified Forest National Park in photographs for years — those images of logs that look like wood but gleam with purple amethyst and red jasper — and we were skeptical. Would it really live up to the pictures? Driving from Prescott through Holbrook to reach the park, we weren’t sure what to expect. What we found left us completely speechless — and brought us back for a second visit years later. This is the story of the first one.

Panoramic view of the Painted Desert badlands in northern Arizona showing the multi-colored banded hills and vast open landscape of the Colorado Plateau

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