Route 66 Leg 5: Albuquerque to Flagstaff

This KOA has standard RV and tenting accommodations, but also teepees and deluxe cabins. The scenic campground is full of ponderosa pines, and is located less than an hour from the Red Rocks of Sedona.

Two Guns is located 30 miles east of Flagstaff, on the rim of Canyon Diablo. Legend has it that in 1878, Two Guns was the site of a mass murder. Apaches hid from their Navajo enemies inside a cave; when a fire was lit at the cave's entrance, 42 people were asphyxiated inside. The cave, now called the Apache Death Cave, is still accessible by a rickety wooden ladder.

In 1922, Earle and Louise Cundiff purchased the land and built a store, restaurant, and gas station. Three years later, Harry Miller leased the property from the Cundiffs and added a zoo, gift shop, and post office, and began offering tours of the cave. In 1926, the highway that passed by Two Guns was renamed Route 66—and Miller shot and killed Cundiff during an argument (Cundiff was unarmed, but Miller was acquitted).

In the late '60s, a motel, a tavern, new zoo exhibits, a Shell service station, and a KOA campground were added to the site. The service station burned in 1971 and the site has sat abandoned ever since. The buildings are in various states of ruin and the kidney-shaped swimming pool is covered in colorful graffiti, making it a great place for photos. There are rumors that the site also contains buried treasure and more than one dead body. While we can neither confirm nor deny these claims, you might want to bring a metal detector just in case.

Thanks to Standin' on the Corner Park, Winslow, Arizona, is back on the map as tourists once again travel through the heart of town. The park features a couple of statues and a mural of a girl in a red Ford truck, with the flatbed perpetually parked across the street. But this perfect photo op is only the beginning of what Winslow has to offer.

We don’t know for sure that this is actually the world’s largest petrified tree, but it is definitely big, reportedly weighing 80 tons. Stop for a photo, do a little climbing, and then it’s on to the next stop.

Drive through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park in the late afternoon and then stop at Wigwam Village Motel #6 for the night. The rooms of this charming historic motel—located inside individual concrete and steel teepees—are pure roadside kitsch. There are only three remaining Wigwam Motels, and the vintage cars parked outside of each room make this the best one for photos.

Holbrook is a town that’s defied extinction, in more ways than one. It’s one of the rare Route 66 towns that managed to scrape by after the Mother Road was decommissioned. Holbrook is steeped in retro vibes and remains filled with “touristy” kitsch; its proximity to Petrified Forest National Park hasn’t hurt its popularity. Whether you’re trying to find the best deal on gemstones and souvenirs—or you’re in search of as many dinosaur statues as possible—Holbrook is worth exploring. It also happens to be home to the iconic Wigwam Village Motel #6, so you can spend the night and grab a breakfast burrito smothered in red or green chile from Joe and Aggie’s Cafe in the morning.

For a park that's less than 150 square miles in size, it's pretty impressive that more than 600 archaeological sites have been found within Petrified Forest's boundaries. The cryptic petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock were carved between 650 and 2,000 years ago. Visit and try to decipher their meaning yourself.

The 1-mile Blue Mesa trail takes you further into the Painted Desert, where the hills take on hues of gray, purple, and blue. It's definitely not a typical desert landscape—seriously, it looks like you're on a different planet—which makes it well worth a visit.

The Crystal Forest is an easy hike along a paved walkway. The loop, named for the quartz crystals sometimes found in the wood, takes you past piles of petrified wood. It's only three-quarters of a mile, but take your time and enjoy the views.

The eight-room Agate House was likely built between the years 1050 and 1300, and was reconstructed in the 1930s. It was built using petrified wood and is still in remarkably good condition. See it for yourself by hiking the 2-mile round trip trail from the Rainbow Forest visitor center.

Watching educational videos and looking at displays is a good way to get background on the petrified wood, but nothing beats seeing the actual thing up close. It’s a surprising experience to see so many sparkly, colorful logs in one place, and it’s hard to believe that these trees are 220 million years old.

Inside the national park, tour the Rainbow Forest Museum featuring hands-on exhibits and displays. Behind the museum is one of Petrified Forest's best hikes, the Giant Logs Trail. If you're limited on time and looking to get as much out of the park as possible, this is a great place to start.

There's more to Petrified Forest than its eponymous sparkly logs—it's also an important archaeological and anthropological site. Visitors can still check out the sandstone ruins of Puerco Pueblo, a once-bustling community that dates back to the 1200s.

Near Puerco Pueblo you’ll find a spiral petroglyph on a boulder that aligns perfectly with a beam of sunlight for about two weeks near the solstice. The shaft of sunlight travels down the side of the spiral and touches the center as the sun rises, peaking at 9 a.m. If you happen to be visiting outside of the 2-week window, you can still see the boulder and read the informative interpretive sign nearby.

For the best views—and to see how the Painted Desert got its name—head to Kachina Point. Bands of different colored sediment in the rolling hills make for a perfect photo op.

The national park is home to the famous Painted Desert Inn, and even though you can't spend the night here anymore, you should definitely stop in to check out the exhibits (the Inn was originally constructed of petrified wood, until a makeover in the 1930s). Don’t miss the displays of artwork from the park's resident artist program.

The Painted Desert Visitor Center is a good first stop on your tour of the park. It has an educational film, a gift shop, and plenty of petrified wood for sale.