Monday, July 24, 2017

White Sands to Grand Canyon (563 miles)

Day 3 of the journey was a long 8 hour drive to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Ever since I was little visiting the Grand Canyon had been on my list of places to see. But, for whatever reason was always shoved aside in order to visit family in Mexico or Mickey Mouse in Orlando. Sorry, Dad. 

WHERE WE STAYED

Fran and I spent a lot of time researching what to do and see at each of the places we went to but, confession: we did not spend much time looking into where to stay. This would come back to bite us in the butt on more than one occasion (which I will spill the details about later). Turns out, that normal people book their stays months in advance when camping at the national parks. Go figure. 

When we pulled into the Grand Canyon, keep in mind, it was our first national park of the trip and by far, one of the most popular ones. There was a 20 minute wait to pay for our entrance fee and then another 10 miles or so until we hit the actual Grand Canyon surrounded by tourist shops and "log" cabin resorts. We knew we would not be looking into staying at one of the resorts (too hokey/expensive) but Fran had looked into off shoot camping. We figured, worst case scenario we could turn into one of those drives or suck it up and stay at the Flinstones campsite about 50 minutes outside of the park. 

We were willing to be flexible but, stayed optimistic in hopes of landing a campsite within the actual park. So, we drove to one of them, parked, got out and waited another 10 minutes to talk to one of the Rangers. When we told her we didn't have a reservation she literally looked at us and laughed. At this point, I remember glancing at Fran and grimacing, thinking that we would have to drive back out to stay with Fred & the gang in that aging park. By some stroke of luck, the park ranger went over to consult with her colleague, came back and gave us the good news: there had been a cancellation and we had scored ourselves a site for the night!

Spoiler alert: this will be the only national park we will have gotten the opportunity to camp within for the rest of the trip. Scoring the campsite this early on continuously fed my well of optimism only for it to be dashed time and again because Americans seriously bag these campgrounds so early on. I will stubbornly not realize their popularity (and the rarity of getting ahold of one) until the very end. 

WHAT WE DID 

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon sometime around 7pm, we immediately walked over to see it. It was absolutely breathtaking. So large. So massive. So beautiful. 



The next morning, we were up and moving by 5am in order to hike down into the canyon before it got too hot or crowded. We had decided to take the "Ooh Aah" trail (yes, I promise that's it's actual name). It was by far one of my favorite moments of the trip. The weather was absolutely perfect: a brisk breeze with sunshine guiding our way. The hike down to the point was rather quick (maybe a mile or two). I wanted to stay on the rocks all day taking in the scene before us. 



The hike back up, was a whole different story...

As easy as it was to go down, coming up took forever! I hadn't realized just how steep the inclines were until my legs protested the climb up to the top. Luckily, my bladder, hunger pangs and Fran's encouragement helped propel me back. If not, I would still be somewhere on that trail hoping a burro would pick me up on the way back. 

And, for the record, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. 



Tip: the bathrooms at the beginning of the trails are "no flush" toilets. Never have I been more scared of creatures coming up from within non existing plumbing to grab me by the unmentionables. If at all possible hold it until you get back to the visitor's center!


WHAT WE ATE

For the Grand Canyon, we had stopped beforehand at a grocery store to load up on sandwich staples 
and snacks. Everything I had read on the inside of the park constantly harped on how overpriced and unsavory items were at the restaurants. And, honestly, they weren't too far off. We stopped for coffee and a muffin after the hike at one of the cafes, paid around $15. Only to have me dump my latte in the trash the moment I took my first sip. 

VERDICT 

The Grand Canyon is a MUST. But, there are a few things to consider. 

First, lodging. Everything will fill up fast. Second, it is beyond crowded. Think Disney level. Which means that no matter what you decide to do when it comes to seeing the canyon, waking up as early as possible is key. We saw very little people on the hike down. But the moment we got to the top, one of the tourist buses must have just dropped off a group because the masses were starting to descend and it was barely 9am. There is obviously nothing wrong with sharing land with other people (hello, who else will take group pictures?) but there was something so special about experiencing the silence of the canyon by ourselves. The peace and tranquility found in that moment made waking up before the sun and any physical challenges entirely worth it.

In the future, I would love to go back further into the canyon. When looking up things to do , I found a package where for $450 a person a guide will take you down into the canyon's river to go water rafting! Upon docking, they will then lead you on a hike up one of the trails before taking you back up into the rim ON A HELICOPTER. Cannot even begin to imagine just how amazing an aerial view of the canyon would be! Of course, I was dying to book it when planning but...we couldn't blow so much of our savings on one stop. As Fran kept reminding me, "this was our dabbling excursion." Therefore, until sometime soon to one of the Seven Wonders of the World

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful! Well said and thanks for the guidelines. Love you Pandi

    ReplyDelete