April 7, 2008 - Grand Canyon South Rim

Today Mike and I went to the Grand Canyon's south rim. Before we could get on the road, Mike had to go to the postoffice in Flagstaff to pick up our mail that our daughter forwarded to us here. While he was in line at the post office, he got into a converstion with a local man who told Mike his favorite way to get to the Grand Canyon. Mike decided that he would like to go the route this man told him about. So, we packed up and headed out of Flagstaff. The man was right about the beauty of this route. We were soon in Pondorerosa Pine forests. Mike was impressed at how few dead trees were lying on the ground in the forest. It appears that these areas have been cleaned up for dead wood. Maybe they do this to prevent fuel for forest fires. No matter, the results create a forest that you can see back into.

The forest gradually gave way to Aspen groves, grassland and wide open spaces. The drive from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon was about 90 miinutes long. We got to the Grand Canyon entrance around noon Mountain Standard time, Arizona does not go on Daylight savings time. After going into the park, we followed the rangers instructions and found the parking lot where we could leave the truck and RV. Thankfully, it was cool and we left Molly and Toby in the truck. They really don't mind as long as they get to get out occasionally.

After parking, we headed off to catch a shuttle on one of the three shuttle routes that the National Forest Service provides free to park visitors. We choose to go on the route that had the most scenic stops. We got on the shuttle and got off at the first stop. It was only a very short walk to the rim of the canyon. I thought I would have a great deal of difficulity going to the lookout because I am not good with heights. I did feel sort of weak for a few minutes. The depth of the canyon from the rim to the very bottom is over a mile. Of course, there are many different layers of the rock ledges and there are even some flat mesas, so in most places you don't see straight down and in many places, the drop is sort of stairstepped out so that if you slipped, you would not fall staight down. No matter, I would not want to risk it. I had told Mike that there was no way I was going to ride a mule down the trail or walk down a trail, but after seeing the trail, I think I could go down some distance. The trail is wider than I had imagined. I'm not in good enough shape to try walking back up the trail. The rim is at 7,000 feet above sea level, so it is more difficult to breathe than at sea level. We could see people on mules and walking at different depths on the trails and they appeard the size of ants.

The rest of the day consisted of going from lookout to lookout and being amazed at the view at each place. I was sort of surprised at all the unfenced off areas there are where people walk out and look at the canyon. Of course, it makes sense that the whole rim would not be fenced since the canyon is huge. There is just no way the park service could wall it all. So, basically, people are on their own to watch out for their own safety. I only saw one girl do something stupid. She stood up on the wall and leaned out. Her husband or boyfriend told her to stop. She made him nervous. I don't know why people do stupid stunts like that, but they do.

I was surprised by the number of lodge rooms at the canyon. There were over 1000 rooms up there. There is an old hotel there call the El Tovar. It is over 100 years old. We walked into the lobby and gift shop and then walked around on the grounds. It appears to be a really nice place to stay. There is also a Hopi Indian house on the hotel grounds. We did not have a chance to go into it.

We did make several trips back to the truck to check on the dogs and let them out. We did not leave the park until right at dark. The road we followed from the park was one that would take us to Page, AZ. We followed the rim a long way and there were many places where we could have pulled off the road and looked out on the canyon. Well, actually we could not have pulled off because we had the camper, but someone in a car could easily pull off and see the canyon for miles.

We had a long drive to Page. It was about 2 hours so it was around 9:30 when we pulled into town. We decided to do something new - spend the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Most Wal-Marts allow RVs to park overnight in their lot. It was not a bad experience. The only issue is that you really can't do to much other than sleep because there are no hookups. That was not an issue for us since we are pretty self contained in our RV.

If you ever get a chance to see the Grand Canyon, do it! Like I said before, there is no way words or pictures can convey the magnitude of the canyon. Mike and I would like to see the canyon from the north rim, but the north rim does not open up for about another month. That rim is over 1,000 feet higher than the south rim and there are still issues with snow on the route to the north rim.