Well
so much for nice Arizona desert weather.
It was snowing when we entered the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. And it was really cold, brrrr, in the low
30’s. We are staying here for six days. So hopefully the snow will stop and the
weather will clear up. It would be nice
to see some views of the canyon during our stay.
The
GRAND CANYON is America’s number one
natural wonder. It is 277 miles long, 1
mile deep and 10 miles from the South Rim to the North Rim. It is estimated to be 5 to 6 million years
old. The rock layers on the bottom of
the Canyon, where the mighty Colorado River is, dates back some 2 billion years. James Ohio Pattie, the first American to lay
eyes on this Canyon called it “horrid”. Today’s
5 million visitors a year think otherwise.
May 8 – 13: We are camping inside the National Park at Trailer Village. This is a very nice campground with full
hookups. The sites are paved and
spacious. There are pinyon pines and
juniper trees all over the grounds. We
did not have any trees on our site though.
We really did not need the shade as it was fairly cold during our stay
and we needed the sun to warm us. This
campground had clean bathrooms, but the showers and laundry were at another
location and you had to pay for the showers.
There was no cable or antenna TV or WiFi in the campground, so that made
it rather primitive, right? But you
could get a pretty strong WiFi signal where the showers and laundry were. So after showering we sat in the car and
surfed FACEBOOK and got our e-mail.
We
had to set up camp in the snow. And it
was snowing hard, but it was not staying on the ground. It was however, wet and cold. My job in setting up is all inside. Dave’s job is unhooking and leveling the
trailer as well as attaching all the hoses and cords for power, water and
sewer...all outside work. I stayed dry,
Dave got wet, but I felt bad for him.
h Kitties taking a nap while snowing outside.
One day we had Elk roaming the campground. Here they are grazing in front of our
trailer.
h The cats are curious and unsure of what that is.
It
snowed the first two days of our visit to the South Rim. We did check out the view at the El Tovar
Hotel. We had a nice view of the white
out from snowing. So we had a nice lunch
at the El Tovar Hotel, checked out the Visitor Center and gift shops at Grand
Canyon Village. We found the library
where we could get free WiFi. And we got
a temporary library card so we can check out DVDs from their vast collection of
TV shows, old movies and recent releases.
What a life.
But the next day – it was a total whiteout.
No viewing today. So we shopped, relaxed,
and ate lunch.
Lunch at El Tovar
Desert selection – too full to have any.
Finely,
on the third day, we had sun. After a
Mother’s Day breakfast at El Tovar Hotel we walked the rim and took in the
spectacular views of the mighty Grand Canyon.
For three days we had sun with some clouds and warm days. We took the shuttle bus and stopped at every
view point from the Watch Tower to Hermits Rest. Here are some of the many pictures we took.
Views
from the Grand Canyon Village area
Maricopa Point h
Bright Angel Trail.
Lots of people hiking it today; some wearing sandals and some not carrying water????
Bright Angel Trail going through Indian Gardens (green trees).
In the early 30's, it was an upscale tent camp.
Today it is just a resting point with water and toilets.
h Bright Angel Trail
Views from the Desert View Road (East)
Yaki Point See the face?? i
h Shadow selfie at Yaki Point
Watchtower
hDesert View at the Watchtower
Views from the Hermit's Rest Road (West)
You must take the shuttle to visit the view points along Hermits Rest Road
Pima Point – Colorado River
We
did take one day and drove into Flagstaff.
Dave needed a haircut (we found a Supercuts) and we found a Sam’s Club
(no COSTCO in the South). We stocked up
on water and other supplies. We found a
Cracker Barrel and had lunch. By the
time we were ready to do some touring in the historical section of Flagstaff, it
was too late. We wanted to get back to
the trailer before dark and the cats were probably crying to be fed.
The
South Rim of the Canyon was very crowded.
People and cars congested the Grand Canyon Village. We were very lucky to find a parking
place. Dave is blessed and favored by
the “parking fairies”. We always find a
space. The shuttle buses are a very good
thing. It keeps the car congestion and
noise away from the view points, which sometimes ruins the effect. The shuttles are free and pass the viewpoints
every 10 to 15 minutes. We saw crowds of people at most of the National Parks we have visited so far,
the Grand Canyon was the most crowded.
We saw lots of rental trailers and also a new kind of camper; “ESCAPE
Campervans”. These vans really stuck out
because each one of them was painted with different bright colors and patterns
and scenes. You could not miss
them. These would be convenient and
perfect for one or two persons.
In
several of the National Parks that we have visited so far, stations with pure
spring water are available to refill your bottles, for free. They are located at several of the
viewpoints. The water tastes delicious
and it’s cold. And it prevents the
problem of plastic bottles littered all over the parks. Good idea!!
We
also noticed very little English spoken at all the National Parks. The Parks are saturated with visiting families from other countries speaking all kinds of languages. That explains
all the rental trailers. But of course
they would be visiting our country. We
have the best National and State Parks in the world!!
We
are off the visit the North Rim of GRAND CANYON. This side of the canyon does not open until
May 15th. The Campground we
are staying at opens May 14th; the day we arrive. We are hoping this side will be less crowded. See you there.
