Grand Canyon with Eileen and Tom

Hi Blog!

We camped in Phoenix, Arizona so that we could attend Spring Training baseball games with Kathy’s sister, Eileen, and her husband, Tom. While making our plans, we learned that neither Tom nor Eileen had ever seen the Grand Canyon. We decided it would be a shame for them to fly all the way from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Phoenix, Arizona and not see the Grand Canyon. So, we added a two night stay at the canyon rim to their Spring Training itinerary.

On Wednesday, March 6, 2019, we drove straight up to Tusayan and stopped for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. After lunch, we walked over to the National Geographic Visitor’s Center to watch the IMAX movie all about the canyon. If you’ve never seen this film, you need to put it on your bucket list. It makes you feel like you are flying through the canyon and rafting on the rapids.

After we bought a few souvenirs, it was time to enter the park. Before checking into our hotel, we stopped at the National Park Visitor’s Center for the National Park movie and more souvenirs! Once we finished our shopping, it was time for Eileen and Tom to get their first look at the Grand Canyon.

Here they are standing on the rim:

This first view was taken from Mather Point, situated at just over 7,000 feet elevation.  It is named after the park's first superintendent, Stephen Mather. Far below and hidden from view is Phantom Ranch, at the canyon's base.

A week before Eileen and Tom were due to fly out, parts of Arizona received 40 inches of snow! As you can see from this photo, some of that snow is still hanging on. Our weather was cloudy and very windy, but we avoided any further rain or snow.

After checking into Kachina Lodge, we walked the Rim Trail to Bright Angel Lodge, where we sampled some local Arizona beer and enjoyed quesadillas and tater tot nachos.

The next morning, we took the Hermits Rest bus tour. Most of the Hermit's Road experience is due to its historic significance. The road was designed in 1934-35 by the Bureau of Public Roads and the National Park Service. From March through November, this road can only be accessed by shuttle bus. Here we are at the first view stop.

Our next stop was Hermit's Rest, at the far end of Hermit's Road. The building was originally constructed as a rest stop for the short stage line that ran from El Tovar to this location. The approach to the building is marked by a small stone arch along the original pathway from the parking area to the building. The stone arch is topped with a broken bell acquired from a Spanish Mission in New Mexico by Mary Colter, the architect who designed several of the most famous structures at the Grand Canyon.

At Hermit's Rest, there is a gift shop and food service, as well as trailhead parking and picnic facilities.  The building itself was constructed in 1914 and designed by Mary Colter. A path from Hermit's Rest is the "unofficial" start of the Hermit Trail which leaves the rest area and follows the rim around before descending below the rim all the way to the Colorado River.

Our bus drive gave us 30 minutes to explore, so we walked around the rim to the official trailhead. Here is what we saw:

The views along the rim were constantly changing as the clouds flew by.

In 2013, we actually visited Hermit's Rest twice. One day we rode our bikes along the Hermit Road and stopped at all the overlooks. The second day, we hiked the Hermit Trail. Here is a link to our hike on the Hermit Trail. In memory of that event, we all posed for a trailhead selfie!

We finished our morning with a stop at Bright Angel Lodge for lunch. After lunch, we decided to drive out toward the east entrance. Our first stop was the Desert View Watchtower.  Constructed in 1932 as a replica of a prehistoric Indian tower, the tower commands a magnificent view of the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert to the east and the San Francisco Peaks to the south. Mary Colter's goal was to build a tower that would provide the widest view possible of the Grand Canyon while keeping harmony with its natural surroundings. The Watchtower first opened in 1933 and is at the eastern-most point of the Grand Canyon's South Rim. This seventy-foot tower is the highest point on the South Rim and its interior walls of the tower feature murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.

Kathy and Tom climbed the spiral staircase to snap this view.

While Eileen and David stayed below, their view was no less impressive.

After the Tower, we actually left the park in search of the Little Colorado River Canyon. However, there was a Navajo craft market set up just outside the park. That was as far as we got before shopping and heading back into the park. We decided to stop at a few of the overlooks we passed on the way back.

One overlook gave us a great view of the Bright Angel Trail, Indian Garden Campground and Plateau Point. Back in 2013, we had backpacked down and stayed overnight. If you are curious, you can click the link to our old blog.

We made several stops looking for the elusive "duck on a rock." We never did find it.

However, we did see this really cool mesa with the painted desert behind it.

We finished our day with a great meal at El Tovar. In the morning, we drove back toward Phoenix via Sedona. While we missed the duck on the rock, we did manage to find Snoopy Rock.

We also made a stop at the Rock Springs Cafe in Rock Springs for pie! Nothing says you are on vacation like pie for dinner!

And so ends another grand adventure. Stay thirsty my friends!

Hello Old Friend... our third visit to the Grand Canyon

Hi Blog.  Today is Friday, May 17, 2013.  This was our first full day in Tusayan, AZ - Gateway to the Grand Canyon.  After getting Eddie and George up this morning, we took the shuttle bus into Grand Canyon National Park.  After arriving at the Visitors Center, we hopped another shuttle to take us over to the Backcountry Permit Office.  We are going to try and get a camping permit for the Indian Garden Campground, which is about half-way to the bottom of the canyon.  We have to go back tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. to see if we scored a permit.  Wish us luck!

We wanted to do a day hike today to get ourselves acclimated to altitude and dry conditions.  Since this is our third visit, we had already done some of the big trails - Bright Angel and South Kaibab.  We picked a hike at the very western end of the South Rim which we had not visited before.  The shuttle bus took us out the 8 miles to Hermits Rest, a small tourist shop and snack bar.  It was time to leave the tourists behind and drop down over the rim.

The Hermit Trail began as an old Indian route.  It was improved by the prospectors looking for gold, and then further improved by the Santa Fe Railroad.  The railroad would bring in visitors to the canyon rim and then bring them down to the river on mules.  There are remnants of the old Hermit Camp about 7 miles down from the rim.  It is another mile and a half to the river from the camp.  That was a little too far for us today.  We set our sights on a shelter about 2.1 miles down known as the Santa Maria Spring.

The weather was windy and overcast, but that actually helped us stay cool during our four hours of hiking.  No matter how many times we see the Grand Canyon, our first impression is "this can't be real." It is like a movie set backdrop.  It is just too huge to comprehend.  It looks like a giant matte painting.

Here we go.  There were definitely times you felt like the trail was just going off into thin air.

Sometime we just had to stop and take it all in.  The colors were constantly changing.  When the sun went behind the clouds, the bright reds turned to a deep purple.

We had to watch our step, not just because we didn't want to trip and stumble over the edge, but to avoid stepping on the little lizards sunning themselves on the trail.

Here is one section of trail that still shows the improvements made by the Santa Fe Railroad.  The cobbles were laid to make traction for the mules.  However, they are horrible to hike on.  You slip on the way down and get blisters on the way up.

The trail levels out a bit as we get closer to the Supai Formation - the really cool red formation which you can see to the right.  If you look closely, the trail goes under those large rock outcroppings.

Every once in a while, we can get a peek further down into the canyon.  Actually, Dave gets to look because Kathy won't get that close to the edge of the trail.

Now, if you look real close, you can see Kathy looking up from a few switchbacks below.

It look Dave a few minutes to catch up, so Kathy just plopped herself down and enjoyed the view.

Here is Dave checking out the cave area formed by those large rocks hanging over his head.

Just as we went around the corner, we could see our destination.  There is a hiker saying that if you can see your destination, it takes you twice as long to reach it.  We tried not to look, but we couldn't help it.

Yeah, we made it.  While the spring is barely a trickle, the old tub the railroad installed to catch the water still works.

The best part of making it to the shelter - the double rocking chair!  It says "restbit," and we did.

After cooling down, having a snack and chatting with fellow hikers, it was back to the rim for us.  By this time, it was getting pretty cloudy and we got sprinkled on a couple times.  We didn't take many more photos.  All our attention was focused on getting back to the top.  Our reward was a Fat Tire at the Bright Angle Lodge.  We love hiking because it makes beer taste that much better!