Morning in the Grand canyon! It felt a little crisp – high 50s. Animals didn’t seem to mind. The elk were out and thirsty. Our neighbor didn’t tighten good water hookup ask the way she sat there drinking the drops for 20 minutes.
And if that wasn’t lazy enough, look at this squirrel. Sprawled out chilling on a ladder.
On way back from restrooms, I found a gas cap sitting on a rock 10 spots down from our campsite. Felt bad for poor person who has a car that’s in such bad shape that it’s losing pieces. Got back to campsite and noticed the Jeep was missing it’s fuel cap… Maybe it was leaving a trail of parts so it can remember how to get back home.
For today’s trip to the Canyon, we decided almost randomly to go on an easy hike. I saw a sign pointing to a geology museum that seemed to be on the rim and turned that way. Got a nice parking spot and went to see what the museum had to offer…. But immediately got distracted by the first lookout we came across. The lookouts over here didn’t have the guard rails that the visitor center had and also had very few people. I would shoo the girls back to scope out the edge first, walking very tenderly up in small, stable steps. Most of the ones we looked at had another 5 to 10 foot drop down after the initial edge, so you wouldn’t fall to your death with one wrong step, so we let the girls get a little closer once it was verified “safe”.
Next to the lookout, we found a sign for what looked like an educational easy hike that taught a little about the Canyon and how long it took to carve it, so we started down that path. It connects with the village that we also wanted to see and we could take the shuttle back. More on that later…
It was a nice little hike with several great lookout spots. We did get to a halfway point and dad was panting a bit and asked if we should go back. No way old man, get the lead out. We’ll take the shuttle back.
We eventually made it to the village – Another really nice canyon view with some touristy shops and a couple food options. There were also some hotels and cottages with canyon views that looked cool if you weren’t into the camping thing. Wildlife showed up but was weird. We gave a sad looking squirrel some water, that it quickly drank up without so much as a thank you. Also found two lizards that were either mating or trying to kill each other. Must be married…
Stomachs were grumbling and food lines were long, so we decided to go back for lunch at campsite. Just have to find that shuttle I’ve been promising… We found the shuttle sign and say down to wait, except there was a sign saying it was not running due to covid. Come on Grand canyon management…. We’ve got masks and vaccines now.
Ryan and I volunteered to make the heroic hike back to grab the cars and drive back to pick everyone up. We took the shortcut that was some paved path that went along the road. It was longer than I thought, steeper than I thought, and hotter than I thought. My sandals rubbed approximately .25 inches of material off my gentle IT developer feet in the power walk. After a few wrong returns we eventually made it, grabbed the cars, and saved the day.
We were all fairly worn out and we made a few sandwiches, drank some cold beverages, and parked it in camp chairs for awhile. The girls would have none of that relaxing and alternated begging me, Ryan, and Jayne to take them on bike rides. I took them on one back to the Grand canyon. Lydia lead the way – about 20 minutes from campsite to canyon and back. Wonderful place to bike around with the family.
One crazy coincidence that we figured out recently – our friends the Bochniak’s and their two girls will be visiting the Grand Canyon the day after we leave. We decided to make a little treasure hunt for them. Girls, Noelle and I took the Jeep over to a secret section of the park near the visitor center, scouted a good spot a little off the main path and buried a surprise for them without anyone seeing. Made a rough treasure map for them to find it and sent to them with a few other clues. Will see if they find it on Friday.
Dinner tonight was Mississippi roast that Noelle left cooking in the crockpot all day. Served with rice, peas, and the animal crackers dad brought. Very good – Ryan ate 3 servings.
After dinner, we all drove in 2 cars to catch the sunset. We went skiing the east Canton road towards dessert view. I wanted to make it to the “Grand view” lookout because it had to be good. We hit a few lookouts, including one with a formation called duck on a rock. Another great sunset in the Grand Canyon.
Highly suggest the Grand canyon and staying at trailer village if you haven’t been. 3-4 nights and bikes would have been more ideal to do everything with a family.