As we traveled from Phoenix towards Williams, the temp slowly but surely dropped. On the approach to Flagstaff, there were actually snow capped mountains in the distance, a good sign. It actually dropped to the low 40's a night, so we went from the furnace of Phoenix, to running our furnace at night. We stayed in Williams because it was the closest park to the Grand Canyon that could accommodate a rig our size. It was 50 miles from the Grand Canyon Visitors Center, but it was on Route 66, and is a really cute little town. We walked Main Street and checked out the many Route 66 themed gift shops, bars and restaurants. The park was called Grand Canyon Railway RV Resort, and the "railway" part was 100% accurate. A very active track ran about 10 yards behind our trailer. The train barreled by blasting its horn several times a day (beginning as early as 4am). The first thing we came to when we walked to town was a Dairy Queen. Fair warning, stay away from the Salted Caramel Truffle Blizzard! It is so good you will be addicted after only one.

All the info about visiting the Canyon was focused on parking and crowds. They provide a free shuttle service from the visitor center inside the park, and from the closest town about 5 miles away. We were advised to get there early to avoid the lines at the park entrance, and the crowds on the trails. Geez, sounds like Six Flags. Since Arizona does not participate in daylight savings time, it is full daylight shortly after 5am and we woke early, so we were on the way before 7am. When we arrived at almost 8am there were no lines and very few people there. Like obedient sheep, we took the (2nd) shuttle to the Kaibab trailhead (even though there were very few people around the 1st Shuttle driver decided to be an *******. Dessa was 10-15 feet from the door and I was maybe 10 feet behind her when he pulled away. There was no place we could have been heading except for his bus but clearly it was time to go) where I got my first glimpse of the canyon. OMG, it truly is amazing, or as Bill kept correcting me, it’s Grand! The canyon is 277 miles long, 18 miles across at the widest point, and over a mile deep. It is impossible to describe, and as we discovered almost impossible to capture a picture that truly reflects the vastness of the vision. We only saw a tiny part of it, but the view never stopped amazing us (being grand).

The main difference about hiking the Grand Canyon is that you do the easy part, going down, first. There are strict warnings not to try to hike the Kaibob trail all the way to the bottom (about 9 miles one way) and back in one day. Our plan was to turn around at about the 3-mile point, which would include an elevation change of over 2000 feet. Part way down we saw some Park Rangers that checked on our plan and suggested we turn around a little earlier when we reached a saddle between 2 buttes. This place had a great view along the canyon in both directions so we stopped for a leisurely lunch.

The moment we started back up we began sweating and breathing hard. The temp was only in the mid 80’s, but it was sunny and there is almost no shade, so it was hot, hard work climbing. At several points the wind swirled around and blew trail dust at us as we rounded corners (enhancing our breathing and viewing pleasure). As we got back to the top half of the trail we began seeing more people, heading in both directions. There were all kinds of people on the trail, old, young, fat, fit, … and they were all huffing and puffing, and stopping to rest along the way up. This is when I noticed that all the happy faces were going down, and the sad faces were climbing up. In the end, our 5-mile hike only took 3 hours and was not that bad. I guess our extreme hiking in Phoenix helped, at least with perspective. We stopped for a snack and to watch the movie about the forming of the Grand Canyon at the visitor center before heading home.

We had primarily come to hike, so the next day we repeated the drive up to the Grand Canyon. We didn’t leave quite as early and we skipped the trolley and went straight to the trailhead. Bright Angel Trail is 9 miles long with rest houses at 1.5 and 3 miles, so again we set our goal for the 3-mile point. It was much cooler and very overcast as we started out, and it was not long before we started to feel raindrops. The trail had been described as having 2 tunnels along the path. As it turned out, they were actually only short openings that had been carved out of the rock to allow the path to continue, but it was a great place to shelter from the downpour that came. As we waited with a growing group of hikers, the rain turned into pea-sized hail that pelted down for about 10 minutes. When the rain stopped, the skies were still really dark, but down we went, hoping for the best.

We saw a California Condor swooping through the canyon and stood with cameras ready hoping he would fly back our way. However, he decided to land on a cliff ledge pretty far away, so we proceeded down the path. As we rounded an outcrop we could see the trail would take us right past where he was perched. Bill climbed out onto the ledge, past the sign that said not to do that, to get pictures. This was after I had gotten a stern lecture the day before about my risky behavior of standing too close to the edge to get a shot. He did get some great pictures. Anything for the shot!

As we went past the first rest house it seemed we had gone farther than 1.5 miles. We had been at about 1 mile when the rain started; surely we had gone farther than another ½ mile. We could see the next rest house below, way below, but it seemed like we would never get there. Our knees were not happy about the constant downhill grade. When we finally reached our turn around point, we checked our mapping app to discover we had actually hiked over 4 miles and it had taken us almost 2 hours. Apparently the National Park Service lied about how far it was. Since there was nothing we could do (I asked but Dessa refused to carry me back to the top) except start climbing, up we went. Fortunately, we took fewer pictures on the way up and did not have to stop for any more rain so it only took us about 2.5 hours to get back to the top.

I found us another motorcycle ride that included the highest rated section of road in Arizona; a 25-mile stretch of AZ-89A that twists nicely along the canyon between Sedona and Flagstaff. After a couple days in the Grand Canyon, you would think we would be harder to impress with scenery, but AZ-89A delivered. All along this stretch of the road, people were parked and walking down to the river. We chose not to pull over on the sloping gravel shoulder, so we don’t know what they were doing. Sedona was a decent size and very touristy, with lots of al fresco dining and people walking around. It’s another entry on the future travel wish list.

From Sedona we rode to Jerome and the 2nd of 3 stretches along this route that looked like fun. The bulk of the road was nothing special but the last 2 miles up the 5000’ to the top of Black Hills Mountain and Jerome were pretty good. Jerome is another touristy town but we aren’t quite sure why. It seems like it is in the middle of nowhere with little reason for anyone to come here that isn’t on a motorcycle. Lunch however was pretty good. We ate at Haunted Hamburger and shared the Chicken sandwich, and Jalapeño slaw and a huge slice of Coconut Cream pie which we couldn’t finish. While we were eating Bill checked out the final leg of the route, which looked to be the twistiest of them all. The first section was a forest service road, which made Bill nervous. We asked the manager at the Haunted Hamburger and he confirmed that it was a dirt road. This meant turning around which wasn’t so bad since we could drive that great section of AZ-89A again.

For now, it’s time to head west again. We are California bound.

Higher resolution photos are available on Flikr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_and_ dessa/sets/