The Grand Canyon. And Las Vegas? (April 17-April 24, 2021)
“Crying: Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon” - Ron Swanson (Parks and Recreation)
Alright, alright, we stopped in Vegas for a few days on our way to the Grand Canyon. Truth be told, there’s really not a whole lot to report on our stay there. We stayed at The Las Vegas Koa Journey at Sam’s Town Campground which was attached to The Sam’s Town Casino about five miles from the Vegas strip. KOA’s tend to be on the nicer end of campgrounds so we took full advantage of the amenities (did someone say cable tv?) and full hookups knowing we wouldn’t have hookups of any kind at the Grand Canyon. We spent one afternoon walking the Vegas strip. It was super crowded so not my cup of tea but I’m glad we saw it. We gambled a little, stocked up on groceries, and caught up on laundry while we were there. I’m sure there were a ton of things we could have done in Vegas but after spending several days prior at a few pretty intense National Parks, we were happy to relax a bit. We probably would have taken a day trip to the Hoover Dam but it was closed due to Covid.
We made our way to Mather Campground in Grand Canyon National Park fairly easily and this time, within Google’s timeframe. Mather Campground is another campground located in and operated by the National Park Service so again, we were lucky to get these reservations. Mather Campground however has no electric, water, or sewer hookups. We were scheduled for four nights which meant we’d really be pushing the limits of our onboard utilities so we decided pretty early on that our camper would essentially become a glorified tent as we conserved as much of our power and water as possible. The community water spigot was located at the end of our campsite so we didn’t have to go far for water which we used for dishes, drinking (after running it through our Berkey filter) and cooking. Our onboard water was saved for showers and we used lanterns at night so that our batteries could be saved for the most important things – keeping our refrigerator running with enough power left to pull the slide back in and lower the camper into the hitch when we were ready to leave. I’m happy to report that we made it through the four nights without running out of anything, although we went longer between showers than I care to admit. All of the hassle of conserving utilities was 100 percent worth being able to stay so close to the Grand Canyon.
It’s funny as we visit places, and National Parks, in particular, I have an idea in my head of what each place will look like. I’ve been completely wrong every time but especially about the Grand Canyon. I really thought the Grand Canyon was located in a desert-type landscape, flat with no trees or other vegetation so that you could see the canyon from a mile away, literally. As we pulled into the park and then into the campground, I kept looking for the big hole but there were trees and hills and lots of other vegetation in the way. We had been in the desert for weeks so I was happy to see trees in spite of the fact that it tested my patience. After we got our camper unhooked and ate lunch, we set out to get our first glimpse of the canyon, as neither Charley nor I had ever been there. I’m not going to lie, I got a little teary when I first saw it (but I was wearing my mask so no one could tell). It’s truly one of those things that you have to see with your own eyes to appreciate. It sounds so cliché but you could take a million photos and it won’t do it justice. It’s magical! I’m sure anyone who has been there knows exactly what I mean.
As we were preparing for this trip, we thought long and hard about whether or not to bring our bikes with us. The more we thought about it the more we realized that they would probably be more hassle than they were worth. Our stay at the Grand Canyon was the first time that we knew we would use them if we had them. Not enough to regret leaving them at home or to rent bikes that were readily available but they would have been handy to get around the park. Instead, we walked a lot and then hiked a lot more so we were glad we had taken some time off in Vegas. We opted to do three Grand Canyon hikes, two into the canyon and one rim hike. Here’s what’s tricky about hiking in a canyon – it’s the opposite of hiking a mountain. The easy part, going downhill, comes first and if you’re not careful you can find yourself getting deeper in than you realize and it might be difficult to get yourself out. For this reason, Charley and I decided to play it safe with our first hike, the South Kaibab trail. We only went to the 1.5-mile checkpoint and then hiked the 1.5 miles out. The hike was tough but doable so we decided that when we got to our second canyon hike, we might go a little deeper. Our second day in the park was spent hiking the rim trail so as not to hike the two, more difficult, canyon trails back to back. That turned out to be a good decision because we got a little rain/snow that day (I think my friend Kennie would say it was graupel) and we were thankful that we weren’t in the canyon. The rim trail was fun because it took us to the park’s lodges which are always exciting to see. We also saw more of the rim that day by taking the shuttle bus to a few more remote lookout points.
We spent our third and final day in the park hiking the Bright Angel Trail, three miles in and three miles out. This was definitely our most strenuous hike of the trip to date but also the most rewarding. I told Charley that I actually feel sorry for people who are unable or have no desire to hike into the Grand Canyon. Viewing it from the rim was amazing but seeing it from the inside was incredible. On our way down Bright Angel, we met a few young men who had spent five days hiking in and back out. One of them had gone the extra mile (13 extra miles actually) and hiked “rim to rim” and back for a total of forty-eight miles. I have a friend who has hiked rim to rim and we’ve talked about it many times but I had no real appreciation for how difficult that must be until now. The men we met were excited to have only about a mile left to go and were looking forward to a slice of pizza!
We celebrated our eighth week on the road while we were at the Grand Canyon and it also happened to be National Parks week. For me, it seems appropriate that the Grand Canyon is so far the highlight of my trip. And for the record, Charley got a little teary-eyed when he first saw the canyon too.
