The Grandest Canyon that ever was…

Sorry for keeping you all in suspense over the past few days. Our time was occupied and internet was sparse during our visit at the Grand Canyon. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

Day 1: The day it hailed

 

It was strange to wake up in Flagstaff to moisture in the air. Rain passed through that morning, and it was a pleasant change from the dusty dryness of prior days in the desert. We filled up with the complimentary breakfast from the Holiday Inn Express that we had grown to love and headed north to the Grand Canyon.

Some call her majestic, others say she’s heavenly, but when we arrived all we could muster is “Wow….” Despite the low-hanging clouds, intermittent rain, and chilly temperatures, the views of the Grand Canyon did not disappoint. Nonetheless, we were not there to just ogle at the Canyon all day; we had to get to work. Over lunch we surveyed a restaurant in one of the lodges on the canyon rim, which was followed by a short meeting with members of the National Parks Service. This canyon is clearly grand in sense of vast land coverage, but it is also grand by the sheer number of restaurants, snack shops, gift shops, vending machines, and water fountains that are peppered throughout the park. We set up a strategy to hit up all the major spots of the park to capture the healthfulness with our tools. Our work was cut out for us.

We decided to head back to the lodge area to survey all buildings for food offerings. As we walked along the rim of the Canyon, we began to get pelted with small hail at first which was quickly followed by large, gum-ball sized hail. It was pandemonium! People ran in all directions to escape this attack of precipitation. Tourists (some wearing shorts) were shrieking and taking pictures even though the canyon was no longer visible. We were mainly amused to be in a hail storm in May...at the Grand Canyon. Little did we know that this would not be our last brush with unusual May weather.  Not even twenty minutes later, the hail halted and the sun peaked back out. All was well again, and we proceeded to scan more snack shops and restaurants. After a nice dinner, we made our way back to the Albright Training Center--dorm-like rooms sans internet, and rested for the night.

Day 2: The day it snowed, a lot

 It was a brisk start to the morning, but the sun was shining, and the canyon was still quite grand. We set out to find all of the water spots on the Rim Trail, a flat path skirting the top canyon. Our walk was very pleasant from the lodge area to Yavapai Museum. Here we got to glimpse the Colorado River which runs through the canyon. During our search for a water fountain, it started to lightly snow. It was still about another mile to the main Visitor’s Center where we needed to visit for our project, but we decided that since we had rain jackets and Aly lived in Boston recently, which added to her winter weather cred, we continued the walk as opposed to taking the bus in hopes that the flurries wouldn’t be too much of a bother. Famous last words! About ¼ mile in, the wind started to pick up as did the density of the snow/wintry mix. We had to lean into the wind, occasionally looking up to make sure that we weren’t walking over the rim (just kidding, we weren’t that close to the edge). We were cold and wet, but we finally made it to the Visitor Center to defrost before resuming work. Many outdoor water fountains and vending machines later, we were still cold but now very hungry. Our late lunch was welcomed, and gave us fuel to scan more restaurants, gift shops, and full grocery store (Trader Joe’s eat your heart out!).

Figuring that we could walk back to the Albright Center, we set out on foot for a few more miles. Mind you, the temperatures did not get much above 39 degrees, and neither of us brought a heavy winter coat. It was certainly an adventure but overall a successful project day.

Day 3: The sun will come out…Today!

Hip hip hooray, the sun came out to stay, today! After days of hail, snow, and wintry mix, we were elated for a sunny, albeit windy day. We headed out to Hermit’s Rest, one of the scenic areas accessible by bus. Again, we opted to walk part of the way to Hermit’s Rest to catch some views of the canyon and look for water spots along the way. It took some time to get out to Hermit’s Rest and back, but after we decided that we needed to take one hike into the actual canyon to check out what water was available to hikers (and because it is awesome).

We set out to do the Bright Angel Trail; the three mile round trip hike. It was a beautiful hike, and tough on the knees going down. Insightfully, Allison noted that a canyon is really just the opposite of a mountain. She blames the altitude for stating the obvious. We encountered many tired folks hiking out of the canyon as we were descending. We figured they did the eight mile hike and tried not to get worried. We stopped half-way down to take in the views, eat a snack, and prepare for the ascent. A persistent squirrel tried to swipe Allison’s almonds to no avail. We checked out the water spigot and made our way up. It was certainly a hike, but once we made it back up to the rim we were rewarded with views of about three California Condors! They were frolicking in the sky, almost as if they were putting on a show. They are such graceful creatures that made a miraculous recovery after almost becming extinct. The evening got even better as we enjoyed a sunset like no other.

Day 4: The day we said good-bye

The Albright Training Center was simple, clean, and conveniently located, but the best part was FREE laundry. By this time, we had dirtied enough socks and clothes by hiking around these parks that it was a much appreciated amenity. We spent the morning searching for water at the South Kaibab trail head on the east side of the park. Our GC visit would not include the North Rim of the park since it doesn’t open until May 15 due to snowy conditions, but we were able to go to Desert View, which was about 25 miles east of the main South Rim attractions. Here we evaluated a store, gift shop, a restaurant, and vending machines. We got to say good-bye to the GC from the top of the Watchtower. We left just in time to avoid the bombardment of some very excited middle schoolers on a class trip. We headed out on another pretty drive to Page, AZ, a quaint town next the Glen Canyon. We enjoyed some delicious dinner and warm welcome from the host at Canyon King. We rounded out the night enjoying the cool air desert air by the pool.