On Sunday, March 2nd, we arrived at Grand Canyon
National Park (Southern Rim), albeit late in the day. We stayed within the national park at Grand
Canyon Village (Trailer Village). Grand
Canyon Village is a revived remnant of the early pioneer settlement that was
there over a hundred years ago. Today it
is mostly hotels and campgrounds, but there’s also a general store, bank, post
office, restaurants, medical clinic, mule barn, passenger train depot, library,
church, cemetery… just about everything that would normally be found in a small
town. And the best part is that you can
get anywhere in the village (and beyond) by utilizing the free shuttle bus
service that constantly runs throughout the national park.
On Monday, March 3rd, Steve had to fly back to
San Antonio to work, but not until later in the day. So we had the morning hours to tour a little
bit of the park. We caught the bus at the campground and decided to switch to
the “Red Route” which goes along the southern rim, west of the village. We
stopped at every point along the route, getting off to amaze at the view, then getting
back on to ride to the next stop. We
stopped at Trailview Overlook, Maricopa Point (which gives a view of the
uranium Orphan Mine), Powell Point (which is a memorial to the first person who
documented an expedition down the Colorado River, John Wesley Powell), Hopi
Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss (which is a 3000-foot sheer drop into the
canyon), and Pima Point. Each viewing
point gave different views of the canyon, several of them offering glimpses of
the Colorado River down below.
At the
end of the Red Route, we visited Hermits Rest.
This native stone building was designed by the famous architect Mary Colter
in 1914, and it has been offering rest to weary canyon hikers during the century
since then. Afterwards we rode the bus
all the way back to the campground, Steve took off for his flight back to
Texas, and the rest of us did laundry, got some groceries, and cleaned up the
camper in preparation for the week to come.
On Tuesday, March 4th, the boys and I rode the
“Orange Route” which goes along the southern rim to the east of the
village. We started off by going to the
Grand Canyon Visitor Center, which we missed the first day. Here we picked up Junior Ranges workbooks and
watched the acclaimed movie about the history of the canyon. After we jumped on the bus, we made stops at
Yaki Point, the South Kaibab Trailhead, Pipe Creek Vista, and Mather Point,
finally ending at the Yavapai Geology Museum.
At the Yavapai Geology Museum we caught a ranger-led program
about the geologic history of the canyon (and in which the boys were chosen to
help with the acronym that described the formation of the canyon). With the completion of that program, Joseph and Jonathan earned their Junior Ranger badges. The ranger swore them in right there on the
rim of the canyon in front of the crowd of program-goers. After that, the weather had turned a bit too
chilly for us, so we headed back home for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday, March 5th, after waking up to
temperatures in the teens, we waited until after lunchtime before heading out
for the day. This time we decided to
ride on the “Blue Route” which essentially goes around Grand Canyon
Village. We started by going to the
Verkamp Visitor Center and learning a bit about the human history of the
canyon. Then we walked along the rim for
a little while, popping in and out of the historical buildings along the way,
many of which had a small museum or gift shop inside. We saw the Hopi House, which is a century-old
house built in traditional Hopi style; walked past the historical El Tovar
Hotel, Kachina Lodge, and Thunderbird Lodge; went into the Bright Angel Lodge
and looked through the museum inside which showcased the Harvey Girls of the
early 1900’s (incidentally, Judy Garland starred in a movie called “Harvey
Girls”); went into the Kolb Studio where we saw many interesting pieces of
canyon-inspired art as well as viewed the first-ever “moving picture” of the
canyon; and lastly ended our tour of the village by hiking on the Bright Angel
Trail.
The Bright Angel Trail is open to anyone who wants to hike
down to the bottom of the canyon. The
boys and I had decided to go as far as the first tunnel, which was an easy ¼
mile hike. After walking through the first tunnel, Native American pictographs,
estimated to be 700-800 years old, are easily viewed on the side of the cliff
just above. (And exactly HOW an Indian
got onto the side of that cliff, I’ll never know!) The boys decided that they wanted to continue
down the trail a little further to the second tunnel, and I was silly enough to
allow them to talk me into going further.
However, we got about halfway to the second tunnel before we (*I*)
called it quits and turned us around to go back up the trail. Not being used to the 7000+ feet elevation, I
was huffing and puffing the whole way back up the canyon. Oh, my!
We should have stopped at the first tunnel! After our hike on the Bright Angel Trail
ended, we had a snack before boarding the bus back to the campground.
The next day, on Thursday, March 6th, we decided
to branch out on our own and explore the Desert View scenic drive.
This auto trail goes east of the bus routes,
along the southern rim but further than we had yet been. Besides the amazing views that we stopped to
see, we stopped at the Desert View watch tower.
This tower was designed by famous architect Mary Coulter and was modeled
after Native American architecture found in ruins of the area. The inside of the tower has wall paintings
depicting ancient Hopi legends. It was
painted by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, the same artist who painted the amazing wall
murals in the Painted Desert Inn at Petrified Forest National Park.
After we walked the several floors of the
tower and saw the amazing view from the top, we drove back down the Desert View
scenic drive to the Tusayan Ruins. Here
we were able to attend a ranger-led walking tour of the ruins which are
estimated to be 700-800 years old. It’s
amazing to think that a small settlement of 30 or so people could survive in
such a harsh environment, but they did!
On our way back from the scenic drive, we saw an entire herd of elk
alongside the road. The elk are
everywhere in this park, even blocking the buses sometimes.
Later that evening, after we had been home resting for a few
hours, we attended the nighttime park ranger program. This program was held in the “Shrine of the
Ages” in the park, which is a multipurpose chapel-type of building at the
park. The program was excellent, and it
was the perfect end cap for our stay at Grand Canyon. The topic was on the geologic history of the
canyon: how it formed, why it formed, how old it is, etc. I thought it was going to be only a half hour
long, but it ended up being about an hour longer than that! But like I said, the program was entirely
engaging, and even the older boys said it was very, very good. I think they learned more science in that
short program than they have in the entire last year at home with me! (haha)
As for the younger two boys, they literally fell asleep about 20 minutes
into the program and slept the rest of the time, enabling me to listen intently
to the program and not worry about squirmy little boys!
On our last day at Grand Canyon National Park, we hung about
at the camper preparing to hit the road again.
Laundry, groceries, vacuuming… there’s no end to it!
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Grand Canyon. Pictures really can't capture the true feeling that one encounters when standing at the rim peering at the vast chasm spread before the onlooker. We spent a week at the park, and we were able
to fill the entire week with tours and activities without overextending
ourselves. We really lucked out with the weather while we were there. March weather at Grand Canyon can be unpredictable and quite wintry. We had lows in the 20's at night and daytime highs around 60 with lots of sunshine. The park is very organized, but
considering that they accept approximately 5 million visitors each year, I
suppose it has to be that way! We would
love to return again sometime in the future.
Steve and I want to hike to the bottom of the canyon someday… if we aren’t
too old to try it by the time we return!
