At first, we hadn’t intended to visit the Grand Canyon. I had read that you could only take a shuttle on the scenic road through the park during the time we would be there. I also had a misguided belief that you were driven to the edge of the Grand Canyon, oohed and aahed, and then were driven back to a parking lot. I come up with the nuttiest ideas of how some things work.
After reading that there was an overlook behind the South Rim Visitor Center and the lodge on the North Rim, we decided to go.
The Kaibab National Forest borders the park, with dispersed camping within walking distance of the entrance. This was the first of many opportunities to boondock outside of national parks on this leg of our trip.
Turns out that there is a paved walkway from a nearby parking lot, toilet and trash included(!), to the visitor center 6.5 miles away. Although we didn’t walk all the way to the visitor center, we did walk into the boundary of the park and made use of the nearby facilities.
We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the scenic overlook was more than a point you walked out to. It was a walkway along the South Rim that was over two miles long. I hadn’t wanted to be impressed, but I was. The colors, the sheer size. It looks like a painting. I took more pictures here than at any other place to date.
I was surprised to see that only a view spots had railings. You could walk right up to the edge. In fact, there were people who climbed down to ledges. Not for the faint of heart, for sure. I had a scare when Poppy’s leash came off while she was only about a foot from the edge. Fortunately, she came right to me when I called her. I’m so glad there hadn’t been a ground squirrel to chase at that moment.
We did find out that we could drive along the South Rim on the 23-mile Desert View Drive (AZ State Route 64) that connects Grand Cayon Village to the Desert View entrance on the east side of the park. There were a lot of spectacular overlooks to stop at. I didn’t identify which picture goes with what overlooks, so I’ll just put some of them below. I kept 76 pictures that I took that day.
One thousand years ago, a farming village existed in the Unkar Delta. Many ancient cultures had villages and farms at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Above is a picture of the Colorado River, which is at the lowest point in the Canyon. It can’t etch any further down because the hard ancient rocks there resist erosion. The leftmost point of the river in the picture is at Vishnu Basement Rock. The rightmost point of the river in the picture is Hance Rapid.
The scenic tour of the South Rim ends at Desert View. Besides the view, there is the 70-ft Desert View Watchtower designed by architect Mary Colter in 1932. The tower was designed to resemble an Ancestral Pueblan watchtower, but much bigger. We didn’t tour the inside.
On the way back to the van, a man came up to us and said he recognized us from Craters of the Moon National Monument. Mark remembered him because of the truck he drove, of course. What a small world that we would run into the same person in Idaho and then Arizona. He’s from Ohio too.
The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is at 7,000 feet elevation, while the North Rim is at 8,000 feet. The Grand Canyon is 10 miles wide, and the official length is 277 miles from where the Colorado River enters at Less Ferry (near the Navajo Bridge) and exits at the Great Wash.
We had to drive 188 miles to get from the east entrance that we exited at to get to the North Rim. I had read about a small dispersed campground directly on the North Rim in the Kaibab National Forest.
We arrived after dark, of course, and were worried that there would be no available spots. We had to drive 13 miles down a forest road to get to it. Fortunately, there were only three campsites taken. It was kind of exciting to see what we would wake up to. We were not disappointed even though it was cloudy.
We moved to the spot with the best view the next day after the people camping there left.
We were able to take a trail to an overlook. Mark and Poppy got closer to the edge than I was comfortable doing. I trip a little too often to take a chance. I also saw another little used trail leading into the park just mere yards from the forest road.
A couple of days later, we drove into the North Rim entrance of the park. It was much different from the South Rim. We thought our view from the dispersed campground was better.
Despite the large crowds, I highly recommend a visit to the Grand Canyon. It is breathtaking.
Bonus: I’ve started trying to take pictures of birds.
This raven was enjoying the thermals over the Grand Canyon.
This raven was trying to steal our lunch.
WanderLyd 