Bucket List: Grand Canyon

When we decided it was time to leave the US and move to England, it sparked a flurry of "but we haven't done ___ yet!". There was no way we'd manage to do everything on our very long bucket list, but if there was one thing we couldn't miss before leaving, it was America's number one sight: The Grand Canyon.

 

In a rash but rationalized decision we decided the best time to do this would be two weekends before our departure. Thankfully, it was reasonably well planned and we had flights, hotels and a rental car booked weeks in advance. This may sound not worth writing home about, but for us, this is an accomplishment.

A delayed flight got us in to Phoenix very late on Friday night, causing us to get to a very late start on Saturday. After a hearty breakfast and picking up picnic supplies we finally hit the road for the four hour drive by 1pm. We picked the scenic route via Prescott and Tonto National Forests and enjoyed a long but beautiful drive through cacti, shrubs and high plains. It may be the preemptive nostalgia talking but the great American outdoors is something we will sorely miss.

 

 

By the time we finally arrived and dropped off our stuff at the Yavapai Lodge, it was 5pm. All hopes for much of a first day hike or even half day hike abandoned, we headed for the Rim trail instead.

It's funny how you can't tell you're right by the Grand Canyon until you're standing on its edge. You can't see anything in the distance driving up, even though the landscape is entirely bare and flat and empty. You wouldn't know it was right there when wandering around the lodge parking lots, and even now that we were mere steps away, any sneak peaks were still blocked by trees. With this much anticipation, it was hard to not harbor a tiny grain of worry of what if we're disappointed??

The second we stepped out from the trees and onto the rim trail, all such silly thoughts were immediately forgotten. In fact, so were most other thoughts. The view that greeted us was not just breathtaking, it was almost mind bending. There is so much vastness, so much depth, so many colors, it's almost as if your brain doesn't really know how to process it. What makes it even weirder is because of the geologic uniqueness of the Grand Canyon, the layers of colors of rock are identical in each peak, valley and ridge, which plays strange tricks on your eyes making it hard to adjust focus and figure out how far away anything is you're looking at.

 

Anyone who has been to the Grand Canyon before will know that none of our photos can capture what it's really like being here. We tried nevertheless, covering a distance of what could be walked in 15min in about 2h as we stopped and looked and took photo after photo.

We reached Yavapai overlook and the small geologic museum shortly before sunset, allowing us to learn a little bit more about the 1200 million year old history of the Canyon before heading back out into the fierce winds* for a sunset photo shoot.

* the online trip planner mentions that for conditions for spring and autumn "High winds are common". Not sure how we overlooked this but boy are they right!

 

 

We found dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge after this, then turned in early to plan our hike fuor the next day and give ourselves an early start. Choosing a hike turned out to be easier said than done. We wanted to do something in the 4-6h range, that would give us a representative introduction to Canyon hiking, the best possible views, and stay away from crowds as much as possible. Needless to say, it's near impossible to get all of those things. Here were our options, listed from west to east.

(overview map and additional stats coming soon)

Trailhead	Hike	Time	Distance RT	Elevation Change	Notes	Map
Hermit Trail	Hermit Trail to Dripping Springs		6.5mi
	Hermit Trail to partway 1		3.5mi
	Hermit Trail to partway 2		4.5mi
Bright Angel Trail	1.5mi rest house		3.6mi
	3mi rest house		6mi
	Indian Garden
South Kaibab	Canyon Rest
	Red wall
Grandview Point	Grandview point to Horseshoe Mesa
Lipan Point	Partway down Tanner trail

In the end, we reasoned that the Bright Angel Trail's popularity must have a reason, and decided to take it to the Three-Mile Resthouse. In hindsight, had we arrived when we intended to on Saturday (around lunchtime / early afternoon), the ideal thing to do would have been to do the Bright Angel Trail to the Three-Mile Resthouse on Saturday in 4-5 hours and spend the remaining daylight hours on the Rim Trail, as we did, and to do the Grandview Point trail to Horseshoe Mesa, or the Hermit Trail to Dripping Springs, on Sunday before heading back.

As it was, we set off on the busy trail around 9.30am on Sunday. We took our time on the way down, taking photos, since we weren't going to be as inclined to when we were huffing and puffing our way back up. We reached the Mile-and-a-Half rest house after about an hour, and the Three-Mile rest house about 2 hours after we started.

 

The way back up was surprisingly much less strenuous than anticipated. The path is very well graded throughout, so you can keep a very steady pace and do not need to step up high, steep steps at all. We made good time and reached the top after two hours. The way up is particularly rewarding because as your view "zooms out" you notice many details on the way up that you didn't see on the way down, and were brought to your attention by the fact you were much closer when you were further down. The color of the rock changes throughout the day, and it's particularly interesting to watch as the tops of some of the buttes disappear out of sight on the way down, only to resurface on your way back up.

 

Many people miss the ancient pictographs just after the first tunnel

We treated ourselves to ice cream back at the Market Place before making our way back onto the long, but somehow much more beautiful the second time round, return trip to Phoenix.