After five days at a conference in Las Vegas, I took a quick side trip to the Grand Canyon.
The drive from Las Vegas, which takes you over Hoover Dam, is about 4 1/2 hours. After the drive Wednesday afternoon/evening, I stayed at The Grand Hotel, which is just a couple miles south of the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. The bed was comfortable, the restaurant was decent, there was a small continental breakfast, and overall it was a comfortable place.
I was in the national park by about 9 a.m. It was a bright beautiful day, and the park had some extra sparkle from the snowfall the previous day. This was my first time at the Grand Canyon, and I didn’t have much of a plan, except that I knew I wanted to walk as much of the Rim Trail as I could. ‘m guessing that most visitors make their first stop at the Mather Point observation area. That’s what I did, too. A nice couple asked me to take their photo and then offered to take mine. They had been to the canyon many times, including the previous day,when the clouds made it difficult to see into it.
I drove on to the Yavapai Observation Station and snapped a few more photos before heading to the parking area near the Park Headquarters. From there, I took a .4-mile walk along a tree-lined and snow-covered path to the rim trail. There I met a retired couple from Waltham, Mass., who in the early stages of a three-month cross-country journey to see the sights.
We parted at the Rim Trail and I walked west toward Grand Canyon Village. I stopped in the Kolb Studio to warm up and wandered past some beautiful paintings by Joella Jean Mahoney. My favorites were a few that showed the inner canyon.
I walked along to the Trailview Overlook, which looked down on the Bright Angel trail into the canyon. The hiking was uphill, and I turned around at that point and headed back to the village. I caught the free tram and rode to Maswik Lodge for a cafeteria-style lunch.
After lunch, I rode the tram to the new information center. There a young, pony-tailed park ranger detailed the creation of the canyon for the dozen or so folks who wandered in.
The information center is just a short walk from Mather Point, so I headed there. By this time, around 2 p.m., I think, it was actually crowded. From there I walked east toward Pipe Creek Vista. I decided against going the whole way, however, and walked back past Mather Point and Yavapai to the parking lot. To end the day, I drove to Hermit’s Rest, the far western end of the Rim Trail and got some pictures of the canyon at sunset.
Finally, on the way out of the park, I stopped again at Mather Point because the full moon was hanging over the canyon, prolonging dusk just a little as the sunlight faded away.
I don’t know if you can tell, but despite the cold (high of 36, low of 2) I had a great day! I can’t wait to go back and explore inside the canyon. Of course, I’ll have to be in better shape to do that …
