4 – 6 July
It was still dark as we disembarked at Flagstaff station shortly before five in the morning. The Arizona air was cool, and the full moon hung heavily above the skyline across the railway tracks.
Good Morning! Home from Home
The town has a history based on logging and as railway and Route 66 thoroughfares. We became well acquainted with the charming little waiting room as we settled down for the three hours before our bus arrived to take us to Grand Canyon village. Lynne made an expedition to find a diner that was open early, to return with a breakfast muffin, fruit and coffee each.
The bus ride took us to the Grand Canyon village in a couple of hours, through rough desert scrubland, with views of the San Francisco Peaks far away. A walk in the hot sunshine took us to our lodging for the next two nights – Bright Angel lodge. Busy and rustic, the lodge was situated right on the edge of the canyon – ideal!
..Long and straight road.. Bright Angel
And what a sight…
Indescribable and impossible to capture by picture. Our whole width of vision filled with this vast crack in the earth’s crust. Layer upon layer of, literally, billions of geological years. Crags, creeks, wild outcrops, and immense depth. Like an insane rendering of an alien planet. And the spectacle changes at different times of the day as the light catches it.
It was the 4th of July. We had not realised the significance of this when we booked it. Holiday was upon the nation! It was busy with families sightseeing for the day, many with t-shirts celebrating America. Despite the crowds, we enjoyed exploring the area around us and there was no diminishing of the grandeur and tranquility of the canyon.
We saw a mountain goat lying on a rock, squirrels and mountain chipmunks and many California Condors circling in the air. And Lynne managed to find two nice Navajo Indian jewellery artists, father and son, and relieve them of a hand made gorgeous ring.
We got up early on our first full day, to capture the morning cool. The temperature later in the morning rose to over 32C/110F. Not a cloud in sight. We passed by the ‘take out’ shop to buy breakfast and provisions for our trek.
The ‘signature’ trail, Bright Angel, started just by our lodge. It descended immediately, down a giddyingly steep path, zig-zagging down onto a soft plain, before diving down to the Colorado River. We did not do this – this was a multi-day hike, which we didn’t have time for, but more importantly, Peter’s vertigo would not allow him to descend on that trail for more than 20 metres…. Lynne, had managed to fit in a short descent and ascent the previous late afternoon and did indeed confirm its steepness.
Steep? You bet! Eye of the needle On her way down
Better though, we set off westwards on the South Side Rim trail, to Hermit’s Rest. A 12km trail, blissfully empty in the morning. It hugged the canyon edge for most of the way, rewarding us with mind-boggling views on every turn we took. The names of the viewpoints did not disappoint – The Abyss needed careful footsteps; from Trailview Overlook you could see the Bright Angel Trail, and the Indian Garden below, on its path.
The further west we went, the more we saw of the Colorado River, silty and with rapids caused by the rocks falling from above. As the morning progressed, it got hotter, and our generous supply of water dwindled rapidly. The water lasted us all the way to the Hermit’s Rest though, where we rested and took a bus back to the Village.
Our second early morning at Bright Angel saw us taking the same, but shorter, rim trail in the opposite direction, before returning and checking out from the lodge. This included the Trail of Time with examples of the different rocks at each strata.
We departed by train instead of by bus. The Grand Canyon Railway service connects to the town Williams on a straight line through the desert. Most passengers arrived at the canyon in the morning, stayed for three hours and returned to Williams in the afternoon. We joined them on the 3.30 departure, and the guard on our carriage set a festive mood.
Things became even more festive when a cowboy from Oklahoma entered with a guitar and a bunch of songs that many sang along to.
A Marshall with badge and a six-shooter then appeared and warned us that some baddies had been spotted on the track ahead of us. He wasn’t wrong – masked cowboys were seen on horseback, riding alongside the train. The train driver slowed down to allow them to board the train and rob the passengers at gun point – us! All good fun!
Don’t ya panic Yahoo! Hold ya hands up! Let’s getaway, pardner….
We were glad to have stayed by the South Rim, as we felt we got to immerse ourselves in that area of the Canyon. We also learned about the early pioneers, the tourism unleashed by the arrival of the train in the late 1880s and the indigenous peoples who made the first trails, using the fissures in the rocks. The Colorado river gorges its way through the Canyon for 279 miles, so there is plenty of scope to come back another time and explore a different area.
Truly a memorable sight, the Grand Canyon was an experience to fill a person’s soul. Well worth the rather tortuous route to get there by train!
Great photos of the Canyon, which like you say is normally hard to do justice to. Makes me want to return.
Great service with the bandits – did you know this would be happening?
Pat, we had no idea that there would be “extras” when we booked our tickets for the train. However our train guide suggested we needed to keep a look-out for bandits, so we had an inkling that more entertainment awaited us.