Onward to the Grand Canyon

We had a nice week in Hurricane, Utah, but it was time to leave.  We are beginning our way back to Texas to spend the winter.  We're going back a month early to attend a family reunion in October.

We hadn't originally planned to go to the Grand Canyon, but after seeing we were only about 150 miles from there and it really wasn't out of our way, we decided to head that way to spend a couple of days seeing it again.  We had last been there 25 years ago.

We pulled into the Cameron Trading Post about 2 in the afternoon.  The RV Park was across the street, but we had to check in at the Trading Post.  For a little place on the road, it was crowded!  Jim had to pull the rv into a bus area and I parked my car and went in to pay for two nights.

When I came out,  there was a tour bus with German tourists circling around our truck and fifth wheel taking pictures!  They just couldn't believe how big it was.  Jim said he felt like a movie star with all the cameras pointing at him. ;)

We were about 20 miles from the east entrance of the park so we headed over there after we got set up.

The Watchtower is the first thing you come to after you enter from this side of the park.  We pulled in and went to the observation deck.

It was pretty hazy outside, but the canyon was still beautiful.

We drove around to several overlooks, but then headed back to the fiver.  Our plan was to get up early and be at the park about 7.  Arizona does not observe daylight savings time, but we decided to just keep our clock and watches on mountain savings time which would make us one hour earlier Arizona time.

The next morning we arrived at the east gate at 6 a.m. Arizona time, no one was at the gate, we drove on through.  The sun was up and the canyon was much clearer this morning.

We headed to the visitor's parking lot by the visitor's center inside.  Just as we turned into the parking lot we saw this beautiful elk.

We parked the car and noticed some people in the parking lot pointing their cameras.  We turned around and saw this gorgeous animal!

Then as we were watching him, he began to bugle at the elk cow.  We had never seen or heard an elk bugle before, absolutely beautiful!

The south rim of the Grand Canyon is also only accessible by shuttle.  We took some water with us and boarded the shuttle.  Basically, you can get off and on the shuttle at each overlook, then wait about 10-15 minutes for the next shuttle or take the trail and walk to the next overlook.

The Grand Canyon is one of those places that takes your breath away when you first see it.  There is no way a picture can show the massiveness of the canyon, but I'll try. 

We found out they had just finished their monsoon season and that is why there is so much green in the canyon as well as the Colorado River being so muddy.

 We took the shuttle to some of the overlooks and then would walk around to another, then get on the shuttle again.  This is one of the overlooks.

My "I was there" shot.

The view from another overlook.

 At one of the overlooks, there was a painting class.  They had a great subject!

We caught this picture of a squirrel on the edge overlooking the canyon, I guess he was admiring the view too.

Our last stop was at Hermit's Rest. It was built in 1914 as a rest area for tourists on coaches operated by the Fred Harvey Company.

 There were more beautiful views of the canyon.

We stayed for awhile, sitting on the outside porch overlooking the canyon.  Then, we got back on the shuttle to take the nonstop ride back to the town shuttle that would take us back to the visitor's parking lot.

After leaving the parking lot and heading back to the rv campground, we saw this mountain lion crossing sign.  A first for us.

It was a beautiful day and we were so glad we made the trip back to the Grand Canyon.