This was the only definite thing I had on our itinerary before we started the trip, and now I’ve seen it. It’s definitely an impressive site, and I hate for there to be a but, but it wasn’t as amazing as I’d hoped given the hype and some of the rock formations we had recently seen. Part of the lack of being amazed could have been that I was just getting over a cold and grumpy, or that we’re close to 3 weeks into a road trip and getting a little road weary, or maybe it was the Disneyworld kind of atmosphere for what I believe might be the most visited national park in the country. Whatever it was, it still definitely worth seeing and something I’m glad I saw, just not the standout highlight of trip so far.

The immensity and geologic history of the canyon is kind of hard to fathom even when you’re there looking at it, even knowing it’s a mile deep, more than 10 miles across, and exposes 100’s of millions of years of geologic history. The colors of the canyon are striking, but after having just come from Bryce and Red Rock Canyon the colors aren’t as impressive in comparison. It’s so big that it’s easy to kind of think every viewpoint is almost the same, even though when you sit and look at details there’s lots of differences. Like so many other activities on the trip, I’m mentally bookmarking the things I’d like to do one day if I come back with older kids or no kids, including hiking down the canyon and up the other side, and rafting the Colorado river. The stats on the hike down reminded me of when Kim and I hiked the Colca Canyon in Peru, which I think it an even bigger canyon by height, just not as dramatic looking.

We decided to rent a motel room at the Yavapai lodge since, surprisingly, there was one available to book ahead of time, figuring out camping when we got there sounded like an overwhelming crap shoot even on a week day, we had been camping the previous 5 nights, and I was getting over my cold of the last few days. At $150 or so for the night this was by far the most we’ve spent for lodging on the entire trip, with our previous high being around $30 for a KOA campground. Of course, some of the IHG hotels we had stayed in would have been more if I hadn’t used points for them, but averaging around $20 a night for nearly 3 weeks has been pretty good for the trip budget. The room we rented was pretty basic, but right in the park and showers and doors always seem luxurious after a few nights in a tent. So our first afternoon I just saw the desert overlook on the east end of the park, and then I took a nap while Kim took the kids to the visitor center and booked a camp site for the next few nights.

The next day we put Ubu in the park kennel so we could take the buses in the park out to Hermit’s Rest, which isn’t accessible with a personal vehicle. It might be a little annoying how large and busy things are in the park, but having all the services available (kennel, grocery store, laundromat, multiple dining options and more) is pretty convenient. We planned to get to Hermit’s rest, the farthest point out on the rim roads, by 9 AM for a kid ranger hike, but we didn’t notice on the schedule that those had stopped in early August. I guess we’re heading into the off-season as more and more people head back to school. But we weren’t the only family who misread the schedule, so we had some company with a 7 year old girl and 5 year old boy. Geneveve was thrilled to have them to hike and play with, and so were we since Geneveve is a much better hiker when she has other kids to look up to. We hiked probably a quarter mile down the canyon before turning around, and then we hiked a mile along the rim trail to the next bus pickup spot. Our timing was perfect since just as we got on the bus a huge lightning storm swept through. We saw people at every other stop on the way back who were soaked.

Geneveve got her junior ranger badge this time without even trying, the afternoon ranger talk we attended they just handed them out before she did anything in the book.  I think that’s probably fine since Geneveve wasn’t as interested in doing the book activities this time, and we didn’t stay as long as we thought we would.

Once back to the main part of the park, we had lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge, and the food was better and way less expensive than I expected. There were great vegetarian options, something that’s been surprisingly lacking in national park food establishments so far, and meals were $7-$12. I’m always surprised how meat heavy menus are in establishments run by an organization that puts so much emphasis on conservation and preservation. I guess that focus on conservation and preservation only really applies inside the park boundaries for them, not the world at large.

The afternoon continued to be drizzly, so Kim setup our campsite while I took the kids to the indoor movies at the visitor center. We planned to camp for 2 nights, but
the weather report the next few days was just more rain and thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are fun to watch for a day, especially considering the lack of them in Portland, but not really something to stick around for multiple days of. We’d already seen most of the distinct viewpoints in the canyon, and hiking more than a little ways down with the kids and dog wasn’t really an option. So we packed up our wet tent in between rains showers and headed out after only a couple days and nights in the park.