Slipping Along the Rim of the Grand Canyon

This Christmas was my first working for a school and the first time in a long time that I had a true Winter Break. I worked for years in retail and had come to dread the Christmas season since, for me, it meant longer hours, angrier customers, and family dinners I'd have to miss. This year, however, I had two full weeks off and I meant to fill it with as much sleep, travel, family, and board games as I possibly could.


So I filled my belly with delicious home-cooked meals and spent my afternoons playing Settlers of Catan and StarFluxx. And a few days before New Year's, Erinn and I took off for the Grand Canyon.


As usual, some of the details of our plan fell through, but the important parts went smoothly. We packed our itinerary full of National Parks, National Forests, National Monuments and the like, but the snow closed roads and hiking trails, forcing us to change our plans a little.


While we would have liked to see everything on our list, time was also against us, so skipping a few places due to snow worked out quite well. Instead of rushing from place to place, we were able to spend a lot more time at the Grand Canyon. We also spent more time in Flagstaff, which turned out to be quite beautiful and very accommodating to our specific diet.


Here are a few places we didn't get to see, due to inclement weather:
Meteor Crater
Walnut Canyon National Monument
Wupatki National Monument
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
Desert View Watchtower

But we still got to see a lot, especially for such a short weekend packed with so many miles.


Our first mistake was made even before we left town. For whatever reason, we just couldn't sleep the night before and were up until 2am. Nevertheless, we got out of bed before dawn and left town on minimal sleep. When we stopped for gas in Tehachapi, it was a shiver-inducing 18 degrees outside, giving us a peek at the weather to come in Flagstaff.


Our first stop was to be in Kingman, AZ for a quick bite to eat at the Cracker Barrel, throwing all good eating habits out the window for a bite of wheat and dairy-covered Chicken Fried Chicken, but apparently everyone likes to eat lunch at the same time, so we skipped the wait and ate somewhere else.


As we left Kingman we entered the Arizona high desert plateau. There are a few mountains and hills here and there, but mostly flat land with trees spotting the landscape. With all this flat land and only a few hills to block your view, Humphrey's Peak can be seen from 80 miles out. We still had 86 miles before we were to reach flagstaff when we saw the top of the mountain, which is Arizona's highest peak.


We had planned on seeing both Walnut Canyon National Monument and Meteor Crater before settling down in Flagstaff for the night, but we had forgotten about the change in time zones and were behind an hour. We wouldn't make it to Meteor Crater in time and we would barely make it to Walnut Canyon. That, and Walnut Canyon's main trail was closed because of snow, so we went to Flagstaff and drove around the town, stopping for a bit to walk around downtown long enough to freeze our toes off in the snow. The snow was beautiful and Flagstaff's downtown is charming. At one point we drove up to Lowell Observatory and threw snowballs at each other and looked out onto the city below us. There were kids sledding and smoke rising from chimneys and it was all so different from the life we know in Bakersfield.


We ate that night at a healthy and very accommodating restaurant called Picazzo's Organic Italian Kitchen, which emphasized its gluten-free options and would add spinach to any pizza for no charge just to encourage healthfulness. We got a pizza and a bowl of pasta with veggies and sausage and it was just about the best meal we've ever had at a restaurant. Most places, like BJ's or Outback Steakhouse have gluten-free and dairy-free options, but you never know if someone popped a slab of butter on top of your steak so it's nice to go to a restaurant that's dedicated to providing allergy-conscious food.


The next morning we defrosted our car and left for the Grand Canyon. While it's a couple hours' drive from Flagstaff, the trip seemed quick and we were soon skidding around the icy parking lot, trying to find a spot to park. Our plan that day had been to see Desert Watchtower and then head south to Wupatki and Sunset Crater, but snow closed those roads, so we took our time wandering around the Grand Canyon.


I had been to the Grand Canyon once, many years before, and I remembered it being truly awe inspiring. The view is just too much to take in and no single picture can capture what you're seeing. So I was excited to take Erinn with me this time, to experience the Grand Canyon with her, this being her first time. We started at Mather Point and worked our way westward to the rest of the Grand Canyon Village.


It was amazing. The red rock and green trees complemented by snow scattered throughout the canyon was beautiful. We slipped and slid to the viewpoints along the rim trail and snapped a few pictures. Once, I was walking behind a couple and the man ahead of me slipped on the ice, almost falling down. I laughed to myself for a moment before I started slipping, barely catching my balance. We had hiking boots on, but these trails were covered in icy snow and we might as well have been wearing slippers.


There's a shuttle that runs around the Grand Canyon Village area, making it easy to jump from the visitor's center to the Village, but that day we only made it half way. The Grand Canyon Train had broken down, shutting down the shuttle service, forcing us off about a mile from the Village. But this just meant we would have to walk along the rim of the canyon, which is what we were there to see anyway.


At the Village, we stopped at the El Tovar Lodge, ate a hot dog at a deli, and took in the view at Kolb Studio before heading back to our car. That night we ate Chipotle and slept soundly.


The next morning, we woke up early to watch the sunrise from Lowell Observatory and although it was obscured by clouds, the sunrise was beautiful. From Flagstaff we drove south toward Sedona on Highway 89A passing Slide Rock State Park and lots of beautiful pine trees. Sedona itself is like a town out of a movie, the buildings charming and these amazing red rock formations surrounding it. There's a nice small-town feel to the place and there are pink jeeps-for-hire everywhere just dying to take you out on a tour of the area. There's a trail that leads to a rock formation called Devil's Bridge that looks very cool, but we were just too pressed for time to hike the 3-mile round-trip to go see it.


So we moved on to Montezuma's Castle, which is a huge house built into the side of a cliff outside Camp Verde, AZ. The building is impressive and has been around since about 700AD.


We finished off our drive with a stop in Prescott to see Whiskey Row and finally got our Chicken Fried Chicken at Cracker Barrel in Kingman before getting to our hotel in Henderson, NV. Lots and lots of driving through Arizona.


Since we started 2012 in Las Vegas, we thought it would be fun to finish it there, too. We stayed that night at Sunset Station Hotel and Casino and gambled a few bucks here and there, hoping our luck would bring us lots of money, but settling for the free drinks as consolation.


The next morning we drove slowly back home and spent New Year's Eve with our friends, playing

Zion National Park: Beauty in Utah, pt. 1

by James Walker

Day 2 - Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

The southern tip of Nevada isn't what I would describe as beautiful. And it's hot. Usually it's really hot and the morning of June 20th was no exception. The first night of our trip was full of anticipation, but without any real excitement. We had made good time so far, but into a city neither of us cared for and we were eager to get to sleep so we could hit the road. So there we were, really bursting at the chance to get into Utah and see something amazing, but we were stuck in Las Vegas for the night.

The drive from Las Vegas to Zion is a relatively quick 3 hours. One of the cool parts of this drive is going through that little bit of Arizona as you head into the southwestern corner of Utah. Between Mesquite, NV and St. George, UT the I-15 highway goes through a bit of a canyon or gulch and the rock is red and jagged (video). The highway runs along the Virgin River, the same river that runs through Zion National Park, which we were headed to. The river here is slow, but pretty, and sets a contrast against the hot, red rock and the blue sky. But the drive is short and soon we were in Utah, passing through the town of St. George and switching highways to head into Zion itself.

The entrance to the park is right next to the Visitor's Center, which is also right next to the primary parking lot. June is tourist season and we were advised to find parking outside the park in the neighboring city of Springdale, but we got lucky and found a spot in the parking lot. However, one thing we hadn't counted on was leaving our propane tanks in a hot car all day. We worried about this for a while, but decided to throw the tanks into a collapsible cooler with a bit of ice to keep it cool. We figured it'd be better to have cold tanks than exploding tanks! After settling that, we jumped on one of the park's free shuttles and started our tour of the park.

The views start immediately upon entering the park; even from the parking lot we could see some of the prominent features of Zion. Being able to ride a shuttle was great because neither of us had to drive and we could both enjoy poking our heads out the window without being distracted by the road. At this point we had to start thinking about what we wanted to do while here in the park.

While we (and by we, I really mean Erinn) had planned out the big parts of our trip, we hadn't planned out the specifics, so when we got to Zion we didn't have a set itinerary. The attendant at the entrance had given us a packet and a map for the park so we picked out a place that sounded nice to stop at and went from there. We decided to stop at Zion Lodge, which is around the center of the shuttle loop through Zion Canyon.

Before we got to Zion, we had been considering a more ambitious hike up to Angel's Landing. This is a 5 mile round-trip, very strenuous hike which goes up a couple thousand feet to a beautiful lookout point. It all sounded amazing before the trip, but when we stepped into the hot weather of southern Utah in June, we decided to take it a easy and opted for a hike to the Emerald Pools. This trailhead can be accessed from the Zion Lodge shuttle stop and leads across the road, across a bridge over the Virgin River, and up just a bit into the walls of Zion Canyon. It's an easy hike, mostly on a paved road, and it led us to a beautiful trickling waterfall (video) that flows into the Lower Emerald Pool. We would have gone further on the trail, but it was closed for construction. The middle and upper pools look beautiful in pictures and I'm a bit bummed we couldn't see them this trip, but I'm sure we'll get there next time.

One nice surprise at Zion was that at various locations throughout the park there were "water refill stations" where you could easily pop your water bottle under a faucet and get some fresh water. We had packed lots of water, but we still went through it faster than we had anticipated and it was nice being able to fill up throughout the day.

After our trek up to the Emerald Pools we got back on the shuttle and continued our tour up the canyon. There are many stops along this route and even more hikes accessible from each stop, but we took the shuttle to the very top of the canyon and got off at the Temple of Sinewava. Here we took another easy hike on a trail called Riverside Walk which is known as the gateway to The Narrows. At this point, I think we were both drained from the heat, but we were pushing each other to go further and see more Zion. The walk to the beginning of The Narrows isn't much longer than a mile, but the sun was zapping our energy and it seemed to take quite a while, but we would hit a nice stretch of shade and remember how beautiful everything was. One of the cool features of this area were the hanging gardens along the canyon walls. Water flows constantly down the walls of the canyon and at certain points where there is an outcropping or ledge some plants will grow, creating this wet, green garden on top of hot, red rock. It's pretty and they're all over Zion, but you can see them up close here on your walk to The Narrows.

The name for The Narrows is pretty obvious; this is the top of the canyon where the walls get very close and the passage gets more and more narrow. Also, you may have seen pictures of The Narrows without knowing what it was. It's a beautiful area where the close canyon walls have been carved out by wind and water and have this very smooth, curved look. The hike through The Narrows is actually a hike through the Virgin River with you wading through water up to your stomach. It's a lot of fun, especially after hiking around in 100 degree heat all day, but we hadn't planned for getting wet so we had to turn around when the water reached our knees. I think we would have been fine getting our clothes wet, but we both had phones and cameras on us and we didn't want to risk damaging them. So there's another hike for next time and a reminder that it might be a good idea to bring a bag or something to protect your electronics from water. We had a lot of fun, though, and we treated this whole trip as a learning experience. For example, on the way back from The Narrows, I saw a bunch of long, sturdy hiking sticks leaning up against a wall that people had been using to keep their balance while wading through the river. Over time, people had collected them, used them, and left them for future adventurers of The Narrows. Note to self: be observant. Erinn and I had been using each other for balance along the slippery rocks even in the shallower areas when we could have been using some big, heavy walking sticks. At this point, we were both worn out and although it was already late afternoon, we hadn't had lunch, so we got on another shuttle and headed back to our car.

When traveling through places with a lot of tourists, it's always fun to watch people and the shuttle back to the parking lot had a lot of people to watch. One was a three year old kid sitting with his parents. They were Asian and didn't speak much English and the kid was adorable. He had a toy phone and people around him kept pulling out their cell phones, pretending to call him and he was eating up all the attention. He was happy and having a good time and he made the long ride back seem pretty short. Eventually we got to the parking lot, made some sandwiches, and drove to Cedar City where we stayed at a KOA for the night.

I think both of us were excited and exhausted from our first day. We got to our campsite relatively early and made some sausages and squash, which became a staple for dinners on our trip, and went to bed. The only bad part about the whole day was that this particular KOA was on a very busy street and it was really hard to get any sleep. Even late at night, a huge truck would drive by every thirty seconds or so and pull you out of whatever sleep you had managed to get. I love the convenience of KOAs, but they're not always so friendly to the tent crowd. But as it was, we'd had a very successful first day of our Grand Adventure and we couldn't wait for more.

Leaving Vegas for Utah

by James Walker

Day 1 - Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

So far my discussions about our trip across (parts of) America has been light on specifics and more about my longing for travel. I could talk for days and days about how I'd love to be on the road or walking down the street of some far-off city, but this blog is supposed to be a log of my past exploits, so I'll fill in a few details.

Our trip originally came from an idea of Erinn's that we could drive across the United States and see something like 20 states. We would have gone all the way from the west coast to the east coast and back, driving about 6,000 miles. It would have been crazy, so we scaled it back and ended up with just 5 or so states, most of them new to both of us. Officially we passed through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Idaho, but the substance of our trip was mainly just Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

On paper, our trip looked like this:


View Larger Map

That would have put us at 2,585 miles, but all the sightseeing, detours, and wandering gave us right around 3,700 miles. It was quite a lot of driving for just 12 days, but we made it work and we had a great time. I've been on many drives down I-5 to southern California where I've gotten sleepy and bored and needed someone next to me to keep me awake, but there was so much to see on this 3,700 mile drive that we rarely got sleepy and never got bored. One of my favorite drives was the drive on I-70 through Utah and into Colorado. The landscape itself was so dramatic and in just a single day's drive it changed so often that I couldn't have fallen asleep if I wanted to. I felt like to sleep would be to miss the very thing I was here to see on this trip. From the beautiful countryside of the valley at the beginning of I-70 to the dramatic bluffs and canyons in the middle to the beginnings of the Rockies on the western side of Colorado, I was taken in by the beauty and variety of the land.

And this was all in the first few days of our trip.

We begin, as I said before, in Las Vegas. It was hot when we drove in that night at 10pm and it was already getting hot the next morning when we left at 8am. There's not much to see in this neon city except big buildings and slot machines so while we appreciated the inexpensive-yet-luxurious Orleans Hotel, we were happy to leave it behind (for now).

We left Nevada, drove through a corner of Arizona, and wandered into Utah.

A Quick Recap of Post-Las Vegas

I never got around to telling the story of our trip after Las Vegas, so I'll just recap it here.

After Las Vegas, Erinn and I saw the Hoover Dam, the London Bridge down at Lake Havasu, The Grand Canyon Caverns on Route 66, and we ate at Cracker Barrel twice. We also saw the casinos in Laughlin and lost a few bucks at the slots there. It was a nice little trip across the northwest Arizona countryside.

We both agreed Arizona isn't a state we'd like to live in, but we can't wait to go see the Grand Canyon. That will hopefully be our next big trip.

I intend to elaborate more on our trips, but this one kind of got away from me.

On to the next one!

Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/a-quick-recap-of-post-las-vegas/