19 Hours to Grand Canyon Round-trip
Updated: Jul 16, 2020
Who said sleep is essential.....not when on a trip. LOL.
11:30am We arrived at the Phoenix airport at on July 4th. We went to the car rental company to check out our vehicle then went to find food.
Noon We began our 4 hours journey up to the Grand Canyon State Park.
4:30pm We finally arrived at the park (of course we had to make a few pit stops).
We drove around trying to find a view of the canyon and would only see lodges and a few people walking around. After about 15 minutes of back and forth, we finally saw a glimpse and stopped in the middle of the road. LOL. We backed up on the one way and found parking in the vacant bus stop area. (Thank goodness the bus service wasn't operating)
With so much excitement, we got out and took a few pictures with the breath taking view behind us. After a brief conversation with a couple, we began down a trail they pointed out to us.
The jaw dropping view had us descending further and further into the Canyon. Our girlfriend who accompanied us on this trip stopped a few minutes on the journey. We made the decision to continue while she rested. With a goal to get to the 1st rest stop on the trail, I continued as it was my main motivation to get to this so called 1.5 mile mark. The walk felt like 5 miles.
Did I mention, the more I walked, (remember I'm scared of the word hike) the more I got terrified of the WALK back up. LOL. I told my husband I may need a walking stick to get back up. He was gracious enough to find a tree close enough on the trail where he could break me off a sturdy limb.
About 1 hour later, we finally got to the rest stop. We rested a little and I filled up our water bottles to savor for the hike back. Yes, I said it as it met my expectation of trying to kill me. We saw a few wildlife in the Canyon such as mountain lions and even a rattle snake. The rattle snake was right on the trail which was blocking our path. Another hiker accidentally stepped on it before running back to us. We stood there about 5 minutes waiting for it to move off the trail, but it was being stubborn. Hubby went with my makeshift walking stick in hopes to guide it off, however it was aggravated by this point so it just continued to rattle more vigorously. He then made himself a barrier while all 4 of us females ran past it............oh we met back up with our friend on the way back up. To our surprise she waited over an hour for us to get back up to her location.
Right at sunset, we got back to the top of the Canyon.
8pm We left the park in search for food. The town had a few restaurants, however the majority closed at 9pm. Saved by the Mexican Restaurant, they closed at 10pm. We booked a hotel close by, actually it was next door, while we waited for our food.
1030pm We checked into the hotel. We showered and went to bed.
1230am We were back up to start our journey back to the airport by 1am. YES we took about a 1 hour nap.
On the drive back we saw sooo many Elk. They were huuuge, made me scared one may be on the road, which was pitch black the entire drive.
430am We were at the gas station by the car rental return location at the airport.
6am Our flight departs back to Atlanta.
At times you just have to go, don't believe that there just isn't enough time. This was a last minute trip and we found a way to make it work and accomplish our main goal. To visit the Grand Canyon.
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