Day 12 (Grand Canyon)

Here are some pics of our visit to the Grand Canyon (copy and paste the link)...

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1623927026/a=3145779026_3145779026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Day 12 (Grand Canyon, then onto to Holbrook, AZ) started earlier than it needed to. Because Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings time, and we are technically on Mountain Standard Time, it was 7:00 Arizona time, but 8:00 MST. We decided not to set our watches back since we will be heading to Carlsbad tomorrow to see the bat flight, which will begin around 7:45 MST. Regardless, we all arose, had our breakfast, and then headed to the shuttle stop for our awaiting hike. Julie and I decided to hit the South Kaibab Trail down to Cedar Ridge, a roughly 3-mile round trip (an 1140 foot descent over 1 ½ miles—then the ascent). The views from the trail were absolutely stunning. It really is impressive to look over the canyon, which can reach about a 10-mile width at any point. Because Bryce and Collin were with us (and I’m sure we would not have had enough water, and per the rangers’ recommendations), we did not hike all the way down to the Colorado River, which would have been about a 20-mile round trip. The trip down to Cedar Ridge was quick and without complaint. When we reached our destination, we had a very thorough look-see and a brown bag lunch of PB&J and bananas. The climb back up the trail, however, proved to be the complete opposite. Collin staggered behind Bryce and me, while Julie hung back with the straggler. During the climb back up, we frequently stopped for water breaks (and a quick hit from the trail mix bag) since Collin looked like he was going to fall out at any time. Because on the way down there was a group loitering at “Ooh Aah” point, we figured we would catch some views and pictures on the way back up. Once again, we were foiled in our plans, as there was a group from New Jersey (of all places!) that seemed like they were going to set up shop for the day. So, we continued up the trail to the shuttle stop. On the way up, Julie and I discussed the plans for the rest of the day, since we had gotten such an “early” start. We decided on walking the “Rim Trail”, much to the chagrin of Collin, who was exhausted from the 3-mile hike. This trail did not offer any spectacular views, but we figured it would be a good way to waste some time. Upon completion of the “Rim Trail”, we headed back to our campsite, since there really was no need for further exploration of the Grand Canyon (it really seems as though every different view actually offers the exact same view). Resigned that we had our fill of the “second largest hole on the earth” according to Clark W. Griswold, Julie and I thought it would be best that we forgo our reservations at Trailer Village and drive a few hours south and east to ease our drive to Carlsbad. We made reservations at a KOA in Holbrook, AZ (near the Petrified Forest) and off we went. During the drive to our camp for the night, we witnessed a rather remarkable forest fire near Flagstaff, AZ. The smoke plum was visible from dozens of miles around. This fire was no doubt fueled from the same fierce winds that I had been battling on the road with the RV (the same winds that I once again got to face on our 3-hour drive today). We finally arrived at our “kampsite” around 6:30 MST and immediately began dinner preparations. I fired up the grill for BBQ pork chops, while Julie got corn-on-the-cob and garlic French bread going inside. After dinner, we all hit the showers to wash off the Grand Canyon dust and called it a day. There’s a pretty good chance that we’ll hit the “all you can eat” pancake breakfast that our KOA sponsors in the morning, then hit the Petrified Forest prior to heading to Carlsbad Caverns. Here’s to a very tiring day and an equally exciting day ahead…