I was a little brief in my first Grand Canyon post, and I’m sure you wanted to know more.
Right? Right?
Being a totally East Coast girl who never even made it past the Mississippi until I was in my 50’s, I had no idea all there was to see and do at the Grand Canyon. I mean, I knew it was GRAND and all, and that we certainly didn’t want to leave Arizona without getting there, I really didn’t know what we would do for our two full days there. Silly me.
First of all, there is hiking. I mean serious-way-down-into-the canyon hiking. There is the Kaibab Trail –

Can you see the switchbacks on the side of that cliff?


See that little patch of green in the valley about a third of the way up in the middle on this picture? That’s Phantom Ranch – and it’s one of the destinations of the many hikes into the canyon.
The other popular hike is the Bright Angel Hike –


and there it goes wandering through the valley

also heading to Phantom Ranch.
But as much as we thought going down part of the way on either of those trails might be fun, we knew that coming back up would be a problem. So instead we did the Rim Trail.

Mostly paved, mostly flat, scenic overlooks a plenty…..yes, definitely our type of “hiking”. We did it from end to end (about 13 miles) and walked a good ten of those miles. For the other spots, we used the free shuttle – a wonderful part of the park! We never even unhooked the truck from behind the RV! It was great!

Then there are the famous mule rides down the canyon (they go on that Bright Angel Trail, I think).

But from the looks of the ones waiting for riders

I think I’m Ok with not doing THAT activity. Don’t want those mules dozing off on those switchbacks!
Our hike along the rim afforded us stunning view after stunning view.



Oh, and if you couldn’t figure it out –

there is danger in dem dar edges. Got it!
Most folks take pictures of themselves standing in front of the Grand Canyon. We did too. But it turned out fuzzy. Besides, I liked this one better!

(and as a bonus I could sell it as a “how not to have your jeans fit” example to a fashion magazine!)
And while the vistas were amazing –

a closer look into the canyon floor revealed more beautiful colors.

Towards the end of our second day we checked out Grand Canyon Village – Hotels and cabins and restaurants and even an art gallery –

that was in the Kolb Studio, built in 1904 right on the rim.

Now THAT’s a room with a view!
We had a very full two days and enjoyed every minute of it (well, maybe we didn’t enjoy the getting up at 4:30 today and then NOT being able to get to the canyon for the sunrise). Tomorrow we pull out of our nice little campground. But I’d better warn you – there are three scenic outlook/stops on the way east out of the park. I don’t think you’ve seen the last of the Grand Canyon from this girl!
One final note from our Rim Trail Hike –
At the very end of the Rim Trail was Hermit’s Rest.

And much to my delight, there on one of the pillars, overlooking the magnificence of the Grand Canyon was this plaque –

Amen.

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