Grand Canyon Part 1: Outside the Canyon
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2007
1
23
55
Trip End
Dec 01, 2008
Grand Canyon National Park,
Arizona,
United States
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Grand Canyon-what can be said about this giant hole in the ground that hasn't already been said? It is breathtaking, incredible, unique-a god's-eye view of nature's power. The most descriptive words are one-dimensional where the Grand Canyon is multifaceted-it can only truly be experienced in person. (We have so many pictures we broke the blog into multiple parts, so if you are interested you can look at as many as you want.) And for each individual that visits this natural wonder, the experience will be different. Bob and I each had been here before. He to hike down the Bright Angel trail and embark on a whitewater rafting adventure, and me to take the mule ride for an overnight stay at the Phantom Ranch down at the bottom. This time we did neither.
We couldn't get reservations to camp in the park immediately, so we camped in the town of Tusayan, about three miles from the park entrance, for a few days
001 view from hwy toward Flagstaff AZ
. Camper Village had plenty of room, and we actually made the most of our stay there before we camped in the park itself. Camper Village backs up to the border of the Kaibab National Forest, so we did some hiking and mountain biking. Because everyone else is at the park, this is a nice place for some solitude. They have some marked hiking trails and biking trails. One of the things we most enjoyed most though was just heading out into the forest and picking our own path. We also like looking for unique rocks and crystals as we hike, and were amazed at the variety of stone colors. Pinks and blues and yellows and greens. Quartz and red rock and granite. We spent a couple days hiking around back there in the Kaibab National Forest stopping for lunch at the top of a hill just watching for wildlife. The smell of the pines and the green of spring. The sound of helicopters and airplanes cutting through the silence. . . Yep, they run those air tours of the Grand Canyon pretty much every half hour starting at about 10 a.m. and continuing until an hour or so before dusk. Oh well, even with the interference of civilization, these days hiking and mountain biking were well-spent. And a good warm up for our all-day trek on the South Kaibab trail down into the Grand Canyon (see Grand Canyon Part II).
Check out the pictures from our adventures in the South Kaibab Forest behind Camper Village. As for wildlife, they had some cute baby goats at Camper Village, and we saw a small herd of elk one day at the edge of the property (the picture isn't very clear).
