The Fisher's, Author at Our View From The Road

Day 32: The Grand Canyon

Another chilly night in the high desert. This one required running the furnace for a few hours in the early morning hours. Brrr.

We managed to get ready for the day and on the road before 9:00am. The drive to Grand Canyon National Park was only about 20min and we had read that to avoid lines at the gate that can build to over 2hrs in length we should arrive before 9:00am. Tick. We arrive shortly after 9:00am and only wait about 5min. We drive to the South Rim Visitor Centre, find a parking space and set off for a walk.

We start at Mather Point and walk westward along the rim trail to the Grand Canyon village. It takes us about 2 1/2 hours and we covered about 4km stopping many times along the way to take many pictures.

Our neighbors, the Americans, are quick to use superlatives when describing anything associated with the USA, “Worlds largest…”, “Best…”, “Most Extreme…”. In the case of the ‘Grand Canyon’ I believe that they under delivered on the name. This place goes beyond what words can describe. Adjectives like “expansive”, “vast”, or simply “Wow” cannot do it justice. I’ve given this a lot of thought today and have decided NOT to try and describe what we witnessed, instead I’ve included some pictures & urge each of you to visit this park. You will not be disappointed.

At the Grand Canyon village Barb looks about the Hopi arts and crafts shop while I check out the buildings. We take the shuttle bus back to the Visitor Center, and drive the campervan to the Trailer Village RV Park where we are spending the night.

We enjoy an early dinner and then catch the shuttle bus to Hopi point to watch the sunset, we caught the last bus out! Sunset was a bit of a bust as it was cloudy, but we still enjoyed the experience.

To end the day we enjoyed a movie in the van before settling down for the night.

Day 31: Flagstaff and beyond

Today = Driving. We leave Lost Dutchman State Park headed toward the Grand Canyon and the drive looks to be about 4 hrs but we have to stop for groceries and gas. It will take longer than 4 hours (foreshadowing).

We start off well at about 9:00am and the traffic around Phoenix is light and then we get to I-17N towards Flagstaff. Lots of weekend traffic, it feels like everyone is heading North at 75-80mph. The road is not flat either but climbs quite considerably in places causing trucks to put on their flashers while everyone tries to jump into the left lane and not loose any speed. All in all it translates into quite a stressful hour or so.

We pull off of I-17N and head towards Sedona, AZ. No plans to stop other than for a quick picnic lunch, just as well. First, the Sedona valley is beautiful. The town feels like a ski resort that’s been jammed between the red rock faces of the valley. Clearly a nice place to come and visit if you’re staying at a lodge or hotel but not in a campervan. We pull through 3 separate picnic areas before we finally find one North of the village where there is enough room for our rig and so we stop and enjoy lunch.

Leaving the Sedona valley requires you drive out through the Oak Creek Canyon on route 89A. This entails driving up a series of switchback curves to reach the top where we see snow along the roadside amongst the pine trees. A beautiful drive but it had Barb not wanting to get too close to the window in the van due to the drop offs.

The remaining drive to Flagstaff was easy and before we knew it we were shopping at Walmart and Bashras (local chain) for groceries. Dinner was courtesy of Pizza Hut as Barb did not want to cook tonight and pizza was to be a treat. Fuel acquired at a Pilot service stop just West of Flagstaff and then we continued toward the Grand Canyon.

We turned North at Williams, AZ onto route 64 which leads directly to the South Rim entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park. However, our plans were not to go all the way tonight. Instead we were copying what our friends the Milddogs did last year and that is stay just South of the park on BLM land, driving into the park tomorrow.

We find the dirt road off of the highway near a place called Red Butte. It’s bumpy and rutted from vehicles driving along it in recent rains. It’s easy to see that some folks were getting stuck in the soft muddy soil. We pass a few camping areas but they are taken so we keep going. We then turn down a bumpier road (not wide enough for two vehicles) and drive about half a kilometre before realizing that we’re in over our heads. I find a place where I think I can turn around without getting stuck and proceed to complete a 1000-point turn. Success. We drive out along the same bumpy, rutted road and decide to pull into an area where someone is already setup to see if there enough room for another vehicle. There is and we hide behind some shrubbery (nod to Monty Python fans) so as not to be intrusive.

It is quiet. We enjoy our pizza and a well earned drink. It is close to 6:00pm meaning that it has taken about 9 hours to get here. Phew. Oh well, tomorrow is only about an hour of driving, so it was worthwhile.

Day 30: Lost Dutchman State Park

Whoa, chilly start to the day but supposed to heat up to 26C this afternoon. A light breakfast and then both ready ourselves for our morning walks.

We were visited by Quail while eating our breakfast

Barb will walk about the campground exploring some of the nature trails while I strike off to the Superstition Mountains and UP the Siphon Draw trail. It will take me an hour before I run out of energy and decide to stop and come back down. I manage a 281m (922ft) gain in elevation, not bad for a ‘flat lander’.

The remainder of the day we spend relaxing and reading at the campsite before a short walk together about the campground after dinner.

Tomorrow we leave and head North towards the Grand Canyon. We’re going to camp on BLM land for one night and then in Grand Canyon village for a second night. Come back to see how we make out.

Day 29: “Nature is the inspiration for all ornamentation” – FLW

Today we head towards Phoenix, AZ. The sun is up early and we go about our morning rituals to get ourselves and the van ready for a drive. We will miss Picacho Peak State Park, it is beautiful and serine.

Our drive along I-10W is uneventful, yep back to our old friend for what I think will be the last time. Nearing Phoenix we turn East on the 202 and the North on the 101. We’re heading North towards Scottsdale, AZ where we will stop at Taliesin West.

Taliesin West (now a National Historic site) was the Winter home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Purchased by FLW in the 1930s, the land was developed by himself and the students of his fellowship using local materials that blend harmoniously into the surrounding landscape.

We took the self-guided audio tour (other tours were all sold out) which lasted about an hour and looked about the grounds and through FLWs office, the living quarters and the drafting studio. The tour was really well put together and gave you an amazing insight into the methods & philosophies applied when the campus was built. Enjoy a few of the pictures we took.

Leaving Scottsdale, we head back across the city towards the East and the Lost Dutchman State Park. It is located at the foot of the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction, AZ.

This is a very popular park because of its close proximity to Phoenix and we were only able to reserve a rustic site (no services) for 2 nights. The view is amazing!

Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, AZ

Day 28: Picacho Peak State Park 3

Another short post today, the wind continues but it’s only going to get to 17C so it will feel cooler than that. The days starts with my walking around the park again, I take the following selfie.

Once back to the campsite Barb catches me relaxing.

We have breakfast and relax for the remainder of the morning. After lunch we go for a walk towards the peak in the background of the photo above. We have no intention of trying to climb it. Along the way we find more colorful flowers and cactus.

We stopped on our hike to take the following picture of Barb next to a Saguaro cactus. They really are quite a bit taller than you might think.

The following is near the end of our hike at the foot of the mountain. This really is quite a special place and we highly recommend this state park to anyone visiting the SW Arizona area.

Tomorrow we’re back on the road. Come back soon to see where we went.