Before you start reading today’s blog take a moment to think about the MOST dangerous animal in the Grand Canyon. What do you think it is? I’ll reveal the answer later …
Our plan to get up to watch the sun rise fails miserably. We have a lot of things planned for today, so instead of going for breakfast we break into our supply of energy bars. Sadly, we’ve run out of the tasty ones, now we’re down to the truly sugary sweet. Blergh!
We check out of the hotel, then drive towards Mather and Yavapai point. We pass the barn with all the mules and there’s a cute sign to warn drivers about mules crossing the road (in hand). Sandy thinks I should ride a mule down into the canyon, but I don’t think I’d trust a mule to navigate those narrow ledges without stumbling.
You’re not allowed to drive your own vehicle West of the village, so we park at the Bright Angel Lodge to board the free shuttle to Hermit’s Rest. As luck would have it, we find the giant coach parked right across the street. After a few minutes the driver returns and starts collecting tickets …. eh, what tickets?
Yeah, we got on the wrong bus! Apparently it was a guided tour we joined. But the driver is really nice and offers to drop us off at the shuttle stop. Now if that isn’t traveling in style; taking a shuttle to the shuttle!
The light is much better for taking pictures today.
Solar flare from the direct sunlight, but you can tell I love the Grand Canyon.
The buses leave every 15 minutes, so we hop on and off to our hearts content. There are a lot of Utah Junipers at the Grand Canyon that beg to be climbed. When we get to Powell Point I can’t resist the temptation anymore.
It’s only a short distance to the next stop, Hopi Point, so we decide to walk there along the Rim Trail. Fencing is inconsistent to nonexistent.
In this picture you can see some of the different layers and how their composition has affected their appearance. Whereas limestone and sandstone are very resistant to erosion, shale erodes over time causing those layers to slope.
Pinyon Jay in a Pinyon Pine.
And finally, the most dangerous animal in the Grand Canyon is the ever ferocious Spermophilus Variegatus. They’re responsible for more injuries to humans than any other animal in the park, as many as 15 a day! Yikes, and then to think a lot of them carry parasites that can transmit rabies, the plague and the hanta virus. They do look cute though.
My favorite viewpoints are those from where you can see the river. It looks so tiny!
We ride the shuttle all the way to Hermit’s Rest, then head back to the lodge. It’s getting a little bit late, but when we spot the Bright Angel Trailhead we can’t resist descending a short distance into the canyon.
You can see a small opening in the rock (about midway between where the man is walking and the left side of the picture) where the trail snakes through the cliff.
Close-up of the opening.
I’m glad I didn’t go on one of those mule rides; some of their hoof prints are past the edge … no, not on the edge, but past it. Apparently they're still a lot safer than horses; they did once pilot using horses instead, but they were found to be to flighty ... you kind of have to wonder how they found out about that.
There’s still some snow left in the higher elevations and the meltwater has created large slippery sections on the trail, so we have to very careful where we walk.
If you have the time and the stamina the trail winds all the way down to the river.
Walking up hill is a lot more strenuous. I can’t imagine what it must be like to look up from the river and know you have to hike back to the lodge somehow.
On our way out of the park we notice a car on the side of the road with the emergency flasher on. Then we see why:
There’s a huge herd of elk!
I spend a good 15 minutes observing them from the bushes. They don’t seem to mind my company at all and just go about their business.
Finally I manage to pry myself away, but we haven’t gone more than 200 feet when we spot another herd on the other side of the street. This little girl was standing right at the edge of the road and I was able to take this picture from the car without even having to zoom.
We drive through Williams and stop for gas. You never know how long it’ll be before you see another gas station so we try not to let it get too low. There’s a nice mural nearby.
Instead of driving the most direct way to Vegas, we make a little detour over the route 66. First stop is quirky Seligman, rumored to have inspired the movie Cars.
The old jail.
Fake Elvis?
The energy bars have long since worn off, so this seems like the perfect place for a quick snack. We decide on #1 ranked Lilo’s and split an order of fried mac & cheese bites. Sadly, it tastes like instant mac & cheese in a greasy, deep-fried coating, yuck! It’s okay though, because we’re trying to save room for the buffet tonight, plus they had a beautiful mountain lion mounted on the wall.
In my research Peach Springs and Hackberry sounded interesting too, but I have to admit to falling asleep shortly after we left Seligman and by the time I woke up we were well on the way Vegas and I had to use the bathroom so badly.
As luck would have it we’re right by a couple of gas stations so I shoot upright and yell at Sandy that I need to use to bathroom, but flustered by my sudden wakefulness she can’t decide which one to pull into and we end up passing them out. Argh!
We’re driving along, and along, and along and of course there are no facilities anywhere; no rest rooms, no gas stations, not even a MacDonald’s (just kidding!). We get off the highway every time there’s a sign for any kind of facility, but every single time it turns out to be several miles down some little road and we’re forced to turn around. The wind is really picking up again, plus we’re in the sparsely vegetated desert so even *that* isn’t an option.
The GPS has a feature to locate the nearest gas station, restaurant, etc but to unbelievably the closest ones are more than 30 miles away (yep, the ones we passed when I first woke up). You can’t imagine my relief when I unexpectedly see a Texaco sign in the distance!
I grab the key for the restroom and run inside. It’s strangely quiet inside … the clerk said there were two women already in there with a kid. How odd! Meanwhile, Sandy’s wondering why I’m not in the bathroom if I had to go so badly? Yep, you’ve guessed it; I accidentally went to the men’s room again. Thankfully I didn’t run into anyone this time, although the shopkeeper did give me a weird look when we were walking out.
We get to drive across the new bridge at the Hoover Dam, which is pretty cool because we got to see it be built last time we were there. Too bad you can’t see the dam though.
It’s a bit strange to be back in Vegas. I’ve tried to like it, but the last time was pretty disappointing. This time the weather’s a lot better so we’re hopeful that this will be a better experience.
By now we’re pretty hungry, but we decide to check into the hotel first. It takes a long time, but we walk away with a free upgrade to a King Suite. Not bad for $27 a night!
Our excitement is short-lived when we find a bunch of dirty towels in the room, but after a speedy housekeeping visit everything is back in order.
I trade my cargo zip offs and hiking boots for more appropriate attire and we head across the street to Treasure Island. I love, love, love their buffet and I can barely contain my enthusiasm after a day of near starvation, but when we find out they’re about to have their Sirens show we decide to go there first. I can’t believe how perfect we’ve timed things; we can see the Sirens then head straight for the buffet and close the day with one of the big shows like Cirque de Soleil. Woohoo! I may start to like Vegas after all!
It’s windy when we get outside, but that doesn’t dampen my spirits … until they cancel the show! How is it possible that it gets cancelled both times I’ve been to this city of hot, sunny days because of weather?!
I’m really trying to stay positive here, but this has just not been my day. “Just watch”, I tell Sandy, “now the buffet is going to be horrible,” but she manages to assure me that it should still be fine.
My favorite is a made-to-order pesto shrimp pasta and we aim straight for the pasta station. I can only watch in horror as the chef drops a generous helping of sundried tomatoes in with the pesto. “Is that mine?” “That can’t be mine?!” “Should I say something?” I’m so busy looking around to see if someone else is coming to pick up their pasta, that I can only stammer thanks when he hands me a heaping plate of food. Did I mention there also weren’t any shrimp? Sadly, the rest of the buffet isn’t any better.
I’m really bummed right now and not sure what we should do. Should we try to catch the Sirens’ late show and risk missing all the big shows, or definitely give up on seeing the Sirens? We’re already at the TI and it’s close to show time so we decide to stay around for the performance, except they keep delaying the show because they’re waiting for the wind to die down.
Of course, you can probably guess what happened; the wind picked up even more, the show got cancelled and we ended up missing all the big shows. I’m so mad that I’m secretly thrilled when we find out you have to pay to use the internet … that’s all the excuse I need to go straight to bed and hope for a better day tomorrow.
Miles for today: 297
Hotel: Imperial Palace
Restaurant: Lilo’s (lunch appetizer)
Treasure Island (buffet)
