The Grand Canyon, South Rim

Our first day in The Grand Canyon was a wet and cloudy one.  We could hardly even see the canyon.  We were hoping that the next day would clear; and our “hopes” were answered.  What a difference a day makes in the weather.

After sopping up all the water in our tent, apparently it isn’t water proof!  We headed over to the free shuttle and away we went.

We spent most of the day being wowed and bedazzled by the beauty of the Grand Canyon.  And having a shuttle to take you right to the viewing points was great.  A couple of the points were less than a half a mile apart and very flat, so we walked.  When the points got a little longer in between, we rode.  It was perfect!

And even though there were still some clouds, it was nothing compared to the day before; and as the day wore on, the clouds dissipated even more.

After dinner, we headed to the rim to see the sunset; but got there a little late.  There is lots of signage in this park, but never for where we wanted to go.  And needless to say, by the time we found a parking spot, the sun had pretty much set for the day.

The next day, we started the drive towards Zion, NP and again the beauty of this area, had us “wowing” for most of the drive.  It was pretty cool to be driving in the canyons, and looking up at the rock. 

With the time difference, by the time we arrived at Zion, the only camping sites left were in the group camping.  We “shared” our site with a couple from Austria and another from Holland.  We sat around the fire and shared stories well into the night, before heading to bed.

The next day, we again took advantage of the free shuttle and took an 80 minute return drive through the park.  When we got to the end; we headed along the trail, which parallels the river.  I gave up about 10 minutes in, but Mike continued to the end.  And took some more great shots along the way.

Next stop, Bryce Canyon.  And since it was only 60 ish miles up the road, we figured by getting there mid afternoon, we would have plenty of sites to choose from… wrong!  As we pulled into the last “open” campground, the ranger was putting up the “full” sign.  Back up the road we went to Red Rock Canyon (the second Red Rock Canyon we’ve been to on this trip - last one was outside of Vegas).

But the sites were small and most of them on a slope.  Only other option was to drive 14 miles on a dirt road to Kings Creek.  Lots of empty spaces here, thankfully!  Set up, and once again had comments/questions about our tent.

Most of the tents that we’ve seen on the trip so far, as small, domed; 1-2 person tents.  Ours looks like the Taj Mahal compared to some of them.  And so far, every campground that we’ve set up at, at least one person has come over and made comments about our tent.

But even though we have a large comfy tent to sleep in, it didn’t stop the freezing cold air from coming in.  Boy, what a long, cold night that was!  In fact, our hand soap turned to gel - not quite frozen, but pretty darn close.  Thank goodness for our hoodies!

Because of so many pictures, I’ll hold off on the Bryce pictures and story for the next blog. 

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