Grand Canyon 2017

[llholmes1948]

We are going to the Grand Canyon in May and also Page, Arizona, Lee's Ferry, and Antelope Canyon. If anyone has any current information or advice on visiting these places, where to eat, etc. please let me know. My daughter might want to do some fly fishing at Lee's Ferry so maybe we will do one of the hikes around Lee's Ferry while she exercises her fishing craze.

We were last at the Grand Canyon in 2002 and had a great time. Our kids who were teenagers and cross country runners at the time ignored Park Service advice and hiked to the river and back the same day. However I didn't fire up for the hiking there at all. It seems that the Grand Canyon trails have many, many more places than Glacier where you can pitch off the trail to your untimely death. I thought the trails were downright scary in that respect but maybe I need to watch "Vertigo" a few more times to get acclimated to this sort of thing. Maybe I will take Carlene and the kids to the trailhead and then sneak back to the hotel bar like I did the last time and attend a lecture on condors. They had great chips and salsa there as I recall.

Thanks,
Lyman

[Jay w]

I too did a run/hike to the river and hike back, making a loop and visiting Phantom Range. I didn't think it was any problem, but it was only 80F as a high temp. That canyon is like a sauna, so I certainly can see the problem betting back to the rim during warm temps. Also, I saw people in dress shoes and sandals, so I believe many people are stupid, hence all the signage stating "don't hike to the river."

Jay

[Pizza Bob]

We did the day hike South Rim to Phantom Ranch and back with my daughters -- 14 and 17 at the time. Down Kaibab
and up Bright Angel. It was at least 110 degrees down by the river. Proper planning, fluids, salts, rest in every
shady spot, and go slow. It was awesome, but I would not recommend it without proper planning and training.
18 miles RT. Vertical is 1 mile down and then up to 7000 feet elevation.

More reasonable (and rational) day hikes are down to Indian Gardens -- a lush green forest in the middle of
the Grand Canyon. I was not prepared for the striking contrast. The spur trail on Tonto plain to the
river overlook can be added. That is halfway down, so you get a view of the river 2500 feet below. I did that
with my son, and while we were sitting looking at the river 2 California Condors landed about 30 yards
from us. They are easy to spot -- giant, black, butt ugly dinosaur creatures -- and when they raise their
wings you see their number. I recall at the time there existed only about 350 of them.

The campground had fantastic showers, great after a hike. You will sweat more liquid than you pee, so it's
nice to be able to rinse off. I think it was about 10 minutes of hot water for $1 (they must ration their
limited water supply by now).

[Jay w]

Wow, 7000 feet and 18 miles? Holy tootsie rolls. I didn't realize it was that far or that much vertical. During my trip, it snowed one night about 5 inches, so it was definitely cold when I started hiking.

110F? No way. I don't deal with heat very well unless I've had a solid week of hot temps to adapt. Even then it's a problem.

Jay

[llholmes1948]

Jay and Bob,

Thanks for your comments. In 2002 our kids took off down the Bright Angel trail and left us far behind. They naturally did not tell us they were going all the way down to the river. They also didn't tell us that they were coming back by way of the South Kaibab trail but maybe they hadn't figured that out when they started the hike. So of course later in the day, Carlene and I waited at the trailhead of the Bright Angel trail and when they didn't show we feared the worse. Fortunately I returned to the hotel and found them resting in the room just before we were about to call out a helicopter.

We will see what they plan this trip.

Lyman

[joybird]

So Lyman....how was it?

Trip report please!

[llholmes1948]

Joybird,

Thanks for the reminder. Trip was just great. I will post a report (but I don't want to promise when!)

Lyman

[llholmes1948]

Here is our overdue trip report from our 2017 Grand Canyon trip:

This is a report which I put together of our Grand Canyon trip in early May 2017 with our adult children. We also went to Sedona for a day and Page, Arizona for a couple of days and then to the Grand Canyon. We have been to the Grand Canyon twice - in April 2002 during school vacation and this trip in 2017. The weather was comfortable - hot in Sedona, Lee's Ferry and Page and sometimes a bit cool at the Grand Canyon where sometimes you needed a jacket and other times not. The North Rim was not open either time we were there but I think it was just about to open when we were there in 2017.

We stayed in the Park at Yavapai Lodge, a series of motel type buildings. I think that is the same place where we stayed in 2002 and it is quite adequate in my opinion. The supermarket near the lodge is well stocked. We did not eat at the dining facility at Yavapai Lodge.

Note that Xanterra operates most of the lodging facilities in Grand Canyon except for Yavapai Lodge which is operated by Delaware North as they won the concession a few years ago. I think in 2002 all lodging facilities were operated by the same company. I did not realize this distinction initially. We were a bit delayed making reservations and when I contacted Xanterra they only had one night available for when we would be there and we were placed on a waiting list for the other days. A couple days later I learned that Delaware North operated Yavapai Lodge so I contacted them and they had a room available for our entire stay so we cancelled our room with Xanterrra and booked with Delaware North.

We began our trip by spending the night in Flagstaff at the Highland Country Inn. On the next day we went to Sedona via Oak Creek Canyon. We stopped on the way and did the hike up the West Fork at Oak Creek Canyon and had a great time. We hiked up as far as we could reasonably go - about 2-3 miles I think and then had lunch there. Temperature was in the 80s and we didn't take as much water as we should have but we survived. After that we slowly made our way to Sedona, stopping at scenic places along the way. We went to El Rincon restaurant late afternoon for dinner and it was great. Good food and good margaritas! We realized that we were not going to make it in time to go to Montezuma Well or Castle (They close at 5) so we gave up on those plans and did sightseeing around Sedona before returning to Flagstaff.

Next day we drove to Lees Ferry and Page. We stopped for a couple hours at Wupatki National Monument and really enjoyed it. Also stopped at the trading post in Cameron. We got to Lees Ferry mid afternoon, walked across the Navajo Bridge and stopped at the beach at Paria Riffles. That was great. Then we went to the end of the road at Lees Ferry and did the hike up the River trail which was very nice. I guess it is a mile or three-quarters of a mile. It was hot! When we got back to the car we checked the temperature and it was 94! We would have liked to have explored Cathedral Wash a bit but we ran our of time. This area was wonderful and because there were so few people around, it was like having a national park all to yourself.

We really enjoyed the beautiful drive along the Echo Cliffs.

We got to Horseshoe Bend before sunset and enjoyed it very much. There was quite a crowd there. Then we went on to Page - ate at Strombolis and stayed at Best Western Plus

Next day we went back to Horseshoe Bend in the morning and to the Glen Canyon Dam visitors Center. Then it was off to Antelope Canyon (Ken's Tours - Lower Antelope Canyon) at about 1 p.m. the tour was about an hour and a half. It was very nice and very beautiful. There are a lot of people taking these tours. People are divided into groups of about 15 people and a guide. We were told that Upper Antelope Canyon is narrower and has more light beams but is shorter. We were very pleased with our tour. After that we ate at Big John's Texas Barbeque which was very good.

Then we headed for the Grand Canyon (Yavapai Lodge) and got there about sunset. Stopped at Desert View on the way but the tower was closed for the day when we got there.

First day at Grand Canyon we went to Hermit's Rest and had a nice time there. My daughter and I walked down the Hermit Trail for a ways. On the way out and back we stopped at a few places including Powell Point. When we got back to the Village we had lunch at the Arizona Room which was very nice and the prices were quite reasonable. Then we visited the El Tovar and the Hopi House. In the late afternoon we went to Grandview Point. Just beautiful!

The next day our son and our daughter did their big hike to the Colorado River and back. They left on the shuttle about 6 a.m. and hiked down the South Kaibab Trail to the river, visited Phantom Ranch, and hiked back on the Bright Angel Trail. When we were at the Grand Canyon in 2002, they hiked down the Bright Angel and up the South Kaibab but they remembered that there was no water on the South Kaibab so they did it in the reverse this time so they would have water on the hike up the Bright Angel trail. They had a great time including seeing a rattlesnake.

While they were gone on their hike, Carlene and I went to the 9 a.m. Geology ranger talk (excellent) at the Bright Angel trailhead and then we spent some time at the Kolb Studio, Lookout Studio, Bright Angel Lodge and history room. Then Carlene and I took off for Desert View and the Tusayan Museum. We had not been to the Tusayan Museum before and we enjoyed it very much. Stayed for the 1 p.m. Ranger talk and that was great. Then we headed off to Desert View. It is one of our favorite parts of the Park and I think Carlene is studying all the symbols so she can be a guide there. I had our daughter's excellent binoculars and I enjoyed using them to check out the area. Spotted some hikers on the Tanner Trail and that didn't look like a difficult trail from what I could see. However one of the Rangers disabused me of that notion and said it was not a good trail for those who had a fear of heights. We had the Navajo tacos at the Desert View café and they were very good.

As we were driving back around 4 p.m., our daughter called and said they had finished their hike. They got back to the hotel shortly before we did. They were starved so we headed for Tusayan village, just outside the Park and ate at the Plaza Bonita restaurant. That was certainly a great place with very good and very ample food.

We also attended a couple of evening Ranger talks while we were there. We didn't see any condors this time but we saw some in 2002.

Carlene and I did pretty much no hiking at the Grand Canyon. We pretty much enjoyed the scenery, museums, and ranger talks.

On our final day at the Grand Canyon, all four of us went back to the Tusayan Museum and we attended the 1 p.m. Ranger talk again. This time it was by a different Ranger and it was also very good. Then we headed to the Desert View and spent several hours there. This time with my daughter's binoculars we spotted some rafts in the Colorado River and we watched a couple of rafts successfully go through the Tanner Rapids below the watchtower. Then later in the afternoon we headed for Flagstaff. We stopped at the State Bar on the north side of the train station and then ate at the Lumberyard Brewing Co. restaurant on the south side of the train station. They have a an award-winning Vietnamese Burger on the menu which was just great.

After our dinner at the Lumberyard the kids drove back to Phoenix and flew out to their respective homes. Carlene and I stayed in Flagstaff, got up around 4 am, walked to the train station and caught the train to Santa Fe for a few days which we also enjoyed very much.

I must add that we received some wonderful advice for our trip from some Chatters who contacted us by private message. Without their advice our trip would not have been as great as it was.

Lyman