Day 4: The Grand Canyon
If you would like to start this trip report from the beginning, you can do that here.
This day started out with breakfast in the El Tovar dining room, using the vouchers the guides had passed out the day before.
Their view:
They stopped taking notes this day, so there will no longer be as many small details mentioned, and I may get some of the things out of order, but today was really all about the Grand Canyon and there will be plenty of pictures of that.
After breakfast they met up with the group for a guided tour of the Grand Canyon. They used the ABD bus, but a guide boarded the bus with them and showed them around the park. They stayed in the south rim area and made lots of stops for photos, and at the Desert View Watchtower.
In the photo below, you can see the rock where they stood to take the photo above. It looks scary to me, but they said in real life it wasn’t very scary. There is a much more terrifying photo (at least to me) later in this post.
At one point, their guide explained the geology of the canyon:
When they stopped at the Watchtower, she gave them more information about the canyon:
The Desert View Watchtower is a 70 foot high stone tower with an observation deck and incredible views.
Photos from the observation deck at the top:
At the end of the guided tour, the group had the option of riding the bus back to the hotel (the afternoon was “on your own” time), or hiking back with guide Tiffany. It was less than a mile hike, so my husband and daughter opted to do that. Here they are getting ready for the hike:
The tree was supposed to smell like vanilla, but my daughter said that she thought it just smelled sweet:
If there is a good climbing tree nearby, she will always find it:
My daughter said the hike was lots of fun with good views. Once they returned to the hotel area, they took a few more pictures, ate lunch, and got some ice cream in the village area (this was now officially “on your own” time). They ate lunch at the Arizona Room in the nearby Bright Angel Lodge, but didn’t take any photos.
This is the El Tovar hotel, which was right next to the ABD hotel (Thunderbird Lodge):
This is a shop in that same area that sold authentic Native American merchandise:
They saw the Grand Canyon Railway. It goes back and forth between the south rim and the town of Williams twice a day.
The Bright Angel trail starts right near their hotel, so they decided to walk down it a little way and then turn back. If you hike the entire trail, you will descend 4380 feet over 8 miles, all the way to the Colorado River. This is a serious hike that takes several hours, and even longer to reverse course and hike back up. The National Park Service does not recommend hiking down and back up in the same day.
When I first saw this picture, that hiking path with no rail almost made my heart stop:
Then I saw this one, which terrified me even more! It’s a good thing I was not there or else I would NOT have let them walk that path. I wish I wasn’t so risk-averse, but that’s just the way I’ve become since having kids.
I’m not going to lie, seeing this photo made me nervous too:
Fun Fact: my husband and all 3 girls have trained in taekwondo for 7 years and all have black belts in 2 different styles. It’s their “thing” that they do together.
After the afternoon on their own, they met back up with the group for a “Western BBQ Dinner Experience”. They went to a room on an upper floor of the Thunderbird Lodge that had views of the canyon. Earlier that day, the guides had taken everyone’s orders, but the food was still presented buffet-style. I don’t have any food photos, but the after-dinner entertainment was spectacular! Some Navajo tribe members demonstrated their native dances for the group:
They said the things this man did with the hoops was mind-boggling:
Up next: Day 5 – Monument Valley
Park rangers told us once there are no railings on trails because stats showed more people would cross a barrier if it was there than not, and being there would temp people to cross making it even more dangerous. Also matinance would be overwhelming to the meager budget the park receives. We’ve seen people do really stupid things on a trail, cutting trail etc. I wish all visitors would respect the parks and trail ediquette. I feel what is there is very safe, well maintained and correct for viewing nature within our treasured national park system. Remember to “take only memories and leave only footsteps.”