Day Four
Thursday, June 21, 2018
My plan for the day was to get up early and drive straight to the Grand Canyon so we could have the entire day to explore. However, I didn’t feel like doing that after three long days of mostly driving, plus a late night waiting for the roadside assistance to arrive. We slept in a little, although with a sunrise just after 5am, there’s really no such thing as “sleeping in” in a tent. The rainfly provides some shade, but mostly it gets bright and turns into an oven quickly. Time to get up!
Homolovi State Park
We were all packed up by 7:30am. I flagged down the park ranger to pay him since he had no envelopes out at the iron ranger the night before. He told us the gates to visit the ruins were already open so we checked them out. Homolovi 1 wasn’t a very large site, but I think the most interesting part was a sign warning about quicksand. I’ll admit that a part of me wanted to find out if there really was quicksand there or not, but I also had no desire to actually find out!
There is a replica of a Pueblo ruin near the visitor center. It was used for experimenting with fire to learn more about an actual ruin that had been burned. The sign below has all of the details.
I’ve often read that the desert is too hot in June, but when you come from South Dakota, the heat of the desert feels nice compared to the humidity and heat combo we have at home. We sat and enjoyed the view and serenity from a bench at Homolovi 2 before moving on. It was a clear day and one could see for miles!
Homolovi 2 was the more interesting site of the two ruins we visited. It is the largest of the ruins and is estimated to have had 1200 to 2000 rooms at one time.
I subscribe to many of the national park social media feeds and one comment I see quite often is “What exactly are the parks protecting the land from?” I have to wonder if those folks have never visited a site like this? The ruins in this park were plundered by thieves before the area was protected. We’re not going to get those items of ancient history back. What would a place like this be like if it was not protected? Would there be anything left to see? All that remains at this particular location is a large hole and a few pottery shards.
I doubt that we would’ve stopped here if it hadn’t been one of the only places to camp on our route, but it was an interesting look at the past, definitely worth a short stop!
Our easygoing pace continued with a stop at a trading post just down the road from the entrance to Homolovi State Park. The buildings were brightly colored with gorgeous painted designs. Megan had been wishing we could stop for shopping and this place looked perfect!
I wish I had a picture of the inside. It was packed full of handmade crafts. The owner told us about the people who made each type of craft, which was really neat. Megan and I both picked out beaded necklaces made by young Navajo girls and I found a gorgeous Christmas ornament made of horsehair pottery. The design reminded me of a snowflake on top and since I decorate our tree with snowflakes, it was perfect!
Winslow, Arizona
Our next stop was a very striking 9/11 memorial that we ran across on our way into Winslow. Two twisted beams from the World Trade Center represent the twin towers that fell that day. I remember watching and watching and watching the news all day…and all week after that day. So much of the world as we knew it, changed in an instant. The stories of all the people…I can’t imagine how bad it must have been for something as strong as steel to end up as twisted as this. I don’t know if I will ever make it to New York City to visit the site of the World Trade Center or the memorial, but this small site was worth the stop.
Standin’ on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona🎶🎵
The plan when we drove into Winslow was to find the corner referenced by the famous song “Take it Easy” by the Eagles. It seemed appropriate since we were actually taking it easy that day. We did not stand in line to have our picture taken with the bronze statue, but I got the giant Route 66 marker on the pavement of the corner. We also made ourselves some pressed pennies and took a quick swing through the gift shop. This is most definitely a tourist trap, but those are fun sometimes.
Flagstaff, Arizona
When we got back to the truck, I made sandwiches for the road and we headed to Flagstaff for a Target run to buy gallon jugs of the spring water brand we like. We took an exit that indicated Old Route 66 and checked out the little shops on our way. We also made a quick stop at Barnes and Noble for a Route Magazine that Megan wanted. I had spotted a honey store on our way into town, so we stopped there on the way out of town, with the hope of finding some local honey. I also topped off the tank in Flagstaff. One never knows what the gas situation will be in the desert, once you leave civilization.
Grand Canyon National Park
Another hour on the road and we finally pulled into Grand Canyon National Park. Three and a half days of driving and we were finally at the first major attraction on our list! Look at that view!!
We stopped at the Desert View Watchtower for our first look around and to pick up Junior Ranger books. The watchtower was built in 1932 and is based on the architecture and design features of Ancestral Puebloan ruins found in Hovenweep, Mesa Verde, and Chaco Canyon. Mary Colter wanted it to blend into the landscape so there are no cut stones in its’ design. Every stone was chosen and placed where it could work into the design. The inside is painted with beautiful artwork. It was meant to be a resting place for weary travelers to stop and view the Grand Canyon.
We skipped about every other overlook so we could get to our campsite at Mather Campground, figuring that we would then visit the ones we skipped on the way out. There was a small amount of road construction, but we finally reached the campground. After the check-in, we drove to our site, Oak #247, where we had a HUGE pull-through space! This was probably one of the best sites of our whole trip!
Megan filmed a time-lapse of Joey and I setting up the tent. I’d like to point out the daylight! Now that I think about it, this may have been the only time the tent was set up in daylight for the whole trip! Behold this achievement! Ha!
Time to go look around!
The ranger at Desert View suggested that we could leave our truck at the campground and take the shuttle to get around, so that’s what we did. In hindsight, we should’ve drove to a parking lot closer to a shuttle stop because our campsite was on the very back edge of the campground, which made it about a half-mile hike to just to get to the bus stop. The bus was just pulling up as we found the trail leading to it so we ran to catch it and then rode the bus to Bright Angel Trailhead.
Bright Angel Trail
I’m not sure why I thought Bright Angel Trail would make a good sunset spot, but it was a nice time to hike on the trail and made us want to see more of it. We didn’t get to see a sunset from there, but the colors of the sun setting on the canyon were beautiful. Evenings in any national park are highly underrated!
We only went down a couple of switchbacks, just to see what we could see, and then turned around. After hiking back up and out, we discovered a huge line waiting for the shuttle. We walked down to Bright Angel Lodge, where the shuttle was just pulling in as we walked up. Once again, we ran to catch the shuttle and were happy to be seated already when we pulled into the stop we had just left. I don’t know how long we would’ve had to wait if we had stood in line there instead of walking down to the next stop.
The bus riding reminded me a little bit of the busses at Walt Disney World, but as the only driver on a 3000+ mile road trip, I love the opportunity to hop on a bus and let someone else drive us around for a bit, even if it’s not a fast mode of transportation around the park.
Caves of the Grand Canyon
The ranger talk for the night was about the caves of the Grand Canyon. Being the cave lovers that we are, we wanted to attend! Because the shuttle takes a while to make stops along the way, we made it to the amphitheater about ten minutes into the talk. The most fascinating bit we learned was that even the ranger presenting the program did not know the location of the caves she was talking about…at least that is what she told us. The park wants to keep them a secret so nobody can get to them and damage them. It was quite an interesting ranger talk and a really nice way to end our day.
After visiting with the ranger to have the Junior Ranger books signed, we found the Yavapai Lodge and ordered personal size pizzas for a late supper. Then we caught the shuttle back to Mather Campground. The walk back to the campsite from the shuttle stop seemed a little creepy and much further in the dark, but we made it back to camp!
I really didn’t know what to expect from the Grand Canyon. The last time I had been there was the summer I graduated high school and we visited the Grand Canyon North Rim. I remember not being all that impressed with the hole in the ground after a spectacular visit to Bryce Canyon on that trip. I have always wanted to go back to Bryce…never had the desire to see the Grand Canyon again. I really wanted to be able to show it to the kids, though. I am really glad we went! Our evening hike made us want to explore more before moving on, so we went to bed with the plan to see the sunrise at 5:00am and then do a little more hiking.
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