Grand Canyon Trip – Day 1

Reporting on a recent trip that Janet and I took to the Grand Canyon…

We flew out to Las Vegas on Saturday and, in the standard fashion, got a car and made a stop for food and other non-packed supplies, and headed toward the Grand Canyon South Rim. We didn’t intend to make it all the way to the Grand Canyon.

Janet had found an incredibly cheap hotel, the Ash Fork Inn in Ash Fork, UT. I think the realization that this might be somewhat questionable started when the hotel did not show up on in the right place on TomTom or Google maps. Upon arriving, we realized it was exactly what one might expect for the price. It was certainly the most rundown hotel I’ve stayed in in the US and maybe anywhere, but it was sufficient for somewhere to sleep. I am also delighted that the most run down accommodation award is no longer owned by me, and not likely to be reclaimed unless we count making her stay in campgrounds.

The first day was planned to be spent at the Grand Canyon, and we held to that plan. This was pretty much the only day that went as planned.

First order of business was to visit the Backcountry Information Center to see if there were campsites available in the Canyon for the second night; there were, so we reserved one and then went to make camp for that night. Since we had most of the day left, we decided to drive around the visitor center loops, check out the area and visit the standard tourist viewpoints.

One of these viewpoints, Hermit’s Rest, lies on the far West of the visitor center at the end of a bike & bus only route. We were a few stops into the bus tour version when a hail storm hit. Very few people out there were dressed for a hail storm and the buses were pretty much the only shelter out there, so of course, they became instantly packed. It was a bit of a mess – they apparently can’t move with more than 70 people on-board, so some shuffling was required – but they ended up getting everyone back to the lodge.

It was remaining pretty cool and damp outside, so we grabbed some dinner at the lodge and then drove around poking in and out of the car and various buildings to a few other viewpoints pondering what to do for the next day which was forecast to be worse. The final plan was to disregard our campground reservation at the bottom of the canyon and drive somewhere else seeking better weather. We went to bed early to get up early (4:30AM) and drive to Kenab, AZ to see if we could snag tickets for The Wave.

*Edit 6/7/16 – I completely forgot about the pictures when originally posting, which is really the only reason I write all that nonsense above.