Monday, March 11, 2013

Trip to The Grand Canyon

On March 10, it was 0.5º C and foggy in, with the morning sun trying to shine through. The temperature varied as we traveled from 9º C when we left, to 2º C at the Arizona Divide on I-40, to 7º C in the afternoon at Williams at the junction of I-40 and AZ-64. When we arrived at Grand Canyon it was back down to 5º C.


Before we left, Randal set all the clock ahead (spring ahead). He went to change his computer time and it would not change. After some investigation he found that Arizona, like Saskatchewan does not change times. So he changed all the clocks back an hour (fall back), that was a quick summer.




At 10:30 am we drove to AZ-260 then north to Flagstaff on I-17. We climbed to the higher elevations of 5000 ft. Just south of Flagstaff there was a good covering of snow from the storm the other day.




There was a spectacular view of Snow Bowl Mountain.


At noon we turned onto I-40 and headed west. This route was once known as “Route 66”. We drove to 7324 ft at the Arizona Divide. The wind started to pick up causing some snow to blow across the road, The side wind was only felt until we got back into trees.

We made a turn at Williams onto AZ-64 N, a single lane highway. We entered Kaibab National Forest as we arrived at the town of Tusayah, where the Grand Canyon National Park entry was. We paid $25.00 for our park pass.

Prior reservations had to be changed with Grand Canyon Trailer Village from the arrival date of March 8th to March 10th to avoid the winter snow storm that was still evident by all the snow on the ground and in the trees. We arrived at 2:00 pm, time to set up, have a bite to eat before taking a 15 minute walk, though the park to the Visitors Centre at Mather Point. This was our first view of the Canyon. Wow. Breathtaking.


We were among many other visitors who were taking in the awesome view and recording it with pictures and video. Here in the park there is a free shuttle bus that runs from campgrounds to different viewing points every 15 minutes or so. We took the one to Yavapai Point and Geology Museum. It was loaded with information about the Grand Canyon.


Back on the shuttle bus to the Visitor's Centre and we walked back to our trailer.


It was a good day with an early morning fog in Verde Valley, bright skies, good highways for the 150 mile drive, a walk and so many pictures later.



Until next time remember to “Discover It and Live It”.


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