Tuesday - Flagstaff to Grand Canyon

We were off pretty early in an attempt to beat the crowds. I've been told it's not too bad this time of year, because of school, graduations and stuff, but in the summer, there can be a two-hour wait just to get into the park! We had a nice drive and only got stuck behind a few slow-pokes along the way. Before we got to the park, we passed a Flintstone Campground, just like the ones I remember from the 60s! Didn't know they were still around.

We managed to park in a lot right next to the rim. The canyon is huge and beautiful, just like all the photos I've seen. The rim trail is flat and paved and handicap accessible in many areas. We walked around for a couple of hours then we tried to figure out how to get to a "real" trail. But it was lunchtime and we didn't want to lose our parking spot (folks now parking on the side of the road). We were going to go eat and try to figure out our plan. Then we found that the Info Center area we parked near had no food. We would have to take a shuttle bus. Which just left. Things were too complicated. We ended up leaving the park in hopes of driving to the Arizona Snowbowl and taking the ski lift to the top of Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in AZ.

On the return trip, we stopped at a spot which had been badly burned by forest fires. We thought they were fairly recent, but they happened in 1996 because of lightning strikes. We got to the Snowbowl and discovered that the lifts were out of service. Bummer. We still walked around there for a bit and that was still nice.

We got back to Flagstaff and I realized I hadn't taken a single photo in the Grand Canyon (the others did) and never even stopped to look at souvenirs there. I would have liked a book about the wildflowers there. They were beautiful and in full bloom all over. In fact, my eyes watered and my nose was stuffed up the entire time I was there. I must have been allergic to something blooming.

All in all, I'm glad we made it to the Grand Canyon. But, I think I would have got a lot more out of it if we were able to stay there for a day so. It took a while to get our bearings and now that we are familiar with the layout we may have done it a little differently. I think it would be best to stay the first night right by the park, then enter early and hike while it's still cool. (The Disney World theory of visiting busy tourist traps-Stay close, get there early, work fast.)