After one of the longer stretches of driving on our itinerary we pulled into Trailer Park Village, located within the borders of the national park itself. It was well after dark when we arrived but this was scheduled as a two night stop for us so we’d have the full next day to explore.
Our preparation for the cross country trip mostly focused on planning the specific stops on our way to Florida. We wanted to hit as many iconic spots as we could, but we also had to time them so we had access to the interwebs Monday through Friday. Of course we were also limited by the fact we were going West to East without much room to go back and forth to insure we hit a particular location on a weekend if we knew it would have unreliable internet. We got lucky in terms of the Grand Canyon since this was going to be one of those spots with poor connectivity.
One thing we didn’t do much of was research what to do at each particular spot. After waking up on Saturday morning we had the whole day ahead of us but weren’t really sure what to do, but between Boomer and not wanting to drive the RV anywhere once it was set up, we knew that we were stuck with getting around on foot. Once again, we got lucky as we found ourselves only about a mile and a half from the canyon rim.
I don’t know how many of you have been to the Grand Canyon before but to say that we were all blown away by that first view of the canyon through the trees as we walked up to the rim was awe inspiring. I was blown away, and I had high expectations going into it. Pictures are one thing, experiencing it in person is a completely different thing. If you haven’t been yet but are considering it, I highly recommend it. I believe the quote from Josh was “this looks like something from Mars!” Maybe someday he’ll actually visit the Martian Grand Canyon which is even bigger than ours.
Since there wasn’t too much else to do other than walk around, we hiked back to the rim in the evening so I could take some photos during the golden hour. The colors at that time of the day were magical.
One of my other hobbies that I don’t get to do much of these days is taking photos of the milky way. We all stayed for a while after sunset so I could take some dark sky pictures. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “was that the last one” or “can we go back now”, I’d be at least $14 richer*. It also didn’t help that we neglected to bring a flashlight so we ended up walking back to the RV with cell phones to light our way. I enjoyed that, Lana and the boys not so much.
The campground itself was nice. Due to Covid they were keeping the capacity down and not renting the campground’s trailers, so it did not feel crowded. One morning we woke up to bugling elk, and after walking outside we got to see a variety of elk and deer walking through the campground. Does it make me a bad person if seeing those elk made me hungry?**
The temperature at the Grand Canyon wasn’t too hot, although Boomer might disagree about that. He was a champ though. He went from too much energy during the drive there to being exhausted after several miles of hiking both days.
Once again, if you haven’t been to the Grand Canyon yet, add it to your list, you won’t be disappointed.
*I can’t blame Lana and the boys too much as each picture takes close to a minute between the exposure and the in-camera cleanup.
**Don’t worry, there was no illegal taking of those tasty tasty elk during our stay at the Grand Canyon.
Oh wow, we got some gorgeous sunset pictures but we never stuck around for the night time photos. I don’t think the kids would have tolerated it, but next time we will have to try it. Those are just amazing!