When I was a little girl my parents suggested taking a road trip to see the Grand Canyon. I was not to thrilled about going and might have called it a big hole in the earth. Well now here I am looking at this big hole in the earth and wow! I had to tell my brother how sorry I was for ruining this experience for him so many years ago.
We get to the gate to pay for a pass, which is good for 7 days. It was very busy, especially for a Tuesday.
When we got into the park we noticed people were parking everywhere. I kept driving and we finally came to a marketplace parking lot. The marketplace serves as a grocery store/gift store for the campground. We went in and bought our Christmas ornament (we try to buy one at every location) and Mike and I got matching Grand Canyon T-shirts. (My grandparents matched all the time so I think it’s ok). After we bought our souvenirs we headed down the trail
and came to the Grand Canyon National Headquarters.
This is where we had to ask for directions. You would think finding the biggest hole in the earth is easy but it wasn’t. So we were directed down another trail about 1/4 of a mile.
Walking up to the Grand Canyon is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is so quiet and still that it doesn’t seem real.
The rim trail runs along the canyon and from where we were parked, we had the option to go left towards the historic buildings or right back to the visitors center. We went left.
This is the El Tovar Hotel. It was opened in January 1905. This was a very poplar destination back then and with the ease of riding the train, the canyon became a popular destination. In fact the hotel became so busy they had to expand the hotel. Theodore Roosevelt visited the hotel in 1906 and 1913. Another building we came to was lovely. This is Verkamp’s gift shop.
Mr. Verkamp came to the Grand Canyon in 1889. He set up a tent and sold his goods. Business wasn’t good so he packed up and headed back to Flagstaff. He came back in 1905, built this building and opened in 1906. He made $4.98 on his first day and was very happy. He moved his family up and they lived in the apartment above the business. Not a bad place to have a cup of coffee in the morning if you ask me!
As we continued to walk we came to the Bright Angel Trail. This trail is 9.5 miles on way. Some warning came with this trail like flash floods, dehydration, and loose footing. We had to check it out.
Little did I know, Micheal is not a fan of heights. This trail does not have any rails or fences. Most of the canyon is open and you could just fall off if you weren’t careful.
We did walk down some of the trail. You get such different views at every turn it was hard not to want to explore. Well, some of us wanted to explore.
We didn’t walk but maybe 1/2 mile and came back up. I don’t think I would like to walk the entire trail but maybe a donkey ride would be fun.
Now my other man is a little more daring when it comes to walking on the edge but thats where you can really see everything.
So I really recommend everyone to go see the “hole” at some point. At every turn there are place markers that try to tell you how this canyon was carved from water running through it for millions of years. I think it is more amazing to know that God created this canyon in an instant. He said it and there it was!