Cary and I left Flagstaff around 7:30AM and arrived at Tusayan at about 9:00AM. Tusayan is a small town just outside the Grand Canyon Park gate. There, we went to the National Geographic Welcome Center and saw a rather hokey yet breathtaking IMAX film about the canyon. The film was a mix of really great fly-by Grand Canyon footage and slightly lame historical reenactments of John Powell. Powell is credited as the first person to traverse the entire length of the canyon. He was a Civil War veteran who was missing his right arm below the elbow; and I have to at least give the filmmakers credit for casting an actual amputee in the role.
We were also able to purchase our park pass there. This allowed us to drive through the park gate rather quickly. The pass is good for an entire week, so it’s a pretty good bargain at $25.00 per car load.
We left the welcome center and drove to Mather Point to get our first quick look at the canyon. From there we drove to the Bright Angel Trailhead at the south rim. We stopped at the Bright Angel “Fountain” for a hot dog, lemonade and a pretzel to fortify us for our trek down the Bright Angel Trail. At least, that was our plan; however when we started down the trail, we were warned that it was covered with ice and snow for about a mile and a half. Since this trail is a path about 3 or 4 feet wide which snakes down the wall of the canyon, we decided that it wouldn’t be smart to attempt that trip. So we decided to take the Rim Trail instead.
Taking the Rim Trail turned out to be a much better idea, because it afforded us a greater variety of views of the canyon. We hiked from the Bright Angel Trailhead to Maricopa Point, then to Hopi Point, Mohave Point and The Abyss. At that point, we had hiked more than 4 miles over paved and unpaved trail, and through snow. Shuttle buses drive along the road that runs parallel to the trail ferrying hikers to and from the various points. Cary and I hopped on a shuttle at The Abyss and rode for about 3 miles to Pima Point. We got off the bus and walked the remaining 1.1 miles to the end of the trail at Hermit’s Rest. We perused the gift shop and then took the bus all the way back to the Bright Angel Trailhead.
We then checked in to our cabin at the Bright Angel Lodge and rested for a bit before going to dinner. We had dinner at the Bright Angel Restaurant. Our table at the restaurant had a nice view of the canyon as the sun began to set. We walked to a lodge called El Tovar and waited for sunset, then headed back to the cabin to sleep off a long day of hiking.