The Grand Canyon

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Days 47, 48 and 49 – the Grand Canyon.

After the Roosevelt lake campsite we visited the Roosevelt Dam. The first dam was completed in 1911 as part of the Reclamation Act and was known as the Salt River Project. The original dam was funded by the landowners and resulted in the development of the Phoenix area. President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the dam on March 18^th 1911.  In 1996 the dam was raised by 77 feet to increase flood storage.  At this time a spectacular  bridge was built to bypass the road over the original dam and many recreational sites were created around the edge of the new lake level. Currently the lake is only 47% full and it seems that there has been a drought for the last 15 or so years so the extra height of the dam may not have been needed.

The next night we dry camped in Clear Creek campground - a National Forest campground at Cape Verde.  We were surrounded by large plain trees. There was a well worn trail beside the creek.

The following day we made our way up the scenic highway through Sedona, which has spectacular red rock vista surrounding it, to Flagstaff which is at 7000 ft. Here we needed a night in an RV site with hookups, Wi Fi and laundry nearby.

There are three ways up to the Grand Canyon Village. We chose highway 89 then 64 so that we could enter from the east and see the Desert Viewpoint and the Watchtower (built in 1932).  Also on the road into the village is an interesting Tusayan Museum and ruins giving the history of a settlement that existed in about  1185 AD.

On our second day we took the free bus (it is included in the $25 per vehicle you pay to enter the park) – about 8 miles to the west along the canyon rim.  The bus runs every fifteen minutes and carries bicycles so I was able to bike back while Penny rode the bus. There are many stopping points where one can view this spectacular colorful canyon, for me much larger than I had imagined, and you can see the Colorado River and rapids 3000 feet below.

We were fortunate to make friends with Dick and Nicky from Vancouver, Washington. On the third day Dick and Shaun hiked 2040 ft down about three quarters of the way into the bottom of the canyon and then up again. It took four and a quarter hours and was 6 miles (9.6km). It was a great sunny day and the temperature quite moderate. Penny and Nicky  and Lucy walked around the Grand Canyon village at the canyon rim on some excellent trials for 3 ½ hrs.  Hiking down into the Canyon it was interesting to meet different parties who were hiking and camping for a week, four days, two days and one day. We also encountered mule trains which is how some people travel to the base of the canyon which is about 3000 ft down.

We enjoyed our three days at the Grand Canyon and are now at Kingman, Arizona. From there we will visit the Hoover Dam and then plan to spend a night or two in Las Vegas.