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<\/a><\/p>\nWe had decided last night to make a full day at the Grand Canyon NP.\u00a0 And so, we did!\u00a0 We set the alarm for 5:25 AM at our hotel with the plan to leave at 6 AM to arrive in time for sunrise\u00a0 (5:56AM) at the Desert View overlook. for photography opportunities.\u00a0 We didn’t get out of the hotel until about 6:30 AM figuring we’d missed the sunrise.\u00a0 Fortunately, the hour time difference between where we’re staying and where we were going worked in our favor.<\/p>\n
NOTE:\u00a0 We are in two different time zones, so it is difficult keeping track of when we should be doing different things.\u00a0 Our hotel (Cameron Trading Post) is on the Navajo reservation and they observe Daylight Savings Time, but the state of AZ including the GCNP operate on Mountain Standard Time.\u00a0 Thus, we lost an hour on the way to the park and made it in time for sunrise.<\/p>\n
The drive to the park from our hotel is 27 miles to the entrance and 56 miles to the main visitor center.\u00a0 There is nothing in between except high country desert.\u00a0 Speed limit 65 until you get to the park.<\/p>\n
So, we arrived in time for sunrise at the Desert View overlook at 6:56 AM MST.\u00a0 This is the first thing you can see in the park.\u00a0 Had some nice views of the Grand Canyon except today was cloudy and the photos may not be so great.\u00a0 Then we moved on to Lipan Point for some additional photos.<\/p>\n
Next up was the plan to take one of the loop buses (necessary to get to the South Rim areas.\u00a0 Joyce had worked out a plan that we’d get off at the first stop and walk through the next four:<\/p>\n
Start at Maswick Lodge<\/strong> (about 8 AM) For info on shuttle buses see http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/grca\/planyourvisit\/shuttle-buses.htm Most of the way it was cloudy and didn’t make good photography conditions.\u00a0 Somewhere around The Mohavi Point<\/strong> it started to sprinkle.\u00a0 At The Abyss<\/strong>, there was rain and thunder in the distance and we decided to take the shuttle bus to Hermits Rest<\/strong> but made a stop at Pima Point<\/strong> because the shuttle driver said it was one of his favorite spots to see the canyon. Well, by then it was raining pretty hard and there was actual thunder and lightening around.<\/p>\n We took the next bus to Hermits Rest and just as we arrived the downpour, thunder and lightening started with a vengeance.\u00a0 So we decided to wait for a later bus.\u00a0 We caught the next to last bus down the mountain in heavy rain.\u00a0 As it turned out, we were the last to people able to board that bus and learned from the driver that everyone was being “evacuated<\/strong><\/em>” from this part of the park due to the severe weather.<\/p>\n But, because of the weather we had a really great opportunity to see and photograph a rainbow at the Hopi Point overlook.\u00a0 The sun was shining at this moment behind us and it was actually raining down in the canyon.\u00a0 Made a beautiful sight to see.\u00a0 It was a full rainbow extending down into the canyon.\u00a0 Nope, no leprechauns nor pots of gold–just a beautiful sight to behold.<\/p>\n By the time we got down from the Hermits Rest stop on the Red shuttle route, we were happy just to warm up and dry off.\u00a0 We sat in the car for a while and had our lunch.\u00a0 We\u00a0handled some email and logging of geocaches.\u00a0 Changed our shoes and socks to dry ones.<\/p>\n Then since the park was sort of closed, we took in the visitor center for a short while and then decided to take the Orange shuttle to Yaki Point overlook to check out the views.\u00a0 Still pretty overcast and not good photography conditions.<\/p>\n After this we decided to revisit Mather Point (at the main visitor center) and decided the photography wasn’t so good and there were simply too many people at the overlook.\u00a0\u00a0 We finished here about 5:00 PM.<\/p>\n We had already decided to return to the Desert View overlook for the 6 PM ranger sunset\u00a0presentation at 6 PM.\u00a0 We left with the thought that we would each our packed dinner once we got there, but check into the available concession choices.\u00a0 Today’s packed dinner will be tomorrow’s lunch or snack.\u00a0 The snack bar had pretty good choices so we opted to dine there.\u00a0 We had poblano corn chowder that was very, very good.\u00a0 We also split the Tower Cheese Steak.\u00a0 It, too, measured up.<\/p>\n Listened to the ranger talk for about a half hour, but left early to get some good lighting on the canyon walls at sunset.\u00a0 I\u00a0think the ranger was of the mind that the actual sunset would be the attraction, but not for us!\u00a0 We wanted to see the light on the red rocks.\u00a0 We finished up at the Desert View around 7 PM and made our way back to the hotel (27 miles away) and arrived back around 8:50 PM (passing from MST to MDT once again).\u00a0 All told we drove about 112 miles today.<\/p>\n While the adventure had it’s moments today, we did get to see the rainbow, have rain, thunder and lightening, get evacuated and still get a real sunset at the end of the day.\u00a0 We started and ended at Desert View and had modest light both times.<\/p>\n Tomorrow….\u00a0 Another adventure.\u00a0 We plan to hike down the Yaki trail\u00a0 to the “Ooh Aah” point.\u00a0 They indicate this is a moderate trail with only a 760 ft elevation change and 1.8 miles in length.\u00a0 Supposedly this will only take 1 to 2 hours to complete.\u00a0 We’ll see about that tomorrow–it’s another day!<\/p>\n zzz\u00a0 zzz\u00a0 zzz at 10:40 PM MDT<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One photo from today We had decided last night to make a full day at the Grand Canyon NP.\u00a0 And so, we did!\u00a0 We set the alarm for 5:25 AM at our hotel with the plan to leave at 6 AM to arrive in time for sunrise\u00a0 (5:56AM) at the Desert View overlook. for photography … Continue reading Oh What a Day…<\/span>
\nTrailview Overlook<\/strong> (looks over the Bright Angel Trail for hikers and mule rides to the bottom of the canyon)
\nWalked to Maricopa Point<\/strong> overlook
\nWalked to Powell Point<\/strong> overlook
\nWalked to Hopi Point<\/strong> overlook
\nWalked to Mohavi Point<\/strong> overlook (Found a geocache here today)
\nTook the shuttle to The Abyss<\/strong> overlook (ate lunch)
\nTake the shuttle bus and got out at Pima Point<\/strong>
\nTook the next bus to Hermits Rest <\/strong>(Found a geocache here today–in the rain!)<\/p>\n
\nand if you look at the map near the bottom of the page, it is the RED loop that we did in the stormy weather today.<\/p>\n