When I retired at the end of last year, Ben and I decided to plan a special birthday/retirement trip this year to celebrate. We discussed several options (like our beloved Maui) but in the end, decided to visit Sedona since I love it so much and Ben has never been there. We aren't getting any younger and wanted to make sure we were able to hike in Sedona while we still can!
We then decided to add two nights at the Grand Canyon and to stay inside the park so we could view both sunset and sunrise over the Grand Canyon. We also wanted to attempt to do a hike below the rim and included a 3-mile hike in our plans.
With our plans set, it was finally time to hit the road!
I had a masterful itinerary crafted for this trip: a leisurely drive and hike on the way to our lodge at the Grand Canyon; sunset at the canyon; sunrise before our three-mile hike; a leisurely afternoon before a nice dinner at the Grand Canyon, followed by another sunset and drinks at the lounge. Then a final sunrise and morning in the Grand Canyon before leaving for Sedona.
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans.....
Our morning flight to Flagstaff ended up being canceled after a long delay. We saw day one at the Grand Canyon slowly evaporate. We were finally able to secure an evening flight to Phoenix with a flight to Flagstaff the next morning -- which meant beginning our vacation on our original day 2.
We were determined to make the best of it!
After what seemed like an eternity, we landed in Phoenix. We spent the night in the Crowne Plaza at the Phoenix airport, which actually meant just sleeping in our clothes for five hours.
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| Our luscious accommodations at the Crowne Plaza! |
Finally, the next morning, we were off. Please excuse our sleepy faces.
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| Travel hair, don't care. |
Our morning flight was slightly delayed too and I couldn't relax until we were finally in the air.
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| Never so happy to be 10,000 ft up |
Finally, wheels on the ground!
We picked up our Nissan Murano. It was a nice SUV, although a bit big.
Let the vacation begin!
We were going to start with our original plan which was to enter the Grand Canyon and do the drive along the south rim, stopping at all the main viewing points. We stopped first at the Cameron Trading Post which is a restaurant owned by Navajo Indians on their reservation.
They are known for their famous Navajo Tacos which were pretty good!
Finally, we made it to the Grand Canyon!
First look!
We stopped along all the famous viewpoints, of course taking pictures at each one.
Ben turned around and I snapped this picture--it looks like he's hanging on the edge of the Grand Canyon! (He's not, there was actually a sidewalk right over the ledge!)
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| I asked Ben if he would take my picture on this rock. He said no. |
At around 3:00 p.m., it was time to make a decision – whether or not to hike the 2 miles out and back to an outlook called Shoshone Point or try to make our dinner reservation at the famous El Tovar restaurant.
As much as we wanted to eat at the restaurant, we voted to skip dinner in order to do the hike. We can always have dinner, but it’s not every day you get to hike in the Grand Canyon!
At Shoshone Point, we were rewarded with the view all to ourselves which was a joy since most of the outlooks had been pretty crowded.
It was nearly 4:00 by the time we were leaving, so we decided to see if we could still get checked in and to El Tovar by our 5:00 reservation. So we speed-hiked all the way back to try and make it!
We hauled our suitcases to our room and then sprinted to El Tovar still with a few minutes to spare.
I had noted my birthday on our El Tovar reservation. We were seated at the best table in the restaurant right in front of the big picture window.
We split an appetizer, salad and the filet, which was all beautifully presented. Everything was very good and we ended up being very happy we had been able to make it after all, it was lovely.
After dinner, we walked out to find a spot along the rim to watch our only Grand Canyon sunset.
After the beautiful sunset, we went back to El Tovar to the cocktail lounge where we had drinks and dessert.
Once again, everything was really good and it was the kind of place we love, with everyone just talking quietly and enjoying their drinks.
Then it was back to Bright Angel where we got our packs ready for the hike the next morning.
Tomorrow we would be hiking the South Kaibab trail before heading to Sedona. This was the hike we were most looking forward to and we were thankful we could still fit it in.
We were up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning to watch the sunrise. We only had to just step out of our room and the rim of the Grand Canyon was right there!
We only had until noon to do our hike and get back to the hotel to check out by 12:00 p.m. Since the hike can take as much as 4 hours, we got on the 6:00 a.m. shuttle to take us to the trailhead.
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| Ben is ready to go hiking! |
The South Kaibab trail is a trail that takes you below the rim of the Grand Canyon. Ben and I chose to hike a total of 3 miles -- 1.5 miles below the rim and then 1.5 miles back up, which meant we would be coming back up a total of 1200 feet in elevation -- as tall as the Empire State Building!
This is the best picture I took that shows how steep the switchbacks were. There were at least 5-6 of these!
Although we have previously done a 6-mile hike with 1200 ft. elevation, this trail would be twice as steep and it would also be the first time Ben and I had both hiked with heavy backpacks.
Let's do this!
Going down, I took some pictures with my old Canon point-and-shoot so that I only had to use one hand. So these are not great quality, but I didn't want to miss taking some pictures of the trail on the way down.
At about .90 miles down the trail, we reached our first vista, aptly called Ooh Aah Point!
Then it was another .60 miles down to our final destination, Cedar Ridge.
There was a point approaching Cedar Ridge where the trail was exposed on both sides.
We had watched videos and knew it was coming, but once we got there, it was no problem at all. It was awesome!
Made it!
At Cedar Ridge, we took a long break, had snacks, went to the restroom, etc. And of course, we took pictures!
We spent about 40 minutes at the ridge and then prepared for the climb back up, up, up!
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| The top of that is where we are going! |
We made it back the .60 miles back to Ooh Aah Point in about 30 minutes. Surprisingly, this section was the hardest part for both of us. We handled the switchbacks back to the top easily.
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| Notice now I am sitting down. |
We were done with the entire hike in less than 4 hours, but that included all our stops, plus the 40 minutes at the ridge so we thought we did great!
As soon as we were done with the hike, there was a shuttle pulling up so we ran to catch it. I was sad we didn't get to take more time to soak it all in, but we knew we still had a shuttle ride back to the lodge and we still had to pack up and check out.
We decided to have lunch at the Grand Canyon at the Arizona Steakhouse before leaving for Sedona.
Then it was a last picture in front of the Grand Canyon!
Next stop: Sedona!
