That's a whole lotta canyon out there....

Day 167 - Grand Canyon, AZ - Overcast Mid 60's:

Ben was up with the sun to make sure that he was at the backcountry office at 7:45am. If you're not there when they call your number you lose your spot so he wanted to be sure not to be late so we could get our pass. While he did this I continued to SLEEP! He woke me up just in time for a delicious breakfast which was so nice! We did get the pass which meant that the next morning we would be making our way to the bottom of the canyon.

After breakfast we headed out to catch one of the buses taking the green route toward the east side of the park. We stopped at Pipe Creek Vista and Yaki Point skipping the South Kaibab stop as we would be visiting it very early the next morning. We took lots of pictures and then made our way to the red route where we would eventually get to Hermits Rest. On our way there we stopped at Trail Overview, Maricopa Point, Powell Point, The Abyss and from there walked our way to Pima Point and then onto Hermits Rest. The Abyss has a neat feature where you can actually see the top six layers of the Grand Canyon. It's really neat to look at and they have it clearly noted on the signs for you to see!! The views from this side of the park are STUNNING as you can see in the photos. We were a bit bummed that it was so overcast but what can you do!!

From Hermits Rest we took the forty minute bus ride back to the campground. We made a quick stop at the Marketplace (the store/dining area/post office/bank) to get some supplies for our hike. We had been informed that there was a pipeline break at Bright Angel and so we would need to have our own form of water purification for safety. We picked that up as well as some additional supplies we needed. After this we packed up as much as we could before hitting the showers...we figured it would be a good idea because if not it would be another three days without one!! While I was finishing get ready Ben made his way back to the store to pick up a trekking stick. We have three but we figured it was best to each have two. They rent them which was nice!

We met back at the campground had some dinner enjoyed a fire and hit the hay early...we knew it was going to be a long day and so we wanted to be sure to get plenty of rest!

Day 166 - Kingman to Grand Canyon, AZ - Sunny Mid 60's:

Today we woke up had a delicious breakfast and then headed out for our final leg of the trip to the Grand Canyon. Before we got too far we had to make a quick stop at the post office so that Ben could send out his tax extension form...leave it to him to wait until the last minute :) From there we set out along the FAMOUS Route 66. We stopped for a couple of pictures to add to our collection. We made a couple more stops for lunch and firewood before arriving at Grand Canyon National Park.

Our first stop was at Mather Campground. We wanted to make sure we got everything set up and squared away before we went too far exploring. Once the tent was up we headed over to the backcountry office. We were hoping to be able to get a backcountry pass so that we could hike down into the canyon and stay at Bright Angel Campground. When we got there we were given ticket number four. This was for Ben to bring back to the office at 8am. Once all the information came into the system they would determine how many spaces they had left at the campground. There were three groups ahead of us who would be given passes but the ranger assured us that the ALMOST ALWAYS make it past ticket number four so we crossed our fingers!

After getting our ticket we headed out to find the canyon. Sounds pretty simple considering how BIG it is but...we couldn't find it. I will say right now this park has the WORST map and directions of any park so far. We ended up hopping on a bus to take us to the sights. The Grand Canyon is AMAZING. It almost looks fake. In fact when we look at the pictures even having been there we think they look fake. We tried to get some photos of the sunset but as has been the case with most of our attempts, it wasn't really that great.

We decided to forgo most of the sunset to head back to camp and start dinner and our campfire. It was a GORGEOUS evening.