The Grand Circle
Part five : Page and The Grand Canyon
Three weeks had passed and we are on our final week. We only had two stops left, the glorious Grand Canyon and Page where you can find the Insta renowned Horse Shoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. The only two places I’ve done my research for on this trip so I knew what to expect and boy I was excited. The Grand Canyon has always been on my bucket list and to finally able to cross it off was an incredible feeling.
The Grand Canyon
Finally arrived at Williams, a small town about an hour drive to the Grand Canyon south rim. We did not realize till later that the town was part of the historic route 66 also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System. How awesome! Sadly we did not get to explore much of the town because the main reason we are there is for the Grand Canyon, but from what little we explored the town was lively with old diners and vintage gifts shops that takes you back in time.
This is where I enjoyed my first real diner experience. We dined at Cruiser’s Route 66 Cafe. As you walk in the vibe totally changed as music was playing ‘rock n roll’ from the jukebox, black and white checked floors, ceilings filled with vintage number plates, seats so red that you just can not helped but to feel like you from Grease’s movie set. Taking it all in as we sat down and looked at the menu. I ordered a big sloppy burger with fries and an amazing cookies and cream milk shake as one should in a diner. It was pretty awesome but not so much the next day.
Grandview Loop
This trail is a 11.5 km with 1200 m of elevation and describe as a difficult, steep, and rocky trail that can have extreme weather (hot in summer, cold in winter). It is not for those who are scared of heights, have bad knees, or for younger children(AllTrails). Decided today we are gonna do a challenging trail, I mean we are at the glorious Grand Canyon so why not.
As we gear ourselves that morning we did not know what Grand Canyon has installed for us later that afternoon. The start of the hike was beautiful! You are on top looking down at this massive gap between mesa that was formed by million of years of erosion from rivers, wind, and rain. All that made a beautiful landscape as someone was painting it, It was a clear day as we can see miles and miles over the horizons.
Our hike starts at the head of Grandview lookout trail. The trail was hardly marked but luckily enough I downloaded the AllTrails app which has an offline map. Here’s a quick tip: Hiking can be very dangerous, so take some time planning prior also carrying safety equipment and a map because you’ll never know when you’re gonna need one especially on a harder hike like this, that being said, the app saved us a lot of time. The amount of times I had to pulled out my phone to check which trail to take because the trail splits and there’s no indicators so my phone was out…. a lot!
Going down was easy. As we paced down we saw hikers climbing up, I swear any soul that was left in the hiker’s body was hanging on dear life. At that moment, I realized that sooner or later I will be having the same fate.
I gotta say being down in the Grand Canyon was unbelievable! The landscape is stunning which made the hike absolutely breath taking. This feeling of discovering and exploring something so beautifully created by mother nature is addictive. Maybe this is why I picked up a camera, not only to capture memories but hopefully inspire others to go out and explore, learn, love, and understand this place we called earth.
As excited we are at the bottom of The Grand Canyon, walking and taking everything in, it was starting to get late and we had to pick up our pace before it got dark. Oh man I tell you, 1200 m of elevation is HARD! As we are huffing and puffing on each step the sun was slowly setting. It was beautiful in the eyes yet painful on the knees, back and butt. It took us around three hours ascending back to the top with plenty of stops for water and resting the legs. Each step we took with cautious because once you are tired and your knees are starting to give it’s best to play it safe. Slowly but surely we started to hear tourists and excitement kicked in. As soon as we hit the top we were so excited that we laugh as we go around high fiveing each other for the accomplishment.
Was the hike hard? Yes it was. Was it worth it? Absolutely! This is a hike that I will tell my grandchildren about like a proud adventurer grand father.