Our final morning at the hotel began with one last big breakfast buffet. Sam cherishing that last big bowl of fruit, and Davis his last amazing buttered toast. I think he took an extra little jelly jar this morning, and I know he ended up with several mini tabasco servings. But our time in air conditioning and swanky resorts had come to an end. We loaded the van and headed up the road to Flagstaff to get some snacks and food for our trip into the canyon.
We stopped at a super fancy walmart, or at least it looked that way from the outside. On the inside, it was just another walmart. The official Walmart list included tortillas (30), PB&J, Ham and Turkey, mustard, Ice for Coolers, nature valley bars, Clif Bars, Waters and Gatorades, Clementines, and Spray sunscreen. And walmart had everything we needed except for the oranges, so after a quick trip to Baasha's, we had all we needed for our trip. Can I say it was so nice going into walmart with a list and with boys, because we came out with all on that list, and nothing more in about 15 minutes.
Then we began that long long drive up to the Grand Canyon south rim that feels like a million miles, while it is only about 60. But there is really nothing on this road, altho I do remember us all looking up to see a power line crossing at one point, that was exciting. Then we finally rolled into Tusayan, and decided to grab some lunch before heading into the park. Let's eat at the McDonalds we stayed at in 2021, it was where Granddaddy thought someone had stolen our van, but it was only Magan sneaking off for Starbucks. But there was no McDonalds...like an episode of Twilight zone we passed right by it, then Sam put it into his phone and going back, it was still not there, it had disappeared. Haha, I guess they had raized it to build a new one, as Google thought it was still there. So Wendy's it was for some chicken sandwiches, then into the park we went.
That initial view always blows you away. It is weird in that it slowly just becomes a norm throughout a visit, but that initial walk up to the rim is breathtaking. We parked at the bright angel lodge, and walked out to the edge with our Wendy's and just stared. We finally had made it. Having just visited 2 years prior, it felt bizarre...with a feeling of "Weren't we just here"...but this time we had a mission. We looked down at our goal...and when you are at the top, the landing way down below is NOT that goal...but only the halfway point. It is so hard to imagine getting to that spot you can see, that we would later be blown away by the next steps beyond that point. But that would be tomorrow, and for today, it was time to sit by the rim and eat our Wendy's.
So we had a half day here on the rim, so we knew we had to take the bus ride out to Hermit's Rest. On the bus ride in 2021, we had the dude that screamed at people for not wearing a mask, and wanted to make sure everyone was listening to his stories. But this year, our dude did not want us on the bus, but instead to be out there on that rim trail. As we rode to each stop, he would say "Do you guys see the canyon back there. NO. You can't see it, you need to be out there on that rim trail". And at every stop, he gave the distances between each stop encouraging all to take one section and walk it. Not working for me and the boys as we knew what we had in store for tomorrow, but I will give it to the guy, he loved the canyon and just wanted others to see the magic he saw in it. But this did become a running joke with us...Hey, you need to stop watching tv and get out there on that rim trail. Etc... But for anyone out there planning this trip, or for you kids hopefully taking MaMag and PoppaJ with you, do NOT get off on the way to Hermit's rest, just take one or two of the spots on the way back to stop. This seems much more efficient.
We made it to Hermit's rest and took the required falling off the fence picture, and of course the hermit's rest archway picture. Then on to the shop where Sam found his souvenir tshirt, and we had to all get some popsicles during our visit. And I don't know why this is making the blog, but i dripped the juice onto my shirt, and that made me mad. And while were were mainly just riding the bus, we did take water with us, and were told that one person walking that rim trail had to have assistance due to the heat exhaustion. It was another heat wave like in 2021, and again temps were right at 100 at the rim. We would find out how hot it could be on the following night.
On the way back, we took a quick stop at Powell Point trying to recreate some pictures. Why am I hiking down this thing, I was terrified walking out to this point. My heart was racing just looking out over the edge. The boys laughed at me as I would stretch out to put my foot on a rock. Davis climbed over one portion there, and it just causes every part of me to clinch up. We did get to facetime with Magan and the girls while at this point, so pretty neat to connect when we were so far away, and a crazy cool place. On the ride back we did laugh about the fun bathroom stops for davis on this little bus ride in 2021.
Back at the rim, we were able to check into our hotel room at the lodge, and were actually just one room over from the two rooms we had in '21. But again, there is no air conditioning here, and some weird bad air flow, that makes is almost miserable in this lodge. I have vowed to never again stay here, regardless of how cool the location is...unless one day I am able to get here during the winter. Maybe then I will be able to enjoy the room. When back in the room, we set up a tortilla making zone to make turkey/ham and mustard tortilla wraps and even a couple of PB and J tortilla wraps (this was not a good idea, but we would not find that out till later).
So what do you put in your pack when preparing for the bottom of the Grand Canyon? Well, we overpacked, but we each had one change of clothes, one towel (not needed), one 4 man tent shared in weight between sam and davis (not needed), 10 tortillas each, 3 Liters of water (killer on weight, but needed), gummies (I probably did not need the extra 20 packets I brought down), slim jims, air pad, foldable trek chair (a luxury item, but at 1.5 lbs, well worth it at the bottom), sunscreen, bug spray, beef jerky, Liquid IV packets (I probably did not need the extra 12 packets I brought down). And what would be a life saver on this trip...a water reservoir for one of those 3 liters where you could have the straw ready to drink from at all times. And the granddaddy wide brim hats by MISSION brand, amazing hats to soak in cold water and wear.
After packing all of this, we went back out to the rim, missing the store closure where Davis wanted to get a phantom ranch shirt. After watching the sunset, we went inside the lodge restaurant (NOT the cocktail lounge), and met up with my friend from work, Charles Melton, that had just arrived from the conference to also enjoy the canyon. All 4 of us tried the Bison Burger, and all 4 of us left full and happy. We all laughed at Sam's strange way of eating the middle of the fries. And then we were back in the room. In just a few short hours we would begin our trek down the canyon walls. All of the preparation had led to this moment. Our plan was to be up at 4 and be on the trail by 5...in hindsight, this was too late of a start, but how do your really plan for a 10 mile journey dropping 1 mile in elevation? You just pick a time, and go. Knees were feeling fine...now just to get these eyes to stay closed in this nice 100 degree weather for some sleep.
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