Memorial Day Weekend

Since Chuck had a four day weekend, we decided to take a road trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. We left for the eight hour drive to the south rim of the Grand Canyon on Thursday night, leaving at 11 o'clock at night and arriving at seven in the morning. We were uncertain on the availability of camp sites at the Canyon, being Memorial Day weekend, and left at night to find a camp site early in the morning. Mather Campground, which takes reservations, was full; but we found a site at the Desert View Campground which are first come-first served.

After setting up camp, we head to the Grand Canyon Village to hike part of the Rim Trail. It is an easy hike and was a good warm up for tomorrow's hike into and thus, climb back up the Canyon. The Rim Trail offers views of the inner canyon and is relatively flat. Despite that, we were pretty tired and achy after traversing eight miles.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast called for scattered thunderstorms. During our hike on Friday, the weather was cooperating with the occasional misty showers. The temperature was perfect for hiking, at least for me, being around 65 degrees. However, by the time we drove back to our camp site for dinner, it was raining hard. Who knew that it rained in Arizona!! We had to move our tent as it was sitting in a pool of water, but luckily it was still dry inside. Our neighbors next door offered us shelter and dinner in their RV, which we gratefully accepted. Fortunately, the rain stopped after a couple of hours and we were able to enjoy a camp fire before we headed off to bed. It did rain hard all night and finally eased off around eight in the morning. We enjoyed better weather on Saturday and were relieved we would not be hiking down into the Grand Canyon in the pouring rain, no less with thunder and lightening!

We take the South Kaibab trail into the Grand Canyon. The trail is steep, but offers best views for a relatively short hike, round trip distance of six miles. The hardest part of the trip was the weather. After descending down three miles into the Canyon with no shade from the sweltering sun, I was exhausted. We found reprieve in the shade, refueling with food and water, before the ascent out of the Canyon. Fortunately, the thunderstorms were a-brewing and provided us with the much needed cooler temperatures and breeze. Because of that, the hike back up to the Canyon was not difficult at all.

Because of the weather, hiking into the Grand Canyon can be dangerous; especially those who are unprepared and attempt to hike from the rim to the river and back in one day. Chuck and I are planning to hike the Grand Canyon again. Hopefully, we will be able to hike overnight into the Canyon and to the Colorado River.

Unfortunately, we were so tired from hiking that we didn't truly experience Las Vegas. We tried to see a show, but couldn't find one with seats together and didn't cost over $200. But we had a wonderful dinner and walk around The Strip. I am not much of a gambler and suck at cards, so no casinos for me!! But I am planning a sisters' trip to Vegas in October and plan to live it up in Vegas....sans the gambling.