Wonderful Wonder of the World - Part 2

The Grand Canyon - South Rim

I know that some of you might have been waiting for this post. Ahh the last month was so very busy. But yes, I am back on track and soon will bring you all the wonderful experiences that we had during our trips.

So here I am with the second part about the Wonderful wonder of the world. After our visit to the West Rim, we were scheduled to stay at Flagstaff, AZ so that we save sometime the next morning as its much nearer to the Southern rim.

The day didn't look that beautiful and it was raining. So we had very little hopes of getting good views that day. Once at the park entrance we got our tickets and were ready to park.  :) I say ready to park
so you must have got what I want to say. Though there is plenty of parking space available but again its hard to get one as its summers and it is busy with school closed. Luckily all of our trip was during the weekdays so we could miss the real weekend crowd.

One thing that I liked about the place was the entrance fee was per vehicle and not per person as at the West Rim. The second thing that I liked was that there are bus services that take you to the various points of interest so you don't have to waste your time looking for parking spaces at every point and the third thing was that they shared a map with you. Very simple and detailed map telling you what points you will see and the distance between them and most importantly what color route you will be on. There are 4 color routes, the blue, red, orange and purple. When you arrive at the visitor center, you are located in between the blue and the orange.

Lets take a walk or umm.. a hike ??

The complete South Rim of the canyon spans about 13 miles. If you have the time and the spirit for it, you can enjoy the view walking too. 

Interestingly, the most sought out points are located on the red route. Mostly everyone starts from the visitor center and then first visit the Mather Point which though on the orange route, is just a few minutes walk from there so no shuttles needed. We started our tour from that point too. But as I said the rain God had been very generous that day so we could hardly see anything except the clouds at that point :) . 

Mather Point

From there we headed to the shuttle stop. So we had already decided to take the blue route that further connects to the Red as most of the points are located on these two routes. The shuttle service is free means all inclusive in the park entrance fee. Only problem is for the people traveling with small children, like we did. Every time we get on the bus, we need to fold and store the strollers up. Understandable as they get crowded...

So we were soon on the Blue shuttle and then at our first stop , Bright Angels Lodge :) . From here we were able to take our first breath taking view of the Canyon as the sky was getting clearer by now. I cannot forget to mention the Ice-cream shop at this point that offers a great variety and you can obviously have one while enjoying the views.

This point offers various trails of different levels for those wishing to touch the canyon beyond the rim or may be up to the Colorado river. You should definitely be well prepared if planning to go for a moderate to difficult level of hike and should be ready to camp down as some of them cannot be (and also not advisable) completed in a day. Hikes are definitely strenuous at the Canyon so be aware of what you are going for. And as the rangers say it very well,"going down is optional but coming up is mandatory".

So if you are ready, there are camping facilities available so no worries. But be sure to get your Backcountry camping permits before you head for it. We being on a short trip were not lucky enough to experience this aspect of the for the Grand Canyon but surely wish to do that in future :).


Enjoying the view along the way we reached the bus stop for the Village Route Transfer

where we had to board the Red Route going towards Hermits Rest. Around here are located some of the lodges and a food court where you can enjoy a good meal. So did we. No food is available at the Red Route until Hermits Rest so it is advisable to have it here unless you are carrying your own.

Hermit Road

This is the longest route of the South rim and has nine view points. With the shuttle it takes about 80 minutes round trip. Though the bus stops at every point while going towards Hermits Rest, it is not the same while coming back. So don't ride to the last point and then plan to stop at every point :D. We planned it that way but realized it very soon and got down at Hopi Point. This way just missed 3 points on the route :( .

Hopping on and off the shuttle we reached our last point, the Hermits Rest. As our shuttle driver and Guide told us, "Do pose for a picture under the bell at the view point, it brings good luck if you are going to Vegas after Grand Canyon ;) " , lol, we made sure we did it, just in case :P .

And Finally the Sun goes down 

I somehow have a fascination for sunsets. If time permits, I try to capture the sun setting at every place we visit. Though the conditions are not that favorable a lot of times but mostly it had been possible.

So we decided to find out the best view point for sunset beforehand. Our experienced

shuttle drivers and guides told us that Hopi Point and Pima points are good sunset points but Pima is most sought after, so we were there without any doubts. Luckily the shuttle stops at Pima point on its way from Hermits Rest. But but but.... the last shuttle leaves at about 30 minutes after sunset so don't miss it or you will have to walk back :( .

All set with the gear, I was ready but looks like the cloud God wasn't and so it wasn't that "hit" for us. We did managed to get some pictures of ourselves with the sun behind the clouds to be satisfied.

All set we boarded the last shuttle and were soon back at the Village to drive back to Flagstaff with some fond memories meeting some fellow travelers and hikers from far far away. And thinking about tomorrow when we were going to be in the land of glamour and entertainment, "The Sin City".

Stay tuned for more information on Grand Canyon. Its great view points, distances, what all to do and what not to do. Where to camp and the trail informations. All that coming soon in my future dedicated post.