I’ll make it a quick post to summarize our trip on day 12 to 14. Highlight be the Grand Canyon.
We headed towards Arizona state from Henderson, via US-93 S/Nevada Hwy, passed the Lake Mead, Boulder City and Hoover Dam.
Before we continue our 8 hours drive to Grand Canyon National Park, we visited the West Canyon – the Sky Walk Bridge (not part of Grand Canyon National Park). Tell you, this was one of the scams because the entrance ticket was too expensive and you’re not allowed to bring in your own camera. There’ll be photographers follow you, help you take photo. Guess how much per printed photo? USD 20! Each one of us spent at least USD 100 for admission fees, photos, and the precious 15 minutes spent on the bridges! One tip: Next time just hang around outside the sky walk bridge, save your pocket to see real Grand Canyon.
We entered Arizona via US-93 S, then took AZ-89 towards Grand Canyon Village at South Rim Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon National Park composed of two main parts: South and North Rim, both rims are separated by Colorado River for about 10 miles. But if you want to visit North Rim from South Rim, either you trek down the trail which take 1 week, or road access but that will take 5 hours of 215 miles as you have to drive a big loop exit and re-enter the park.
We stayed at Yavapai guest houses at South Rim. One thing we disliked about this village is lack of direction signboard and no lamp post. We often got lost when we wanted to find a way to do sightseeing, find hotel room, restaurant or visitor’s centre, at night. Of cause, GPS is uselss inside the park area, all we have dependent on was the map given by park rangers.
A tip for first-time visitor like us to visit all main attractions in the park is to get access to these points using the park’s free shuttle bus service. Driver aka. tour guide is professional and he/she will describe to us the wildlife and main attractions at each stop.
Overseen the Canyons
There’s a railway inside the park which can connect Williams, AZ to the park. Heard this is another unique experience, where passengers can come across a view from high desert to prairies to pine. Mule ride is another option to see Grand Canyon, other than walking and trekking, but can’t access to most points especially deep down under canyon towards Colorado river and you have to bear the mule fences smell.
After a night at South Rim, we moved on to North Rim, which only opened during summer season because main road will be closed during winter (late Oct till late May). We took US 89 from Flagstaff past Cameron. En route we passed the area known as Vermilion Cliffs, Navajo station near Page. At Jacob Lake, we took Hwy 67 directly to the Grand Canyon North Rim. Because of another 5 hours drive from South Rim, people often don’t visit this park and because of this, we found more fun at North Rim.
Though the road trip was tired (the worst road condition in this two weeks trip), the pay off was huge. Somewhere near Vermilion Cliffs, we found an area with a set of strangely formed rocks, it’s called Cliff Dwellers. We also found some cliffs with strange patterns in white and orange, as well pink sand dunes, at the gorgeous Marble Canyon.
Even the 5-hr drive has gave us so many amazing scenery, we were so much impressed with the views of Grand Canyon at North Rim. We stayed two nights at Kaibab Lodge which belong to the forest reserve outside of North Rim.
At Kaibab Forest Reserve
Spectacular view of Grand Canyon
We also took a 3 hours in return to trek towards Colorado River from North Rim.
It was indeed a memorable trip, definitely will go back again, at least to conquer that North Rim to South Rim trekking over Colorado River. =)
Picture of the day: Our dinner – Instant noodle, chicken ham, chocolate, salads and breads. Next time will tell you how we save money in this trip.
2 comments:
cantik nya all the places u visit,minta sponsor boleh? :p
if you stay longer or come earlier to Kuching on Dec then i be your free tour guide lor. =p
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