West Coast Road Trip: Part 2 – The Grand Canyon

My sincerest apologies for such a long delay! Summer just zoomed on by but I am so excited to be telling you all about part 2 of our West Coast Road Trip. To see our first part of this road trip click here.

After we left Sedona, AZ we headed off to our airbnb which was a community of yurts. How cool and unique is that?! Clearly we’re outdoor people. The link to our airbnb can be found here.

This location is hidden away so they give you very thorough instructions written out to help guide you to their exact location. I definitely recommend at least checking into the sight when it’s light out because I don’t think we would have found this place easily at all in the pitch black of night. However they did have huge green bug statues on the dirt road that indicated you were arriving to the destination which was a fun landmark to search for!

When we arrived onsite there were a bunch of yurts set up. The hosts greeted us outside and assigned us a yurt which was super comfortable. It had a lot of space inside, was clean, and you could even stand up inside of it. It was a lot more spacious than I thought it would be!

For an extra fee the host will cook you dinner which we definitely decided to take part in. This was an unique way to get to know others staying in the yurts and hearing about their stories/travels. The landscape around us was also breath taking. It was nice to get away from the rest of the world and just enjoy nature. Oh did I mention there is also no cell service? So be ready for that commitment!

At night the host showed us all the constellations in the sky which was spectacular. Additionally, he did a great job of giving us recommendations for the rest of our travels. This felt like a more personalized experience, which in my opinion is sometimes the best situations to be in when traveling a far.

The next morning, after waking up in the yurt, the host provided us with an assortment of simple breakfast selections which was a lovely addition! It saved us from trying to find somewhere to eat in the middle of the dessert.

After we ate some breakfast we headed to the Grand Canyon! There are a few different routes for this canyon and you can even rent a bike. John and I decided to venture on the path called the “South Rim.” You can either walk to the South Rim, drive to the South Rim, or take a scheduled Grand Canyon bus to the South Rim. John and I decided to walk to take advantage of all the views.

You always hear how large the Grand Canyon is but it truly is LARGE and spectacular. The views were outstanding and it’s hard to believe just how massive this canyon really is. The “South Rim” trail actually had you walk downwards inside the canyon. I definitely suggest starting early in the morning as the Arizona heat gets hot real quick.

For those of you who are truly more adventurous than I you can take a Mule ride down the trail. For me that seemed a little scary considering how narrow the pathway can be! Some of these Mule rides can last up to 2 days! It takes you down the first day and back up the second. This wasn’t on our list of “to do’s” but could be on yours! You would need advanced planning for that experience. For additional experiences at the Grand Canyon click here. We wanted to do a lot of these but didn’t have the time.

We began walking down the trail and that was the easy part. Great views, cool temperature (we started in the morning), and slightly narrow paths. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a smidge nervous.

As you can see we were getting further down into the canyon and these rock formations were starting to look HUGE.

Here, now you can see me zoomed in!

There were fun rocks to climb where you could see the best views of the canyon. John usually climbed these more than I.

This gives you an idea of how steep some of these pathways “stairs” were. They also were slippery due to the dirt on them so be careful! I would tread easily during the whole duration of this hike.

We (mostly me) definitely had to take bunch of breaks. Make sure to pack water! You WILL get thirsty, especially in the heat. On the plus side, each water break was a sweaty relaxing time to take a seat and look at the scenery.

I think my least favorite part of this hike was when we started walking back up the trail and I noticed just how much we had hiked down into the canyon. Suddenly the hike down seemed EXTREMELY easy. Again…pack water!

Fun fact! You could walk this trail all the way down to the bottom of the canyon but it probably would take you all day so unless you have a plan to go that route…I would avoid trying to make it all the way to the bottom. I would understand your own limits and stick with them. The further you walk down…the further you have to walk back up and that is not an easy accomplishment on a sweating hot day. So keep that in mind as well!

We were starving after our hike and had lunch at “El Tovar Hotel“. This is more of a tourist trap so they aren’t known for their oustanding food, but hey I’m not picky so I wanted to give it a shot! The food here is pricier but you are paying for the views more than anything else.

This is a hotel with a restaurant/bar inside. This hotel sits right next to the canyon. You could eat indoors or outdoors and see views of the actual Grand Canyon which is pretty cool so of course I made us eat here for the experience.

We sat in this section of the restaurant which was closer to the window. I could actually see the Grand Canyon through the trees which was pretty neat! It really was a nice view for a casual lunch. Service here was great as well. The servers were extremely on top of their game and our glasses were never empty.

If I didn’t get to sit near a window I don’t think this restaurant would have been as appealing so I definitely recommend a window view or else it really may not be worth it. Though the food was good it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Like I said, you’re paying for the views.

As we were leaving the Grand Canyon to our next destination we saw an Elk and I quickly had to take this picture out of the window! It may not sound exciting but it was for someone like me who has never seen one before. It was a pretty great way to end our visit to the Grand Canyon in my opinion.

From here we started to head over to Page, AZ which is about a 2 hour drive from where we were located. In Page, AZ I will show you the “Horseshoe Bend” and “The Lower Antelope Canyon.” Honestly these probably were some of the most uniquely pretty scenery we encountered. I can’t wait to share those experiences with you on my next post!

Stay tuned for more of our West Coast Road Trip! Again my sincerest apologies on the delay…the next one will be posted much quicker! I can’t wait to share the rest of our trip with you all.