The Grand Canyon: South Rim and Desert View
The great part about the Grand Canyon is that you can't visit there without being dazzled by the views. You don't need to take any long hikes or go below the rims. When we went, the North Rim was not yet open for the season; in fact, it had a delayed opening due to record snowfall and wouldn't be open until June. We camped out in Williams, less than an hour away from the South Rim. We only went into the park twice, but we made the most of our time there and can't wait to go back and explore more.
With April vacation and Easter, we weren't sure what to expect in terms of crowds, but we went in early and never had any issues. Technically April is still cusp season, as most visitors go in summertime and brave the heat. We had the opposite problem, visiting in temperatures near frozen, but the cold weather was a small price to pay for getting these views all to ourselves. Even on a Saturday morning, we shared the most popular lookouts with only a few other spectators.
Our first trip up to the canyon was just to get our feet wet. I had never been before and wanted to soak in the scenery. I think the excitement boosted my energy levels, because we ended up walking about 6 miles along the South Rim. We went to the Yavapai Geology Museum and continued down the Trail of Time, where each meter of walking resembles 1 million years of Grand Canyon history. The milestones are marked by bronze plaques, and as the canyon is formed, rock exhibits show which types of rocks formed which layers.
We ended our walk by El Tovar hotel, near the Grand Canyon Village. We visited the hotel gift shops, adorned with beautiful Native jewelry, decorations, and clothing. Instead of continuing onward, we decided to turn around and head back to our truck, where we'd then drive further into the Village and then over to Market Plaza. On the walk back to our truck, we noticed the crowds starting to increase, but still nothing overwhelming. By that time, it was around 10AM. Grand Canyon Village houses many of the South Rim hotels and cabins, and we got to see the lodge that would have been our accommodations had we visited in 2020. Then we ventured over to Market Plaza, which has a giant souvenir shop/market/deli. We were impressed. The market has an entire section of supplies for hikers, including backpacking meals, clothing, and camping/hiking equipment. It seemed like a great place for backpackers to resupply. We bought a couple of items and then decided we were ready to head out. Our early start meant we were out of the park by noon, and on the way out, we saw the lines of cars waiting at the entrance station. We estimated their wait to be about a half-hour. That's probably what's expected on average for mid-day during cusp season.
On our second visit, we took Tanner along for the journey. Grand Canyon is one of the more dog-friendly parks, allowing leashed dogs above the rim. We couldn't wait to get pictures of Tanny with the canyon in the background; another outstanding place to add to his list of sights. Never would we have thought that we'd be able to bring him to the Grand Canyon, of all places! More points for RV life!
We decided to go on Easter morning, mostly because it was the best day for us to get up super early and head in for sunrise. We again didn't know what to expect in terms of crowds, but we assumed heading through the entrance gates at 5:30AM wouldn't give us any issue. We woke up around 3:30AM, were out the door by 4:30AM, and were at the Mather Point amphitheater just as the first streaks of sunlight were appearing over the horizon.
The amphitheater was fairly empty at first, but more people showed up with seconds to spare before the sun came up over the canyon rim. Still, we had plenty of room to watch and take pictures. I also give immense credit to everyone who was there, as most of the people took turns going to the railing to get better photos, and everyone stayed surprisingly quiet the whole time, keeping their voices at a near-whisper. I'll say again what I've said before: People really understand the sacredness of this place.
When we arrived, we noticed more cars in the parking lot than we expected. After all, we got right through the entrance gate with no waiting; rangers weren't even there yet to check our passes! We were perplexed, until later when we heard that there was an Easter service going on at Mather Point. We watched the sunrise at the amphitheater and then walked down to Mather Point to catch the end of the service. It was a beautiful sight, seeing everyone huddled together on the overlook, with a big wooden cross glowing in the dawn sunlight.
We hadn't planned on walking too far with Tanner, but we wanted to show him a special rock that we found along the Trail of Time: The Tanner Limestone, a layer of the canyon that formed 800 million years ago!
The main goal for the day, besides seeing sunrise, was to head over to Desert View, located further east on the South Rim. Desert View is home to a stone watchtower that offers gorgeous views of the canyon when open, and a nod to Native Puebloan architecture, though much smaller in size than most pueblos. The Watchtower was open when we went, and we even saw people on the upper levels despite nps.gov stating only the ground floor was open. We didn't go in because of Tanner, but we got to see the canyon from a whole new vantage point. It's amazing how much the colors, walls, and angles change from different perspectives. From Desert View, the Colorado River is much more visible, so we got to see its waters winding through the canyon walls.
The road to Desert View is a beautiful scenic drive. We didn't stop at any of the overlooks until we were on our way back, but the drive is mesmerizing, as it's mostly forest road but then all of a sudden opens up to vistas of the canyon. Driving among the trees, it's hard to believe that just beyond them is this wondrous landscape, but then there it appears. We also got to see a herd of elk on the side of the road. On the way back from Desert View, we stopped at most of the main lookouts, including Navajo Point, Lipan Point, Moran Point, and Grandview Point. In National Parks, we tend to enjoy our scenic drives, and not surprisingly, this one was gorgeous. To take Desert View Drive out and back is 90 minutes without stops, so be sure to factor that in if you want to make your way to this side of the canyon.
There was still a lot we wanted to do at Grand Canyon and had plans to head back into the park at least once more before leaving Williams, but we ultimately decided to not push ourselves. We're not great at leaving things until next time, but we're trying to get better because it's a lesson to learn in RV life. This isn't a vacation where we only have a few days and need to pack everything in. We can go back to the Grand Canyon whenever we wish, and when we do, more adventures will await. Sometimes we need to allow ourselves to just slow down. We had the town of Williams to explore, work to do, errands to run, and modifications to do on our rig. 2.5 weeks in Williams allowed us to balance exploring with day-to-day tasks. The other side to our decision was the realization that Grand Canyon visits are emotionally exhausting! Not only would we get up super early to drive in, but once there, we were overwhelmed by the beauty. We figured it was in our best interest to take the memories we made and the sights we saw, and have something to look forward to when we return. We hope to make it below rim someday; the terrain was still a bit icy and muddy this time around. We also have a few ideas for ebike rides in the park, which would be very cool. Until then, though, we're leaving with no regrets of what we did do. As I said, just seeing the Grand Canyon is dazzling. We had some life-changing experiences there, for sure.