Christian Kemp's USA travelogs

< Previous | List | Next > Driving into Grand Canyon

After a fast-food breakfast in Kayenta, we headed towards Grand Canyon.

Looking into Little Colorado Canyon Our first stop for the day was the Little Colorado Scenic Overlook - a hint of what was to come at Grand Canyon, and at the same time a place littered with Native Americans trying to sell souvenirs.

We ventured on towards Grand Canyon, chosing the obvious approach road from the East, heading from Cameron towards Grand Canyon.

We were running dangerously low on gas (it's always dangerous to assume there will be a cheaper gas station down the road), and were all too glad to reach the East Entrance Station, and just next to it, Desert View (which has a gas station).

Looking into the Grand Canyon from "Desert View" Desert View was also where we first looked into Grand Canyon. It was 1pm, there were a sizeable amount of tourists all proclaiming how "grand" and "wonderful" it was, but I couldn't help but feel unimpressed by the dull colors and the slightly hazy view. Perhaps I was just getting sensory overload after travelling through so much exciting scenery for two weeks already.

We stopped further along at Navajo Point, Lipan Point and the drove some more distance on teh Desert View Drive before reaching Moran Point, Grandview Point and Yaki Point, which would be our last stop before checking in at our motel in Grand Canyon Village.

I relaxed in the room while my mother was doing some souvenir shopping in the Village, and then we headed for an early dinner. After this, we were standing close to the Bright Angel Trailhead and there was a thunderstorm passing through the canyon, which along with the sunset provided some spectactular scenery. For the first time that day, I began to understand people's fascination with Grand Canyon, and proceeded to shot one picture after another of the changing colors and stark contrasts that the evening sun provided. Shadwows were gradually longer, rainclouds passing through the canyon, and then to top it all of, a rainbow appeared.

Grand Canyon Sunset As the sun set, I was looking forward to hiking down into the canyon the next day.

Motel/Hotel Accommodation: Yavapai Lodge (Grand Canyon National Park, AZ): $103 plus 6.38% tax

Written 12 July 2003 in Luxembourg.