Today is set aside for one thing and one thing only. We will take in as much of the Grand Canyon as we can between sunrise and sunset!
This morning, we ate and were on the road from Williams to Grand Canyon by 7:30am. The drive to the park entrance was just about exactly one hour.
We parked at the Mather Point lot for the first part of our day. After walking around the Visitor Center we began hiking west along the rim trail as far as the Village. The shuttle buses were already running for the season, and we decided that we would take advantage of that to get us out to Hermit’s Rest and back. The line at the shuttle transfer stop was very long and moving slowly, so we decided to hike to the first stop on the Hermit Rest Route (the “Trailview Overlook”).
We were able to get on the first bus that came through, rode it to Powell Point, spent a few minutes there before getting back on a bus to take us the rest of the way to Hermit’s Rest.
The temperature dropped quickly as we were at Hermit’s Rest, and we were told that we were one of the “lucky 1%” of Grand Canyon visitors that experiences snow while there (a sarcastic “yay, us” here). Everybody along the Hermit’s Road had the same idea about getting back to the Village as we did, so most of the shuttles that were coming into the stop were already full, with no one getting off!
When we did make it back to the village, we saw the line at the transfer stop and decided to use the same tactic that worked for us on our way to Hermit’s Rest. We walked to the Angel Lodge bus stop and were able to get onto the third or fourth bus that came through. Met another family from Ohio on that bus (fairly easy to recognize an Ohioan, they are usually wearing some sort of Ohio State apparel).
Once we got back to the car, we headed out toward the Desert View Tower. We passed the Tusayan Museum on the way, and stopped to get the NPS Passport stamp. We missed closing time by minutes. Even though we did not get to see the museum, one of the staff didn’t want us to miss a stamp, so she brought the stamp and ink pad out to us!
We got to Desert View Visitor Center just as they were getting ready to close up for the night. After spending a few minutes walking around the area, we drove back to Lipan Point to watch the sun set before heading back to Williams for the night.