Our Pumpkin Patch: 2014

We are well into our 36th year of life, so we thought it was about time we wrote (belatedly) about our 35th birthday trip to the Grand Canyon. We actually took the trip last October, but JD’s grandmother died right after we got back and life got very busy for a while.

We had been talking about where to go for our 35th birthdays for a while and were leaning towards New Orleans, but then Carey had the idea to go to the Grand Canyon. JD started looking at different trip options and itineraries online, and one of the things that seemed really cool was a mule trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The trip is two days long and on the night in between you stay in cabins at the bottom of the Canyon. The only problem was that the trips frequently sell out 14 months in advance and we didn’t decide to go until January 2013. When JD called, the trips were already sold out for all of 2013. So he persistently called every other day to check for cancellations and eventually we were able to get the trip scheduled for October 19-20, 2013.

We made plane and car rental reservations and arranged for JD’s parents to come and stay with the kids. We were less than 3 weeks away from the trip when the federal government, including all national parks, shut down because of the budget debate. Even though the mule trip is operated by a private company, the mule company told us that there was no way to get access to the Canyon if the national parks remained closed. Fortunately, the Grand Canyon was separately reopened with Arizona, not federal money and we kept our plans. In any event, the entire federal government reopened on October 17 so we would have been okay in either instance, but we met several people on the trip that had postponed plans because of the shutdown.

We flew out on Friday the 18th and landed in Phoenix around 900 AM. We picked up our rental car and started heading north towards the Grand Canyon. The drive from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon is around 3.5 hours. There aren’t really any mountains, but you can definitely feel the climb in altitude from Phoenix to Grand Canyon as you drive up to the Colorado Plateau. We stopped for a quick lunch in Flagstaff and got up to the small town of Tusayan around 1 PM. We tried to check into our hotel but our room wasn’t ready so we went into the national park and just drove around for about 45 minutes. We caught a few glimpses of the Canyon but didn’t get out to walk around.

From there we went back into Tusayan to take a helicopter ride over the Canyon. We had initially booked the helicopter ride with Papillon Helicopters when we were worried that the park was going to be closed but even after it reopened we decided to keep it. It was a very cool ride - the pilot took a slow loop up to the Canyon and then zoomed out over it. So we went from being about 100 feet off the ground to instantly being several thousand feet above the floor of the Canyon! We saw a lot of the more remote geological formations that are away from the touristy areas. We were both wearing headsets so we really couldn’t talk to each other, but we just enjoyed the scenery. The total trip took about an hour and we were back on the ground around 4 PM.

From there, we drove back into the national park, parked the car and went inside Bright Angel Lodge to get our mule trip supplies. We then took a bus out to Hopi Point to watch the sunset. Sunset was around 6 PM and we were able to get a lot of pictures before and after. Even better was that there was an amazing full moonrise soon after sunset! We both agreed that the moonrise was even more beautiful than the sunset.

We finally got back to our car at around 8 PM, which by then was 11 PM by our body clocks. We had supper at Plaza Bonita in Tusayan, checked into our hotel and finally went to bed around 10 PM.

On Saturday the 19th, we were up early because we had to be at check-in for the mule trip by 645 AM. It was very cold - 25 degrees. We went through a very short orientation, climbed on the mules, and rode straight out of the corral onto the Bright Angel Trail. The trail was very steep and we were both expecting to have a little more time to get used to riding the mule on flat ground before getting on the trail. To make us even a little more nervous, there was a woman in our group who, bless her heart, had no business being on the trip. She wailed, cried, and screamed at various times during the trip.

It wasn’t possible to take pictures while we were riding because we were fully focused on a) staying on our mule, and b) keeping the mule on the path. Our guides kept telling us that the mules wanted to live just as much as we did, but it took a while before we were convinced. We did take short rests every 20 minutes or so where we were able to take some pictures.

We stopped at about 10:00 at Indian Gardens for a mid-morning snack and to stretch our legs. Total break was around 30 minutes. Indian Gardens is also the beginning of the Tonto Plateau, which is a flatter area in between the outer rim of the Canyon (which we had just ridden down) and the inner gorge.

Riding along the Tonto Plateau was easy and we both started to relax a little. The sun was getting hotter and we stopped several times to remove clothing. After about an hour of flat riding, we started down the Inner Gorge which was (in JD’s opinion) the scariest part of the trip. We got down to the Colorado River right around noon and from there rode another two miles until we reached Phantom Ranch.

Phantom Ranch is a 1930s era camp with approximately 20 cabins set in a small side canyon about ¼ mile from the Colorado. We put our things in our cabin and then walked back to the river. JD put his toes in the cold water and then we hiked around and took pictures for another 2 hours. We also drank plenty of water during this time to try and rehydrate ourselves.

Supper was early - 5 PM, but we were both famished and devoured our grilled steak and baked potato supper. We were back in our cabin by 630 PM and were both asleep by 7 PM.

Sunday morning we met for breakfast at 630 AM and were back on our mules by 700 AM. On the way out we took the South Kaibab Trail instead of the Bright Angel Trail, which had the advantage of being shorter but the disadvantage of being steeper.

We did have a bit of excitement on the way out - a line of pack mules that was bringing supplies to Phantom Ranch was coming down at the same time we were going up. We waited at a wide point in the trail for them to pass us, but the pack mules got skittish and slid down the trail and bumped Carey’s mule. Carey’s mule put its two front hooves down the steep slope in front of us to move out of the way and Carey was pitched forward quickly. She managed to hang on to her saddle and stay seated. The guide driving the pack mules saw the problem and got off his mule to try and get everyone back on safe ground. The whole thing lasted only about 20 seconds but to us it seemed like forever!

The South Kaibab Trail follows a lot of ridges and so it has more scenic pictures and views than the Bright Angel Trail. We enjoyed our guides descriptions of the various sights that could be seen from the trail.

We got back up to the top of the trail around 1230 PM and retrieved our car.

The summary schedule

Trip Down - Bright Angel Trail

645 AM - check in at Bright Angel Lodge

700 AM - walk to corral and orientation

745 AM - head down Bright Angel Trail

1000 AM - stop for snack and bathroom at Indian Gardens

1030 AM - leave Indian Gardens

1215 PM - Colorado River Resthouse and River Trail

115 PM - arrive Phantom Ranch

Trip Up - South Kaibab

700 AM - depart Phantom Ranch

900 AM - TipOff Point (10 min break)

1100 AM - Cedar Ridge

1200 PM - South Kaibab Trailhead and board shuttle bus

1230 PM - back at Bright Angel Lodge

From Grand Canyon we drove to Las Vegas. We stopped at the Hoover Dam along the way and took a bunch of pictures there.

In Las Vegas, we stayed at the Westin. The Westin had a small casino and when we checked in they said we could have $20 casino credit because JD is a Starwood Platinum member. We were halfway to blowing the free $20 when they called JD’s name over the loudspeaker and said that we were the door prize winner for the hour. To see what door prize we won, Carey had to draw a miniature pumpkin out of a wagon. The pumpkin had “$50” written on the bottom of it and the casino said that we could either have $50 cash or another $75 in casino credit. Given our abysmal track record on the casino credit, we took the $50 cash and used it to pay for our dinner.

For dinner we ate at Battista’s Hole in the Wall Italian Restaurant, which was tacky in a cheesy sort of Las Vegas way. There was an elderly man playing an accordion and singing songs, etc. From dinner we walked down to the Bellagio and watched the fountains. We went inside the enormous Bellagio restaurant, shop and casino complex and walked around for a little while. JD lost $5 in the slots and we agreed that fully compensated the Bellagio for us watching their fountains for free.

On Monday morning, we went to the spa at the Westin and got massages. The massages were great because we were both sore from the mule trip. After the massages, we packed up all of our luggage in the car and then went to Estiatorio Milos at the Cosmopolitan for lunch. Very tasty! From there we headed to the airport. On the way we got stuck in a massive traffic jam and barely made our flight, but that just helped convince us that Las Vegas wasn’t really our kind of town.

From Las Vegas, we connected through Denver and finally got back to our house around 1 AM.

Here are a few pictures from the trip: