PLAN B
Our week in Sedona, Arizona was planned out quite nicely. Hiking on one of the countless trails in the immediate Red Rocks Country was foremost. We were going to go stargazing one night. Wine drinking another day. A Pink Jeep Tour along the rugged hills overlooking Sedona was another planned excursion. Exploring Uptown Sedona and her art galleries and shops was on our list as well, as was a drive to the ghost town of Jerome located on Cleopatra Mountain overlooking the Verde Valley.
Our week in Sedona, Arizona was planned out quite nicely. Hiking on one of the countless trails in the immediate Red Rocks Country was foremost. We were going to go stargazing one night. Wine drinking another day. A Pink Jeep Tour along the rugged hills overlooking Sedona was another planned excursion. Exploring Uptown Sedona and her art galleries and shops was on our list as well, as was a drive to the ghost town of Jerome located on Cleopatra Mountain overlooking the Verde Valley.
Entering the week Thanksgiving
was a toss-up, no pun intended, as to where we were going to eat, but we never
got to plan for that because of our illness.
Believe it or not, the
Grand Canyon was not on our initial list of activities, although it is a little
more than a two-hour drive north to the South Rim from Sedona.
PINK JEEP TOURS
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| HUMPHREY'S PEAK |
CLINGING TO THE EDGE
Janet was ill
throughout the night after spending the day on the couch. The wine tasting tour
she had arranged was definitely out for us, but she begged me to consider
driving off to the Grand Canyon at least by myself just so I could see this very
popular National Park. Estimates have 5.9 million people visiting the Grand
Canyon every year, second only to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee /
North Carolina.
Because of the
popularity of the Grand Canyon National Park, it is wise to get there early
before it fills up. Popular times are sunrises and sunsets, to watch the sun
glow over the rocky edifices, but I decided to leave around 7 a.m. for the
trek. In the morning though Janet announced she felt well enough to share in
this experience with me. I was very thankful she was able to rally. Admittedly I might not have gone without her, so I was happy she decided to
come along.
A couple of years ago
Janet had rafted through the Grand Canyon along the Colorado River and despite
still feeling weak wanted to see GCNP from the other angle and I was excited to
share this vision with her.
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| HEADING NORTH RT 64 |
A JOURNEY AS LOVELY AS
THE DESTINATION
I often take the scenic
routes to places because I have always believed the journey equals the
destination in experience. Janet believes in direct drives because the
destination to her is all important. Well,
a drive from Sedona to the South Rim entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park
is a win / win for us both. The 120+ mile trip is beautiful; the landscape
changes from arid desert in the Red Rocks Country around Sedona, to forest
glades along the Oak Creek Canyon, and rises to 8,000 feet in elevation to meet
the flat tundra of the Mogollon Rim, which is the southernmost part of the
Colorado Plateau, topped with groves of Ponderosa Pines. It drives by the
largest peak in Arizona, Humphrey’s Peak, snow capped at 12,600+ feet.
Even the Interstate, Highway
40 and then Route 64 from Williams to the national park entrance are swift
moving arteries holding promise and offer grand views of unending country with
mountains in the far distance forever beyond reach.
Leaving early was a
good choice. We had the road to ourselves. We picked up Route 89a which goes
right past our resort in nearby West Sedona and drove through the still empty
Uptown portion of Sedona, where all the shops are located. Janet remarked it
looked like a boardwalk at a New Jersey beach town. It gets very crowded here
during the day and Sedona receives a lot of visitors throughout the year. The
commerce of Sedona suddenly ends at a traffic circle at the north end of town
and descends into the forested beauty of the Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Drive.
Considered by some as
one of the most scenic drives in the country we did not know this was even here
(clueless, huh) and we marveled mouths agape at the old growth forests that
edged the winding road. Some call the Oak Creek Canyon a miniature version of
the Grand Canyon!
Here's a short film of the West Fork Trail in Oak Creek Canyon on Youtube:
As we were alone on
this picturesque route, I was able to slow at times to catch a glimpse of a
rock outcropping or glade, but Janet had a better view of it all as a
passenger. Had the Oak Creek Canyon drive been our final destination there were
plenty of places along this 14-mile stretch of beauty to explore and hike. Even
the U.S. government website about the Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Drive says it can
take a couple of hours, or, all day.
On the return later in
the afternoon with many more cars on the road, the twisting roads were not as
pleasant to drive along, but the sun now dappled the pavement and many people
were in the area. It would be a great area to explore in the future, including
the very popular West Fork Trail. There are fees involved and although we have
an Interagency America The Beautiful Pass (senior) we still have to pay the
full price of $11.00! AllTrails lists several other hikes in the area of the
Oak Creek Canyon.
GRAND CANYON RAILWAY
The Grand Canyon
Railway operates from Williams to the Grand Canyon and we briefly considered
taking one of their restored, classic train cars the final 60 miles, but we
figured we had already driven quite far from Sedona and taking the train would
give us only three hours at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The train leaves
Williams at 8:30 am in November, arrives at the South Rim at 11:45 am and
departs at 3:30 pm. Currently, there is only one daily round trip excursion
from Williams to the GCNP, although their website says there will be two trains
daily in 2022; COVID notwithstanding.
The train ride isn’t
simply a commuter line, but a touristy event that includes live music aboard, a
wild west shoot-out and the chance to ride in several types of train cars from
a Pullman to an Observation Dome.
We made a great choice
about driving, even if gas was $4.43 a gallon at the time, the highest this
scribe has seen in at least four years! There is much to explore at the South
Rim and having such limited time there would have been stressful. Also, our
inclement constitutions wouldn’t have lasted that long and the interminable
wait for a departure would have wreaked havoc on our psyches!
THEME PARK 
"Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is keep it for your children, your children's children, and for all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see" - Teddy Roosevelt about the Grand Canyon
There is no discounting
the majestic beauty of the Grand Canyon. The earth falls away, carved by the
timeless flow of the Colorado River leaving behind striated rock formations
from prehistoric times. It is beautiful and vast and I was very fortunate to
see it. And, it seems, everyone had the same idea about seeing the Grand Canyon.
Worried there would be limited parking we left Sedona early and arrived just
past 9:00 am and there were people everywhere. We moved in a crowd through the
parking lot, to the comfort facilities, to the closed (due to COVID) information
area now manned outside by Rangers, to Mather Point, where we jostled with countless
others for an unobstructed view. Thankfully rails edging the abyss prevented
eager photojournalists from falling to their deaths. Signs alerted everyone to
wear masks despite their vaccination status.
The Grand Canyon is
big, a mile deep, 18 miles wide and 277 miles in length. Although the National
Park doesn’t include the entire canyon this amazing, great expanse of land does
cover 1,904 square miles…larger than Rhode Island which encompasses a measly
1,212 square miles.
Given time and stronger
constitutions it would have been wonderful to explore and hike some of the rim.
When I found out we were ”near” the Phantom Ranch, an oasis at the bottom of
the canyon and the only lodging beneath the rim of the canyon and where Janet
slaked her thirst with a cold IPA while rafting down the Colorado a number of
years ago, the pained look she gave me suggested projectile vomiting when I thought we could hike it. Besides,
the Bright Angel Trail is over 9 miles DOWN, considered difficult and takes 2-3
days and there’s a lottery for lodging at the Phantom Ranch with a long
interminable wait.
THE PHANTOM RANCH
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| FOOLHARDY SOULS |
THE PHANTOM RANCH
Yeah, we enjoyed the
grandeur of the canyon like many in our theme park contingent, shuffling to the
buses that took us to different focal points, like the Geological Museum and
Yaki Point which is evidently an especially coveted spot to experience sunrises
and sunsets. There was only one couple who got on the bus that were there for
the outdoor experience, with full backpacks and smelling of a campfire. All the
rest of us were prepared for a stroll in the park.
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| THE SILVER BRIDGE |
It was at the museum a
guide told us we could glimpse the Colorado River from a certain vantage point.
Armed with my binoculars we could see a sliver of this waterway, and the Silver
Bridge, a pedestrian (and mule) bridge that allows hikers a chance to cross the
Colorado. We could not see the Black Bridge, another pedestrian span, located several
hundred yards upstream, but we could see rafters on the banks of the river. Janet
had been in this very spot! We were both very excited to see this and it was
the highlight of our trip to the Grand Canyon.
BTW these two spans are
the only crossings available for hundreds of miles along the Colorado, allowing
hikers to safely cross where it once was very dangerous and cost many lives.
From our great distance
we could not tell how treacherous the river was, but Janet assured me that at
times the Colorado River can get very ornery.
There are several lodges
at the rim and even a shopping market and tavern. There is the train depot and
more buses to take, a blue line and a red line. We took the blue line which was
choked with passengers and when we reached the red line we saw that there were
hordes of people waiting for that bus, so we decided to just take the blue bus
to the main area, to our cars and to home.
On the way out the traffic
entering GCNP stretched at least a mile. We had breezed through this morning.
It was 2:00 when we left There is a $35 fee to enter the park, but as we had an "America The Beautiful" pass that we had purchased last year in Shenandoah National Park, we had free entry..
Thanks for reading
Love Janet and greg
© 2021
By Greg Dunaj
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