Day 10 - Kingman to Cameron (Grand Canyon)

Today was Grand Canyon Day. With the Grand Canyon National Park closed and the high winds yesterday, we didn't really know what the day would bring. We set off on the 3 hour trip to Tusuyan which is a small cluster of businesses just short of the entrance to the Park. This is where the mini airport is located. We arrived and checked in for our flight and everything was confirmed as a go. Relief!!!!

Our flight time was 12.00 and as we boarded the helicopter we were very excited. I even forgot to get scared about flying in a helicopter for the first time. After a few minutes of flying over some woodland the Grand Canyon began to emerge from the distance.

Words cannot describe what it's like to hit the Canyon. It's enormous and even though we've seen some great scenery on the trip, it was still truly amazing. We took pictures in between admiring the views but they don't really convey the awesomeness of the experience. This is definitely one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

The ride was actually pretty smooth despite it feeling quite windy outside. That being said, at the halfway point we both began to struggle a little bit with nausea. I had broken out into a sweat and was having flashbacks to the whale watching trip where I nearly lost the contents of my stomach. I was determined to enjoy every last second of the chopper ride and take in as much of the Canyon as possible. We both made it back without having to reach for a sick bag :)

After we had landed I had a huge smile on my face :) We missed out on seeing the best bits of Yosemite, but the Government Shutdown hadn't stopped us from seeing the Grand Canyon. At one point the whole trip looked like it could descend into a bit of a nightmare, but having seen the Grand Canyon today it feels like everything has been rescued.

The journey onto Cameron was a little more prolonged than it should have been. The road through the Park had been closed completely as people had been disregarding barriers and stopping at all the viewpoints (who can blame them, I'd have been crashing barriers down myself). We had to travel back on ourselves and then head for Flagstaff before turning north and onto Cameron. This added just short of 100 miles onto the trip but the drive past the San Francisco Peaks was actually quite nice. We'd temporarily left the arid, desert, rocky conditions behind and were driving through a really nice forested area. After turning north at Flagstaff the arid, dessert, rocky conditions quickly returned.

We arrived at the Cameron Trading Post at about 4.15 and filled up before checking in. Petrol is cheap out here, we only had 1/4 of a tank left after today and it only cost $30 to fill it back up. In the Mustang I reckon I can get 400 miles on a tank which would cost about $45 (£28) to fill where we are. We're in the hotel room now where I am blog update man and where Jess takes a well earned nap after another near 300 mile drive today :) We got to see the Grand Canyon today :) Hoooooray!!!!!!

 

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