At Mather Point
For the past 22 years, late November or early December has meant vacation time with a wonderful group of friends. Teresa and Ben Hefner, Cathy and Mike Lehman, and Debbie and Robert Trent all went to high school with Larry and me, and we have stayed very close over the ensuing years. We all look forward to our yearly trip after Thanksgiving to Vegas and wherever else our adventuresome spirits decide to take us. For several years we have wanted to take a side trip to the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park, as some of our group had never been there. But we’ve had to put that on hold for a while due to COVID and the limited services available at the park because of the pandemic. This year our plans finally came together, and it was off to see the beauty of my favorite spot on the earth!
After arriving into Vegas on a direct flight out of Detroit on Delta Airlines, we spent 2 quick nights in the city before loading up in our rented 12-passenger van and heading south on I-515/11 toward Hoover Dam. With limited daylight at this time of year and with the goal of getting to the Canyon before dark, we hit the road at 7 a.m. munching on donuts and sipping coffee and hot chocolate until we reached Kingman, Arizona, where we stopped for a quick breakfast at around 8:45 a.m. then turned east on I-40. At about 2 p.m. we arrived into Williams, AZ, where we drove around exploring a bit before heading north on US-64 for the final 1 hour leg of our journey to the National Park.
I have always loved the drive from Vegas to the Canyon, watching the terrain change from a 2000-feet flat desert to the 3,333-feet elevation of Kingman and then seeing the scrub trees change to tall pines as you approach the Canyon at 7000 feet! It was only after being welcomed by park rangers at the entry station that we saw dozens of elk grazing amongst the tall pines, not at all fazed by the presence of humans in their protected home. By 3 p.m. we were checking into our rim cabins at Bright Angel Lodge, thrilled by the majesty of looking out our front windows, a mere 20 feet from the very edge of the precipice!
To those of you with a desire to spend a few nights in the rim cabins as we did, several of which have working fireplaces, you MUST reserve these cabins exactly one year in advance of your intended arrival as they are always snatched up within hours of becoming available. Sitting just a few additional feet behind the rim cabins are the historic cabins, also very close to the edge of the Canyon but with less of a view. Although these rooms sell quickly as well, you may have a more relaxed time frame for reserving them. Information on reservations for the rim and historic cabins can be found at nps.gov/grandcanyon/planyourvisit along with a wealth of information about visiting the Canyon.
After quickly settling into our rooms, the 8 of us explored the area around Bright Angel Lodge which includes not only an amazing overlook of the Canyon looking down on Bright Angel Trail, but the Lodge gift shop, the Fred Harvey Burger restaurant where we caught a late lunch, the paved walkways to Bright Angel Trailhead, Lookout Point gift shop (right outside our front door) and Kolb Studio and giftshop.
At any time of the day we were greeted by deer just outside our cabin doors as we came and went. We had gone from the almost balmy, 50-something degrees in Vegas to the 30-something degrees of the Canyon, and as daylight fell, we felt the temperature drop quickly as well. We lingered on the paved walkway just outside of our cabins and watched as the waining light changed how the Canyon looked every few minutes. I was a little disappointed to see no snow sitting in the Canyon, but we heard that happened the week after we were there.
The next morning we all met at the Lodge once again for breakfast at Fred Harvey Burger. Some of us had gotten up early and made the short walk to Bright Angel Trailhead and the corral just a few yards from our cabins where each morning the mule wranglers bring up the dozen or so mules that take riders down Bright Angel Trail to Phantom Ranch. Having done the overnight ride by mule twice ourselves in past years, Larry and I were excited for the lucky riders going down on this day.Every time we visit the Canyon, we long to make that ride back down the trail, but these days we doubt the wisdom of trying it due to failing backs and knees. Our memories of those amazing rides must keep us these days, but we certainly would encourage anyone even remotely thinking about doing the overnight ride to check into it.
After breakfast, our gang of 8 loaded up in the big van and we headed up Hermit’s Rest Road, stopping at many of the 6 overlooks along the way to check out the different views of the Canyon at each stop. We were happy to be able to drive to Hermit’s Rest, as the road is only open to private autos beginning December 1st. Throughout summer and fall it is accessible only by the park’s shuttle bus service, so our timing was perfect. We spent a good portion of the day oohing and aahing over the views of the Canyon before taking a break back at our cabins, then met up again to explore more areas of the park.
We drove to the Market Plaza, home of Grand Canyon General Store, a deli, a bank, ATM, Yavapai Lodge and restaurant and the nearby campground. Later as the sun began to set, we had an amazing dinner at Arizona Steakhouse, a 4-star restaurant located at the east end of Bright Angel Lodge with great views where we dined by the window catching the last of the light over the Canyon.
On our second morning we drove the short distance to Maswik Lodge for breakfast. Maswik sits back just a little from the edge of the Canyon and is a hub for the housing utilized by not only visitors but by the resident workers at the National Park. It, too, has a gift shop along with a cafeteria style eatery where we found the selections available to be a bit limited compared to summer when many more people are at the Park.
After breakfast we ventured into the little town of Tusayan just outside of the park entrance to look around. There are several nice motels and restaurants in Tusayan along with various tourist attractions, an IMAX theater, fast food restaurants, and gift shops galore. On our return to the rim, some of us were inspired to hike a short distance down Bright Angel Trail. Later that night we drove to Mather Point to watch the sunset on our last night at the Canyon before returning to Market Plaza and having dinner at Yavapai Restaurant.
Early Sunday morning found us loading up our gear and heading out of the Park, but not before encountering a large herd of elk along the drive out. These beautiful creatures put on quite a show for us as they leisurely strolled right onto the road and were in no hurry at all to give way to automobiles. It was the perfect end to a great visit to Grand Canyon! An hour later we parked in Williams to have breakfast at Pine Country Restaurant, a family establishment we had heard about on TV and one that had gotten rave reviews on various websites. We were not disappointed! After an hour wait (which gave us time to explore this amazing quaint old town), we enjoyed a hearty delicious breakfast, then each of us chose a piece of their famous homemade pies to take with us for the road.
Our trip back to Vegas was filled with laughter and stories of our time at the Canyon. We spent 3 more nights in Vegas before flying home, already tossing around ideas for next year. What a blessing to be able to see the Canyon yet again, and what a blessing to have friends like these to share life with!
This trip was taken November 29 to December 8, 2022.
