DAY EIGHT

FLAGSTAFF, AZ – GRAND CANYON, AZ – LAS VEGAS, NV

Left Flagstaff: 9am, arrived Las Vegas: 7pm. 384.1 miles

Today was pretty incredible. After a long night… (sleeping was difficult in the hostel because: 1. No air conditioning, and 2. Bars open late, which we could hear since our window was open) we had some breakfast at the hostel – actually we stole a few pieces of bread and made our own PB&J’s – and began our trek to the Grand Canyon. It is only about an hour and a half away, and the drive is really beautiful. It becomes very rocky and reddish, and when we arrived an awesome giant mountain appeared in front of us. 

Once we got to Grand Canyon National Park and were greeted by the world’s nicest park ranger, we made our first stop at Desert View Watchtower, along the east entrance to the Canyon. It was so exciting to see the first view, and after hearing about this place for my entire life, I finally got to see what the hype was about. 

The view was gorgeous, and the Colorado was in plain view. This spot was cool because we were able to climb a historic watchtower about 50 feet higher and view the Canyon from there. We decided to continue our drive along the South Rim to the Grand Canyon Visitors Center. Along the way we stopped at Moran Point and Grand view, which offered equally stunning views. 

I knew the canyon was going to be bigger than I could have ever imagined or seen pictures of, but it really was breath taking. It’s not possible to see the bottom or other end of the canyon, and the variety in views is really amazing. We also pulled over at one point and saw a group of three Elk! 

Once we reached the visitor’s center – about an hour later, we filled our water bottles with water from the North Rim of the canyon, and boarded a shuttle bus over to the South Kaibob trailhead. A lot of the destinations at the Grand Canyon are accessible by shuttle only. This experience was interesting, because it felt more like we were at an amusement park rather than a natural wonder in a national park. Once we got to the trail, it was much calmer because most people just ride the shuttles to hop off and take pictures. We began our hike around 1pm, and decided that we would hike down into the canyon for about an hour, because the manager at the hostel told Kenny to expect the return trip to take twice the amount of time due to the steep climbs back up. This was a well marked trail, complete with mule poop… and it zig zagged down into the canyon. 

It was a pretty manageable trail though some parts were a little nerve wracking as they got pretty narrow. We hiked down to Ooh Ahh point, an area where a rock is wedged in between a couple of boulders. 

This offered a really incredible view, though Kenny got freaked out by the heights and the extreme drop! From there, though it was only about a 30 minute hike, we started to head back up. At first, the return trip seemed fine. After a few minutes and steep climbs, it really started to take its toll, and we realized that the trail was really no joke. We stopped for a trail mix break and then continued.

 It took us about 30 minutes just to get back to where the zig zag section to the entrance was located, and once we got there it started raining. It honestly felt really refreshing, but we did try to get out fast as all of the park rangers kept warning us of the dangers of thunder and lightning in the canyon. We were almost to the top when I felt a very sharp pain in the back of both of my legs. It felt like a super intense Charlie horse, and I found a rock to sit down on. I drank some water and after a few minutes the feeling had passed and we finished the rest of the way out. At the entrance we got to see the stable with the mules, and one really thought I had food for it.

 After taking the shuttle back to the visitor’s center, we went back to the car, cleaned up, and began driving to Las Vegas! 

The drive took about 4 hours, and as we were arriving we drove past the Hoover Dam which looked pretty awesome, and the area around it almost alien-like. 

We drove into the city through Las Vegas Boulevard, which was really overwhelming to the senses.

 First we went through downtown, where we saw Gold and Silver Pawn from Pawn Stars, we got up to the big casinos, and then drove to Teddi(who has been so kind to let us stay with her)’s apartment. At night we went over to the art’s district, and later back to downtown, where most of the young people/locals go out at night.