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Published: October 25th 2017
Grand Canyon
Jane at the Bright Angel TrailheadIn mid September of 2017 Anne and I traveled to the southwest with Anne's sister, Jane, to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. After these visits, and after seeing Jane off on her return flight, Anne and I went on to do a bit of hiking in Idaho. Below is a recap of where we went, what we saw, and a bunch of pictures from the trip.
On Friday, September 8
th, Jane flew from Richmond to Atlanta while we flew from Greenville. We met in Atlanta and flew on together to Las Vegas where we rented a car for the drive on to the North Rim. Our flight was supposed to arrive around 12:30 but was delayed a bit over an hour which put us later arriving at the North Rim Lodge than we had hoped to be. We checked into our cabins and got a bite to eat at the small deli at the lodge before turning in.
The next morning, Saturday, began with misty, rainy weather that pretty much lasted all day. We did walk around the trails near the
Grand Canyon
The trail along the Transept canyon, one of many side canyons along the north rim. lodge and got some interesting views of cloud and fog formations as they floated in and up over the side canyons. Late in the afternoon, the weather cleared and we were treated to a beautiful sunset while relaxing on one of the balconies at the lodge. Afterward we stopped at the gift shop in the visitor center where Anne and Jane picked up a few last minute post cards and souvenirs. While waiting to pay for these items, I overheard a lady asking the ranger at the desk how far it was to the south rim by car. When told that it was over 200 miles, she was astounded and very concerned. It seems she and her group had reservations at a hotel on the south rim for that evening. Thinking that the south rim was just on the other side of the canyon, only some 20 miles away, they had planned to check out the north rim and then take the “short” drive on over to the south rim to check into their hotel. Unfortunately, there is no way to the other side without circling all the way around the northeast end of the canyon. Apparently this wasn't the
Grand Canyon
Along the Transept canyon trail. first time this ranger had been asked the question and gotten a similar reaction. As the lady left, he told me “you'd be surprised how many people think you can just hop over to the other side from here.” Moral of this story is to plan ahead and double check everything before starting out on your travel adventure!
On Sunday morning, we awoke to sunshine and clearing weather. Anne and I got our miles in early that morning before meeting Jane and checking out of the lodge. We then drove around the rim drive where we saw some of the most impressive views of the trip from a number of overlooks. To call the Grand Canyon “Grand” is quite the understatement. We've visited four times, and the scenery is always different depending on the season of the year, the time of day, and the weather. “Time and the river flowing” made this magnificent natural wonder of the modern world, and everyone should try to see it at least once in his/her lifetime!
After the rim drive, we left the Grand Canyon and drove to Kanab, Utah where Best Friends is located. We took the
Grand Canyon
From the Transept trail. scenic route, driving by way of the Vermilion Cliffs and Page, Arizona, where we were able to tour the Glen Canyon dam. Very impressive. Arrived in Kanab around 6:30, checked into our motel and went to a local restaurant for dinner. The restaurant had an all-vegetarian menu with food that turned out to be very good. The next morning, Monday, we had reserved three morning tours at the Animal Sanctuary starting at 9:00 AM. First was the “Horse and Pigs” tour, which included mostly pigs and goats, where we actually got a real hands-on visit with the animals. After this, we took the “Wild Friends” tour followed by the “Parrot Garden” tour. The former involved a walk around the section where the sanctuary houses wild birds as well as other wild animals that were being rehabilitated before being released back into the wild or, for one reason or the other, being cared for because they would not be able to survive in the wild. The Parrot Garden was a very educational presentation by a veterinarian specializing in treatment of birds, followed by a walk around the garden meeting many of the exotic birds, many with physical or neurotic behavioral problems,
Grand Canyon
Along the Transept trail that are cared for there as long as necessary. After lunch from the food truck in front of the visitor center, vegetarian of course, we took the afternoon grand tour of the sanctuary. We boarded a bus for a ride around the complex with stops at the puppy preschool and the cat building that houses cats, some with special needs. Needless to say, this was a day that both Anne and Jane enjoyed a lot. From Anne—if you ever have the chance to visit Best Friends, I would highly recommend it! They do wonderful work and now have branch facilities in places like Atlanta and Los Angeles. Their slogan is “Save Them All” and by extending their reach across the country, hopefully one of these days all shelters will be 'no kill'!
On Tuesday we drove to Salt Lake City where Jane would catch her red eye flight back home. Again, we took the scenic route driving through Zion Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument. We arrived at the hotel where Anne and I would spend the night and checked in. We had dinner at a surprisingly good restaurant there in the hotel. After dinner
Grand Canyon
From the short Bright Angel Point trail. Bright Angel Point is just about a quarter mile down the trail from the lodge. we drove Jane to the SLC airport and said good bye.
The next morning Anne and I drove to Almo, Idaho, and did a little bit of hiking in the City of Rocks National Reserve. The reserve is on the route of one of the variations of the California Trail used by immigrants headed west to the California gold fields. Between 1843 and 1882 over 200,000 immigrants passed through City of Rocks. For us, weather was not the best and the trails were poorly marked so we did not get as much hiking in as we would have liked. The reserve is, nevertheless, quite interesting with a huge collection of impressive rock formations that are a big attraction for rock climbers.
After visiting City of Rocks, we drove on to the small town of Albion, ID, where we stayed in the one motel within 50 miles of Almo that had a TV and WiFi. When we arrived, somewhere around 5:00 PM, the office was locked, and there was no one anywhere around. Ended up calling the motel's number and finally got the lady who I think is the owner to come check us in.
Grand Canyon
View from the trail just below the lodge. Once checked in, this was a very nice place with pretty much all amenities that we needed, very much a surprise in such a small community. There was no restaurant anywhere nearby, but a food truck called “Piggy Sue's BBQ” was just down the street and fortunately they had more than just their extremely good beef BBQ on the menu. I am allergic to beef if I eat very much of it, so I only ate a small sample of the BBQ which really was excellent. I ended up with a chicken sandwich, and Anne had a grilled cheese. Perfectly satisfactory.
The next morning, Thursday, we drove to Stanley, ID, in the Sawtooth mountains where we spent the next two nights. Weather was lousy both Thursday and Friday but we did do a decent hike each day. We hiked in the Redfish Lake area on Thursday and around Stanley Lake on Friday, only getting rained on enough to get wet a couple of times. Still, even with the fog and mist hovering over the mountains, the scenery was pretty impressive. On Saturday, the weather cleared and though cold initially, we had our best hike of the trip.
Grand Canyon
From the Bright Angel Point trail. The lodge sits on sort of a peninsula between Bright Angel Canyon and the Transept Canyon. We checked out of our motel early Saturday morning and drove about 20 miles south of Stanley to the trailhead for Horton Peak in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The trail was about 3.5 miles, one way, with an elevation gain of 2,750 feet so a fitting workout to wrap up our serious hiking for this trip. Horton Peak sits on the western edge of the White Cloud Mountain Range. The 9,986-foot peak is some 3,400 feet above Sawtooth Valley, and when you peer west, the views extend over the valley floor to the crest of the serrated Sawtooths. Looking east, the view is of the seemingly endless cluster of snow capped peaks that make up the White Cloud Mountain Range and the snowcapped Lost River Range beyond. Needless to say, the views form the top were worth the significant effort required to get there.
After our hike to Horton Peak, we drove back by Stanley and on down the Salmon River Valley to Challis and then south to Arco where we would spend the night. On Sunday, we drove down to Craters of the Moon National Monument where we hiked a few of the trails through
Grand Canyon Rim Drive.
On our second day we drove around the rim road to Cape Royal Point. There are several overlooks with the main one at Cape Royal at the end of the road. and over lava fields. Saw some interesting formations left when the lava flowed over trees leaving the tree imprint either lying on its side or leaving a hollow cylindrical hole where the tree had been before it ignited and burned away. Anne was able to get a few decent pictures showing some of these.
Leaving Craters of the Moon around 1:30 PM, we drove back through Arco and down to Blackfoot where we picked up I-15 for the 4 hour drive back to Salt Lake City for our red-eye back home that night. Arrived at the SLC airport around 6:30 PM, turned in the car and then mostly cooled our heels until our flight departed around midnight. At least I mostly cooled my heels. I walked around the airport a little bit. Don't think Anne's heels got cool at all since she walked all over the airport for most of the time.
Flights were pretty much on time and I actually was able to sleep for an hour or so on our red-eye to Atlanta. Nevertheless, I think that may be the last red-eye flight we take unless there is no other alternative. Just
A Western Cabin
This is the type cabin we stayed in. There are also two other types, one larger one smaller, as well as a few motel type rooms. getting too old to bounce back after losing that much sleep. After another long layover in Atlanta, the flight to GSP was on time, and we were welcomed home around 10:30 AM by three well- fed but always hungry cats. We tried to stay awake until a normal bed time but while I think Anne made it, I went to bed a bit early.
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