After three great weeks in Sedona, it was time for us to leave. Partly because we have a lot more to see, and partly because we were a week past our 14 day limit for dry camping in the National Forest. We were also excited to check out the Grand Canyon, which neither of us have ever been to. Sedona was a lot of fun as usual and we had some good neighbors at our camp spot. They were also full time RVers from Oregon who are making their way to Prescott.
We found a great free camp spot about 10 minutes outside the Grand Canyon NP. It almost feels like being back in Oregon here with all the pine trees which we have really been missing. Our first morning was a bit chilly. We have been used to it dipping down to about 50 at night, but it was 32 when we woke up here this morning and we had to use the heater. It does warm up to the 70s during the day though which is about perfect.
Bright Angel Hike
For our first day in the park we hiked the Bright Angel trail out to the 3 Mile Rest House. The Bright Angel trail is the main route that takes hikers and burro riders down to the river. If you go the whole way down, it is 7.8 miles one way and you descend 4,500 feet. Of course you then have to turn around and come back up. We hiked down about 3 miles to the conveniently named 3 mile rest house and turned around and came back up. It ended up being about 6.7 miles and about 2,300 feet of climbing. All at the end.
The views were amazing, though we couldn’t see all the way down to the river from this hike. Hopefully one of the other hikes or view points will let us see down to the river. We also want to come back and do a multi-day hike down to the bottom some day. We don’t have the gear for it now, and Fletcher isn’t allowed or able to make it if he was. So next time maybe.
Leave a Reply