Back from the Grand Canyon

[austinado16]

We had a great trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Once again, a hot 12hr drive across the California Mojave Desert and into Arizona.  Camper tires were running at 147*F on the tread and these are the same tires we ran across the desert to the Grand Canyon last year.  Temps in the Barstow and Needles areas were over 110*F.  

Saw fuel prices at the truck stops on I-40 in AZ at $3.85 and grabbed me 34 gallons of that gold.  I think I saw a sign just east of Kingman, AZ for $3.29, but I didn't have anything but a cooler to put it in, so passed.  We got 15mpg which isn't bad for an 18 year old Suburban with 253,000mi on the clock, hauling a 2,000lb camper, and the front and rear a/c running the whole time.

This is our second year going to the GC in August.  What a great time of year  with monsoon season stiring things up.  The temps at the rim were great.  We stayed in Mather Campground (dry camping) and it was in the 80's during the day, and low 60's at night.  Even got to run the furnace one night, and had some rain, and a great thunder and lightening show.

Our hike to the bottom was fantastic and our 8 year old DD was pretty awe-struck by the whole thing.  She earned a special Jr. Ranger badge and patch for hiking to the bottom and that was a definate high point for her.  Really a fantastic kids program that the NPS has put together.

Day 1: We left about 1pm and called it a day in Needles, CA leaving 4hrs of the 12hr drive for Day 2.


Day 2: We arrived at Grand Canyon around 1:30pm, set up camp in Mather and went to visit forum member MaryRomeo and her DH and DD who where over in Trailer Village.  What great people, and it was fun to meet you guys!!  We are very jeleous of your beautiful Viking!

Then it was over to the rim for a quick peak (jaw dropping for our DD who was thinking...."I'm walking down into THAT?"

Finally, back to base camp to finish loading gear into packs and get to bed early.

Day 3: Up at 4:15am in order to get down to the shuttle bus stop by 5.  We missed that one, but did make the 5:30.  Grabbed a second bus to the trail head at Yaki Pt. were the South Kaibab Trail begins.  We went down on the South Kaibab to Bright Angel Campground.  


Took about 4hrs to get to the bottom.  

Then ditched our gear and spent the day in Bright Angel Creek.

We ate lunch at the Phantom Ranch Canteena and then went out to the Colorado River.  

We brought down a small jar so our DD could bring home a sample of water and mud/silt from the river.  

Too hot to sleep in our tent that night. I don't think it was less than 90.  My DW and I slept on the picnic table (very common sleeping accomodations at the bottom!) and watched the falling stars, satelites, and bats fly by.  DD slept in the opening of the tent.....which is an all mesh/screen tent and was still too hot to be in!!

Day 4: Up at 4:15am....on almost no sleep....to pack up and get over to the Phantom Ranch for the 5am breakfast call.  We were back on the trail about 5:45 and headed to Indian Gardens which is half way out of the canyon, on the Bright Angel Trail.  

Spent the day and night there at Indian Gardens and due to some great weather and the couple thousand feet of elevation change, we managed to stay in the tent and even get some sleep.  

This was the day DD got her badge and patch, plus, the ranger loaned us "Death in the Canyon," which is 3" book detailing all the circumstances of people's deaths inside Grand Canyon; from people falling or driving off the rim, to hiking, aircraft, and rafting deaths.  Man was that sobering, and about as inspirational as reading a grizzly bear encounter book while in the woods!

Day 5: Up at I don't know what time because my watch quit working during the night (battery failure).  But at the crack of dawn we were packed up, fed and back on the trail for the final 4.5mi out.

At the top we continued the tradition of celebrating with icecream! Then it was off to the showers and a nap for Kate!

 A great thunder and lightening storm rolled in during lunch.  DD pursued yet another Jr. Ranger badge and patch, and earned both.  We also visited the Yavapai Pt. look out, for a stunning view of where we'd been hiking.

We were so happy to sleep in the camper on "real" beds that night.  The temps dropped into the low 60's, so I fired up the furnace.

Day 6: After a decent night's sleep, it was time to jump on the in-park shuttle bus and head over to the Plaza Information Center and Mather Pt.  Later, we drove to Tusayan and watched the IMAX movie about the GC.  DD also found another Jr. Ranger program and earned her 3rd badge and patch.

Day 7:  12hr drive home!  Guess I'll retire these tires after this season!

[AZsix]

Thanks for the report and for posting pictures with it. Sounds like it was a great time. When we were there in June my wife and I decided that we would like to hike to the bottom. Seeing your pictures makes me want to do it even more.

Glad you had a great time. IMO there is no way not to have a great time at the Grand Canyon.

[austinado16]

Will post more photos and some video as I get a chance to upload/edit.

What were your temps like in June?  It was mid 80's and low 60's at the top, and 107/90ish at the bottom.  In terms of how unbelievably hot the bottom gets, those were good numbers, and it was cooler than that inside the trees/creek at Indian Gardens.

We took a GPS to get mileages and time for all the legs.
Just under 4hrs to the bottom and about 7mi
Just about 3hrs to Indian Gardens and 5.5mi
Just under 3hrs to the south rim from Indian Gardens (we were doing the 1.5mi legs between rest houses in about 45-50min each.) 4.5mi total

We're going back next August to the north rim and hiking rim-to-rim, a total of about 24mi over a 4 day/3 night period.

[3ontheGo]

Welcome home! Sounds like an awesome trip.
(Dang, I forgot to raid your garden while you were gone. There's always next year.)

[maromeo]

We also had an awesome time at the Grand Canyon. It was great to meet up with austinado16 and family. What a great family.

We left the Phoenix area around 10:00 am; we wanted to wait for the traffic to clear out on I17. It was 107 degrees when we left with full tank and PU in tow and sandwiches packed in cooler just in case we got hungry.  Made it to Flagstaff around 12:15, traffic was heavy due to college starting the following week. Made it through town and headed up highway 180 and started to get hungry. Found a perfect pull off with large parking lot, hiking trails and nice clearing under the tall ponderosa pines where we had a picnic under the trees. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

We proceeded to the South Entrance of the Grand Canyon arriving about 3:00pm.  Checked in at Trailer Village and made it to our site around 3:30pm. It was hot. Leveled and started got almost set up when our PUT neighbors came by. They brought us some their local food to try. What a nice surprise. We got a chance to show them our PU and then they had to head off to get their meal tickets and info for their next day hike. We finished the setup and ate dinner and went to bed.

Saturday morning, woke up at 6:00 am, heard something moving outside and found 3 mule deer at our site. I woke up our DD so she could see them also. We left the campground after a great breakfast and hopped on the shuttle buses and headed out to view the canyon.  It was gorgeous and very crowded at some of the view points.  It was another great day and temps were a little lower. Got back to the campground and grilled a steak enjoyed a glass of wine and went to bed.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to the headquarters for the Jr. Ranger program.  There were only 2 families that showed up so there was a lot of individual attention. Ranger Barbara was great. DD earned her badge and three patches, she was really excited.  Sunday evening we boarded a train ride through the Coconino Forest. It was only an hour and half ride. DD loved the ride and the conductor. He spent a lot of time talking to all the families. It was awesome.

Monday we got back on the shuttle bus and headed to the eastern side of the canyon called Desert View. It was about a 2 and half hour round trip bus ride. It rained quite hard some of the time.  It was great to see that part of the canyon and the rain.
 
Tuesday we packed up, left early and headed back to the heat in the desert arriving home at 112 degrees round 3:30pm.

DD told us on the way home it was one of her favorite vacations we have taken. To think it was right here in our own state!

Mary Romeo

[AZsix]

Mary,

Glad you guys had fun. It is a great place to vacation.

We will be at Houston Mesa cg 8/22 and 8/23. Our neighbors are taking their pup and our other neighbors are tenting it. We are in spot 11 and they are in 10 and 12. There are still spots open (hint, hint).

[JohnandLeann]

Well if Austinado can do it, we can too some day.  If you see this Austinado, how much fuel did it cost you to go?  We live in Santa Maria so the cost would be the same.  I just checked our mileage and we get 15mpg. loaded.

[austinado16]

Well if Austinado can do it, we can too some day.  If you see this Austinado, how much fuel did it cost you to go?  We live in Santa Maria so the cost would be the same.  I just checked our mileage and we get 15mpg. loaded.

I spent $398 total on fuel, but came home with about 6 gallons still in the tank.

Our route is always through Santa Maria so we can drop of the dog and DD's gold fish at DW's folks place.

A hint on the trip:  Fill up at the cheapest fuel you can find in Santa Maria....wherever that is.  You won't find fuel any cheaper anywhere until you get into AZ and hit the Pilot and similar truck stops.  There is a Pilot station on exit 9, about 20mi east of Needles, which is about 10mi into AZ.  They were at $3.89 when everything else along the freeway had been in the mid $4's.  On the way back they were down to $3.85, but just east of Kingman there was a truck stop with $3.29.

So if you can't get all the way into AZ on your Santa Maria tank of fuel, add just enough fuel to get you to the Pilot.

Mary I wish I'd looked into the train ride, that would have been so much fun.  Oh well, that'll be something we can do on next year's visit and hike.

[wavery]

WOW!!!!! What a great trip..... Thanks for sharing....great pics..WE WANT MORE!!!!.

When are you going to join us on one of our rallies??

[austinado16]

When are you going to join us on one of our rallies??

I reeeeeally wanted to come up to Lopez at the end of July and just camp across from you guys in Bluejay, but it was so close to our leaving date, I just couldn't pull it off.  I was just burried in work and last minute gear collecting, and then it was time to popup, make sure everything worked, and get it loaded.

Okay, more photos and video:

Here's the start of the South Kaibab Trail.




Here's the tunnel at the very bottom, right before you cross the Colorado on the black bridge.


This was our sleeping accomodations.......and it was too hot to sleep inside!


Here's the start of a typical morning, about 4:30-5am.  Taking all the food out of the animal-proof boxes, packing up the tent and gear and reloading the packs.

[JohnandLeann]

Thanks Austin,
If we can get away from the Central Coast, gas is a bit cheaper.  We were in Salinas last weekend and gas was 3.99 for 87 reg at a Pilot Station there.  It just costs more for gas here, by about .25 to .30 or more a gallon.
Our f150 has a 36 gallon tank so we could get pretty far I think on a tank of gas.
Glad you had a great trip.  I will check out your new videos and pics later.

John

[austinado16]

Thanks Austin,
If we can get away from the Central Coast, gas is a bit cheaper.  We were in Salinas last weekend and gas was 3.99 for 87 reg at a Pilot Station there.  It just costs more for gas here, by about .25 to .30 or more a gallon.
Our f150 has a 36 gallon tank so we could get pretty far I think on a tank of gas.
Glad you had a great trip.  I will check out your new videos and pics later.

John

Yep, that's what we noticed too.  With a 34 gallon tank, I feel your pain on fill up.

One thing to consider if you're going to tow across the mojave, central valley, or up in the mountains, is the size of your transmission cooler.  I've put a huge cooler on the Suburban, along with a finned cast aluminum transmission pan that holds an extra 4-5qts, and a mechanical trans oil temp gauge.  In the hight heat (105-115ish) I'm seeing continuous temps at 170-180*F, briefly hitting 200*F on very steep grades, and a high of 210*F cresting something long and steep.  That's with a new radiator fan clutch.

[JohnandLeann]

Our f150 is 2004 with a factory tow pkg.  Has a decent sized trans cooler and stuff.  Went to Lake San Antonio few weeks ago, no noticeable heat change at all.  It ran great, has about 15,000mi on the clock, and I run Mobile 1 oil in it.

[AZsix]

Thanks Austin,
If we can get away from the Central Coast, gas is a bit cheaper.  We were in Salinas last weekend and gas was 3.99 for 87 reg at a Pilot Station there.  It just costs more for gas here, by about .25 to .30 or more a gallon.
Our f150 has a 36 gallon tank so we could get pretty far I think on a tank of gas.
Glad you had a great trip.  I will check out your new videos and pics later.

John

I got gas for $3.67 today. Most places around PHX are around 3.70. They say it should be around 3.50 by the end of summer and around 3.29 later in the year. Just in time for them to start jacking up the prices again.

[austinado16]

Our f150 is 2004 with a factory tow pkg.  Has a decent sized trans cooler and stuff.  Went to Lake San Antonio few weeks ago, no noticeable heat change at all.  It ran great, has about 15,000mi on the clock, and I run Mobile 1 oil in it.

My engine coolant temp has always been very solid due to the hugefactory radiator.  But it's the trans oil temp that I watch closely because the 700R4's(4L60) will burn up when they get hot and stay hot.