Woke up this morning in my tent at Petrified Forest. Not having my sweet coffee setup in my pack, I try and hurry back to the truck. Well, that took 2 hours of scrambling over hills and sliding down rocks. No pictures are taken before coffee, so just imagine a very tired, caffeine needing individual sliding on their ass in the desert.
I have to check into Bright Angle Lodge at the Grand Canyon today for my hike and Phantom Ranch reservation for tomorrow, so I head west, hoping to stop a few times on my way there. The Meteor Crater site (actual name) pops up on a few billboards, so I decide to give it a try. $18? I hope it’s worth it…
While the crater is awesome, and massive, and overwhelming, it’s so windy that I’m pretty sure I’m going to be blown over the guardrail. After a few cold minutes and ample pics, I head inside to the educational stuff. Now, I didn’t take any photos (I was reading too hard), but they had so much cool stuff in there! All educational and interactive and exciting. They did a great job explaining the meteor that hit, and then described almost all large meteor sites in the world. I was seriously impressed.
After leaving the crater, I realize I’m going to pass through Flagstaff. I hear a brewery mentioned over the radio, Dark Sky Brewing, and pop the address into my phone. This place was great, but being at elevation has seriously limited my ability to sample beer. After a flight, and forgetting where I parked, I headed off to the Grand Canyon.
Now, I didn’t spend any serious time at the Grand Canyon today. Just trying to figure out where I needed to check in, and get a feel for where to show up tomorrow for my hike. Holy Jesus it felt like I stepped into Disney World. Lines to get in, lines for the bathroom, likes to talk to a park ranger, and lines to see the views. How are there this many people here?! It’s insane! And why are there so many vendors? Food and drinks every 10 feet, 15 different ice cream shops… I don’t get it.
Regardless, I check, then take the shuttle back to my car. Now, I’m at an RV park where I just paid $2 to take a 5 minute shower. Oh well, at least I’m clean. Hoping I can beat the crowds tomorrow, and see what the bottom of the canyon looks like.