The Grand Canyon State

More from Arizona: The Grand Canyon State.
Another day, another detour!  The direct route from Page to the Grand Canyon was closed due to a collapsed road so we ended up taking the the long way to the South Rim of the canyon.  We arrived in the early afternoon and went to the campground to find a site and have lunch.  We had a bit of a shock when the local elk came to visit our picnic table - the deer are a bit bigger here than we've seen so far!!

Later, we walked a section of the Rim Trail and went to Hopi Point on the canyon rim for the sunset.  At nighttime we attempted to make smores - it was pretty unsuccessful.  But charcoaled marshmallows with un-melted chocolate that fell out of the biscuits still tasted good!

First view of the Grand Canyon

Along the Rim trail

One of our camp neighbours!

Shadows in the canyon before sunset

Smores materials!

The next morning we hiked the Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens 4.6 miles down into the canyon.....and the 4.6 miles back up!

Heading down in the shadows - still nice and cool

Getting warmer, but still going down so OK

Taking a rest before the hike back up!

On the way back up: 1.5 miles to go

We were just down there!

We made it back!

Back at the campsite an elk comes to investigate my laundry!

Post-hike pizza is becoming a regular thing with us :-)

After the Grand Canyon we started driving towards Las Vegas.  We were going to stick to the freeway but the decided to take the old Route 66 instead (after a recommendation from a man we met at the gas station!)  We prefer the deserted roads to the freeway any day.

Route 66 (the windscreen hasn't had a wash for a while - that's my job, Rosie usually pumps the gas while I clean :-S)

Lots of Route 66 weirdness - including Rosie and a pair of legs!