Day Three of On the Road Again

After visiting Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well and learning about how life was lived there we returned to the KOA we stayed at. The kids went swimming, ate and went to bed. The next day came around and off to the Grand Canyon we went. When we arrived at the canyon, the parking lots closest to the north rim route were already at capacity. It was about a half mile from the trail that a parking spot was found. After parking we hurried to the bus stop.

Although the Grand Canyon National Park offers different tours we opted to just hop on the free bus and hike alot of the north rim. The bus dropped us off at the first stop along the route. If I am remembering correctly we were able to see the angel trail on the balcony of the first stop. At this point there was only a sliver of the Colorado River that was visible.

As we hiked higher up the North Rim the Colorado River became more visible. It was fascinating to see the contrasting blue of the river to the reds, browns, and greens of the canyon. 

As a person that has developed a problem with heights since my children became a part of this world; visiting the Grand Canyon was a bit of an issue for me. My kids can be a little impulsive and fast (I had visions of them careening to their death at the bottom of the cliff). Now I understand that we cannot let our fears be noticed by the kids and we shouldn’t encourage them to be careful because it teaches them to be afraid and I agree with that to a certain extent. It just should be in a controlled setting. Rock climbing for instance is controlled once you know the ins and outs of it.

My husband was with them and holding their hands but in my mind (even though they were a foot away from the edge) they were right on the edge and about to fall over at any moment.  Of course, to show it is ok for them to get close to the edge but be mindful of what could happen we talked to them explaining it is safe to do as long as they are aware of where they are and do not run around, hop, or push each other. Their father also stayed close to them and held their hands to be extra cautious for my peace of mind.

Luckily most of the trails had railings in place in case of slipping or preventing people from getting to close to the edge. As we were looking out to the angel trail we were just barely able to make out the forms of hikers either completing their multiday hike or just starting up their hike. These people looked like ants from our view point. After reading the billboards and learning how long it takes to hike through the canyon to get to the south rim we moved along to the next stop.

The views were amazing, and the hike was easy. The kids enjoyed walking along the trails and their camelback bags helped keep them hydrated. When we made it to a bus stop, we took it all the way to Hermits Rest. There was a souvenir shop that sold snacks, so we bought the kids some food to tide them over until we made it to the van to have lunch. This mom can pack sustenance but always forgets to actually bring it with.

We ended our day at the Grand Canyon at the Desert View Watch Tower (my girls call this Rapunzel’s tower). The views here of the Colorado River were abundant. You could observe the rapids of the water. The kids would like to go back for one of the multi day raft trips the Canyon offers on the Colorado River. On our way out we stopped at a few points to see the views.

This took me quite a while for me to complete, but i am finally comfortable with what I wrote to publish it. to those of you who enjoy reading about our travels thank you for being patient with me. if you liked reading or enjoyed looking at the pictures feel free to like or comment. Thank you for stopping by and I will start working on day four of our journey to Montana. I hope you all have a wonderful day. The next post may take a bit I Like to take my time and edit my work.