Grand Canyon National Park South Rim

After spending a few days in the Valley of Fire State Park, we added the Nevada state sticker to our USA map and headed back to Arizona and the Grand Canyon. This time it was the South Rim. Even though it was my third visit, the view still takes my breath away. Lee had only been to the North Rim before this, so I was eager to see his reaction. He was blown away by the magnitude. You get a much better sense of the enormity of the canyon from the South Rim.

On our first evening, we watched the sun setting on the canyon.














We took a bike ride through the park and along the rim of the canyon. There were several miles of paved paths. The views were great.

























The next day, we planned to hike down into the canyon on the South Kaibab Trail. What started out to be a 3-mile hike, turned out to be 6 miles. Once we got started, we didn't want to stop. I have a fear of heights, but I was not at all nervous on the trail. Here are some photos from the hike.

Some switchbacks to start off the trail

Lee oohing and aahing!

Ooh-Aah Point, our first stop

Cedar Ridge, our second rest stop and our original turn-around spot.











Several other hikers told us how beautiful Skeleton Point was, so they convinced us to keep going.

Pack horses along the trail

We made it to Skeleton Point! The views were spectacular. Definitely worth the extra 3 miles.

We could see the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch from here.

Time to turn around and head back up.

Two wranglers, each leading pack mules up the trail, passed us on our way up. When they pass hikers, the mules have the right of way. Hikers are told to step to the inside of the trail and stand quietly while the mules pass.

These are the switchbacks that were at the beginning of the trail. It was fun watching the mules as they climbed.

We followed the mules to the top. We made it! This was a spectacular trail with so many beautiful vistas.

On our way out of the park on our last day, we drove to the end of Desert View Drive to climb the Desert View Watchtower. From the top of the tower, you have a 360-degree view of the canyon, Colorado River, and surrounding landscape.

The walls and ceiling of the inside of the tower were painted with Native American art. These are some examples.

One last look at the canyon and the river and then off to Sedona.

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Valley of Fire State Park is located in the southeast corner of Nevada, about 50 miles from Las Vegas. It was Nevada's first state park, established in 1935. There are two campgrounds, one with water and electric (Atlatl Rock) and one with no hook-ups (Arch Rock). We chose Arch Rock because it was less crowded and, in our opinion, was prettier.






Here are two different views from our campsite as the sun was coming up.

And here's one at night from the same spot. My first attempt at photographing the Milky Way after the hands-on program we attended in Capitol Reef. This is a dark sky area, so the stars were beautiful.

The Arch Rock for which our campground is named

The other campground is named for Atlatl Rock. An atlatl is a kind of spear used by the ancient tribes that lived here. There are petroglyphs carved into the rocks by the Basketmaker culture about 2,500 years ago. You can see an example of an atlatl. A metal staircase was installed so you can view the petroglyphs up close.

The main road through the park starts at the Visitor Center. It takes you through a beautiful valley surrounded by bright red Aztec sandstone outcrops and gray and tan limestone mountains.

There are several hiking trails off of this road. We did three of them. The first was to "The Fire Wave." We weren't sure what the wave would look like, but we figured we'd know it when we saw it.

View from the trail

Pretty Cacti on the trail

Tracks

 

We thought this was The Wave....Nope, not yet.

This is The Wave!

Our second hike was around White Domes which started from the end of the park road. It was a rugged loop trail with some beautiful colored rocks and a surprise slot canyon.

The pink and yellow rock "stairs" were part of the trail.

This area of the trail had been used for movie location shots.

The slot canyon

Lee at the entrance

In the middle

 

The other end of the canyon

More rugged terrain

An arch at the end of the loop

The third hike was to Rainbow Vista. This was an out and back trail. It gets it's name from the rainbow colored rock formations along the trail. The trail was sand which can be challenging to walk through. As the sun set lower in the sky, the colors became more vivid.

View from the end of the trail

As we returned, the sand took on a reddish tone. The cholla cacti and sage brush seemed to glow.

If you're in the area, I recommend this park. One of our friends suggested it to us when they heard we were going through Nevada, otherwise we probably wouldn't have stopped here. It's worth a trip.

Now that we've checked Nevada off our list, back to the Grand Canyon. This time the South Rim! Stay tuned.