Leslie and David's Wanderings: 29 September 2021 Grand Canyon NP

Thursday, October 7, 2021

29 September 2021 Grand Canyon NP

We choose staying in Williams due to its proximity to Grand Canyon NP and five national monuments. We headed up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in the late morning. We expect it to take several trips to see all of the parts of the south rim we want to see. The weather forecast was for showers today and as we headed north, we could see the clouds building to the west. Our first stop was Mather Point for our first look into the canyon. This was Leslie’s first time to see the Grand Canyon and she was amazed. We walked along the rim trail taking in the incredible views and taking way to many pictures. We then strolled to the visitor center to collect our passport stamp and buys our post cards and hat. Surprisingly, they did not have any of the official National Park Coffee Cups for the Grand Canyon. As we headed back to the Behemoth, we could see the rain showers to the west. So we headed east along the South Rim Dr. We stopped at each of the overlooks and left each as the rain began at that spot. This way we stayed ahead of the heavy rain until we pulled into the parking lot for the Desert View Overlook. There the rain and hail caught up with us and we waited it out in the Behemoth for 30 minutes. But the rain showers gave us a completely different view of the canyon with heavy rain falling in and around the canyon providing dramatic views and pictures. After the rain had passed, we headed back west to the main village area. There we walked some more along the rim trail before stopping in the El Tovar Lodge and had a beer on the patio looking over the canyon. Surprisingly we found the official park coffee mug in the store in the El Tovar and added it to our collection. We tore ourselves away to head back to the Wanderer and our waiting Etta. On the way out of the park we saw a lot of Elk. The rutting season does not appear to have started yet, but it can’t be far away.