USA Roadtrip Day 7 Sedona AZ > Grand Canyon > Page AZ

A beautiful day with blue skies, we want to have an early start and leave Sedona without breakfast, as this should be a huge day…..

…….then as we follow Rte 89A with wonderful views on all sides a warning light goes on….as there is no manual in the car, it is unclear as to what is happening. Check tires, oil…..all seem ok…..minor worries, thanks to Garmi our friendly GPS guide, we head for the nearest Enterprise office which is in Flagstaff AZ airport. Since it is early no one is there….head to Flagstaff main office, where we find someone there early washing a car….she checks warning light…then vehicle computer log and it turns out to be a warning that an oil change will be needed in 2,000 miles….talk about an early warning system……she says,” don’t worry these lights go on and off for no good reason,”…..so we are on the road again with only about 30 minutes lost!!!

Arrive at Grand Canyon National Park, plenty of parking, gear up and we are good to go.

 

 

 

After some debate we have decided on the South Kabab Trail which will take us from the rim of the Canyon, which is at 7,200 feet above sea level to Cedar Ridge some 1,200 feet lower, with a total return distance of 3 miles (4.8 kms). The trail is rated strenuous and park rangers do not recommend going beyond Cedar Ridge as a day hike, although you can continue down to the Colorado river where camping is allowed by permit…..access to the trailhead is via bus shuttle.

We are budgeting 3 hours and take 2 bottles of water and 1 of Gatorade and a snack. The walk down is demanding but offers some incredible views:

We head down at a good pace although the trail in places is heavily gouged which slows us up a bit……but the views just keep on coming…

…within about 40 minutes we reach the aptly named Ooh Aaah Point (recently someone stepped back and fell into oblivion !!!)

…….as we look down we can see the trail to Cedar Ridge, which will be our turn around point…

….arrive at Cedar Ridge, take in the views and eat our snack, but time is running, and, there is no choice but to head for the top of the canyon rim..

…..we decide to each go at our own pace, as I continue a bit further on the ridge to get a few more snaps > this is another attraction which lives up to its billing!! … before retracing our steps ….

…..the above pic shows Cedar Ridge and the trail leading to the top of the rim about 1,5 miles. Then it is time to “race” and catch-up with Annie…. the benefits of 2 months of interval spinning in Florida pay-off, as I power up the trail even passing several young guns…..no, not the guys fixing the trail…

Hiking in these wide open areas is great, although with the sun now blasting down it does feel like a walk-in oven, it is in the low 90’s with minimal shade, meanwhile Annie is gamely pressing on…

 

….and after fueling up with a 1/2 bottle of Frost Gatorade we finish the last few hundred feet to the top ….a truly great day of hiking !!!!!! Then shuttle back to the Visitor Center and then we follow the road which parallels the canyon rim stopping at several viewpoints …the scale is truly impressive…

…ending at the Desert View lookout which features a s a 70-foot-high stone building located on the South Rim ….

……..before we put the pedal down and head for Page, AZ our overnight spot…..more neat views out the windows…

….we are passing through Navajo and Hopi country and there are many stands selling rugs, pottery etc……but we are tired, it is late ….so no buying any dodads…

…and finally we are at The Redrock Motel (pics of our digs below) which is in Page’s Old Quarter “Street of Little Motels”…..amazing what one can say about an area to promote business…. at USD 150 per nite this was the cheapest we could find (we think these were built for the workers building the nearby dam, many years ago). The area is very popular and according to the owner some 4 million visitors come every year (Lourdes attracts 6 million …so pretty impressive and reflected in the prices of everything)….. we did see tour bus groups galore: German, Chinese etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…decided to go for a Thai dinner …pretty good, but got tagged with an 18% tip and when presented the bill there was a request for an additional tip ….YEAH RIGHT, IN YOUR DREAMS …..never saw that before, but what the hell we were hungry and these towns love to take the tourist for every cent they can !! Super loud a/c …..turned the sucker off and then we slept the sleep of the contented ……..