Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon has always been one of those places that I knew I'd have to see for myself at least once in my lifetime. It did not disappoint.
View of the canyon from the Rim Trail
What a tremendous feat of nature, and what an amazing experience to witness it in person! We attempted the Bright Angel Trail which takes you 6 miles down to a plateau point that overlooks into the canyon below. There are resthouse stations along the way, the first being 1.5 miles down, but we only made it down 1 mile and then went back up 😂 The views from the trail are spectacular, so you don't really notice how steep the trail is until you make your way back up and then you're like 😰
Thankfully there are plenty of places to rest in the shade, catch your breath and take some photos as you make your way back up.
Views from the Rim Trail are also beautiful, but during the time we were at the Grand Canyon, the North Rim was (actually still is...) on fire. You could see the smoke in the distance.
The Rim Trail is paved and flat, so it was convenient to take the dogs on an evening stroll. We tried to show them the wondrous views of the canyon, but alas, the effort was lost on them...
During our stay there, Bach and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary! Bach made a reservation at the historic El Tovar Restaurant inside the park. The service was excellent, the food was delicious, and it was a night to remember, celebrating our anniversary at the Grand Canyon!
Boondocking on Forest Road 302
Overall, our boondocking experience here was not the best... It wasn't terrible for being free, but 5 days was more than enough for camping here.
Pros:
Forest Road 302 is very close to town, and we were in one of the first few spots at the beginning of the road.
There were plenty of great camping sites available for all sized rigs.
The condition of the gravel road was good and well maintained. No huge potholes or muddy ruts. Some of the side dirt roads going into the campsites were a bit rutted, but there were plenty of other sites with decent roads you could go down.
Cons:
Starting early in the morning, helicopters and small planes would fly overhead nonstop and the noise was really distracting... Thankfully the tours ended by early evening so at least at night it was fairly quiet.
Cell signal speeds were terrible, despite having 3-4 solid bars on all of our devices; Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon and AT&T had unusable speeds, while T-Mobile was the only one with decent speeds enough for streaming.
We did also see a family of horses and a group of elk walk through our campsite!
The weather was also blistering hot and dry when we were there, but cooled down significantly at night. We managed without the AC during the day, but it was not a comfortable experience... Overall, the experience of the Grand Canyon was amazing! Next time, we'll have to go during the spring or fall and tour the North Rim!