Mather Campground - Grand Canyon, AZ.

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September 2015.

Little throwing an American football practicing her spiral. Looks pretty tight to me!

My favorite of the 70+ photos I took.

Flagstaff, AZ is a super cool town. There's a great place to eat and get a beer - The Lumberyard. Also, Fire Creek Coffee has some fantastic iced coffee with a great environment to sit and chill. The Grand Canyon is phenomenal. Mather Campground is a great place to camp within walking distance of the rim at Mather Point. Ergo baby carriers rock. Currently we are in Sedona, AZ, we just roamed around close Chavez Ranch for some fantastic views. Enjoy!

Despite it being one of the great natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon wasn't really on either of our lists of sights to see before we die, but being as we were in Las Vegas, and we were perhaps in as close proximity as we were ever likely to be, we couldn't pass up the the opportunity to pay a visit. Besides, Antony had visited twice before and promised us it was well worth the trip. How right he was (obviously)! After a six hour drive which took us from Las Vegas to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, we hurriedly pitched our tents at Mather Campground (word to the wise, ALWAYS book your camp site at either North or South Rim campgrounds in advance. Lucky we did this, because the site was full for the weekend!), and jumped back in the car, and following directions from Antony, breathlessly arrived at Kaibab point, double parked the Mustang in the packed car park and, as the sun was almost setting, we hurried along a path and suddenly, there it was, the Canyon stretching out in front of us, all pink and blue and brown in the last shadows of the day, the South Rim hazy in the distance (several miles away) and the gulf in between descending to such unfathomable depths. We stood, marvelled and took it all in, to the backdrop of incessant camera shutter clicks from everyone else around. Our one full day at the Grand Canyon had to involve some serious walking, Antony assured us! But we would not be skirting around the rim this time, but down into the abyss! So we packed as much water and food as the three of us could carry and set off on a trek to Skeleton Point, which promised views of the Colorado River and was classified by the local rangers as 'SEVERE, LONGEST SINGLE-DAY HIKE'. We were a little cowed by the health warning, for though our chosen route was only 6 miles (of which half would be downhill) the return 3 miles would see us climbing back out of the canyon in stifling heat. The canyon looked even more resplendent in the morning than it had at sunset the night before, stretching as far as the eye could see out to the left and right, with the other side of the Canyon (the North Rim) shimmering in the distance, and down below lay shelf after shelf of scrubby landscape, stretching down into the shadowy depths at the bottom. We took a deep breath and struck out, downwards into the jaws of the Grand Canyon. The first order of morning business, as the temperature mounted past 25 degrees C, was to navigate some 10-12 switchbacks on our path, running so steeply that you were looking down around ten feet on each switchback below. The route, so far, was busy, with many hot and bothered hikers coming back up in the other direction (people start early here, due to the heat!) and quite a few older-and-younger folks heading down to a more easily-accessible vista called 'Ooh-aah Point', which Antony and Dave quickly christened as Al Pacino Point, in honour of his Scent Of A Woman 'Hoo-Haa' catchphrase. Reaching Al Pacino point, we stopped for water and admired stunning views of the base of the Canyon, which was already much more visible than it had been from the Rim. We struck onwards and downwards as the heat intensified, passing a nose-to-tail line of stocky mules, carrying tourists and supplies up from the bottom, and a local ranger who enquired as to where we were going and how much water we had with us. He frowned as we informed him we were heading to Skeleton Point and told us to get a move on! We carried on down, reaching our destination (still a long way from the bottom!) within 2 hours (easy part done!) and stopped to look at birds of prey wheeling around below us, and the amazing views down to the tiny, sparkly Colorado River. The journey back up was much, much harder! The temperature was well past 30 degrees now and as we made our way back up the steep dusty path, we had to stop every 10 minutes or so for water and tiny scraps of shade beneath the rocks, where we chattered with naughty squirrels and tried to catch our breath! We reached Al Pacino point in pools of sweat and trudged on upwards, now wearing the same expressions which we'd seen on the other walkers' faces earlier on! We stopped for a few photos (Dave opting for the classic Bruce Forsyth 'macho') and made our way - with trepidation - back to the final switchbacks and out at the top. Success! Dehydration! Zoe and Dave headed back to collapse at the campsite and, unbelievably, Antony went off for a secondary hike around the rim. That evening we headed, on the free shuttle bus, to another nice spot, Mohave Point to take in a final Grand Canyon sunset. Finally, Antony's time had come to return to the UK, so we drove back to Vegas, found a cheap deal for a night for Zoe and Dave, staying at the giant Luxor Pyramid (!) and, as darkness fell, drove Antony to Las Vegas airport.