July 2016
Grand Canyon: Road Trip and Camping
I decided to do my first backpack camping at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I started planning the trip a few months in advance and making reservations right away. I was going to be traveling with my father and doing a road trip. I had originally thought to drive through Chicago and Nebraska but soon changed to go through Kansas to Colorado and I am glad we did.
​
Day 1: Travel was pretty good. We have a Kia Soul as our rental so we had some laughs about that since my father has only driven a large pick-up truck for years. Drove through horrible rain storms in Missouri and arrived at our site around 8:30pm. We took 70 almost the entire way and had left around 9:30 am from Findlay, Ohio. Stayed at KOA Kansas east. Very clean and the people were very friendly. Got the tent set up and right when we were frantically looking for where we packed the flashlights to make dinner, it started pouring. Jumped in the car soaking wet with stuff everywhere but had a laugh because we finally found the flashlights. Night one was a little noisy with some traffic and other noises. Ended up eating dry cereal for dinner and giving up on a warm meal.
Day 2: Morning: much better.. Sunny and made eggs on bagels with OJ. Coffee was a little rough trying to filter. Got back on 70 towards Kansas at 8:50 am. Drove all the way through Kansas and then did encounter a storm in east Colorado. Traffic in Denver was better than expected but was terrible west of Denver. The scenery made up for it: a lot of green pine trees, neat rock features and snow-capped mountains in the distance. In all, the traffic added 1 HR and 20 minutes but I guess you will have that traveling on Friday of a holiday weekend. Began to rain in Silverthorne, where our Airbnb was. Checked into the Airbnb and went to dinner at a local steak and seafood place called Mint. We were surprised to find out you choose your cut and cook your own meat. It was around 9 so we headed back to our Airbnb. It was dark and rainy and we pulled into the complex.
Lake Dillon, Colorado
Day 3: Woke up at 4:40 am to get an early start before the rain. Stopped by Lake Dillon and it was overcast and misty but it was still nice to see mountains behind the water. Drove to hanging lake trailhead and arrived at 7:30. Parking lot was full even with it raining heavily. The worst part is they don't let you wait in line so you literally have to drive down the road to wait and then drive back and just see if there is room. We waited 20 minutes, returned, and they told us to turn around. Gave up on that. Headed towards monument valley. You drive and drive and there isn't much in terms of cities along the way. We did arrive in monument valley in good time and of course had to take a photo where Forest Gump had been running. Checked into Goulding's campground. Really enjoyed this site! The red rocks surrounding us were very pretty and there is a little store with showers not far from the site.
Goulding's Campground
Above: Desert driving through Utah
Left:Wildcat trail
We ate and then headed to Wildcat trail by the left mitten. We thought we were on the trail due to footmarks; however, we finally found the trail and realized we weren't on it in the beginning. No wonder it was marked even less than what we had thought! We were the only people walking but we did catch up to some people on horseback. I got a chuckle out of the one horse that kept stopping to eat and the rider had a hard time keeping him moving. Took some neat photos of the sun shining through part of the mitten. Headed back to our site for dinner and then took a couple photos of the sunset.
02