Adventures at the Grand Canyon, Fall 2022

[swalker]

Lori and I had an exciting trip to the Grand Canyon this fall. It was a bit different than we had planned for, but we were able to pull it off and had a great time.

There were a few challenges we had to overcome.

We had finished our Yellowstone trip in early October and had planned two weeks at home before heading to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, we had several issues with our motorhome on the Yellowstone trip. I described those issues in the thread on our fall Yellowstone trip and will summarize them here.

We had an oil leak, a coolant leak, a significant fuel leak, a turbo boost pressure error, and a check engine light. In addition the engine exhaust brake was not working.

We dropped the motorhome off at the shop on the Friday after we returned from Yellowstone. That gave the shop only 1 week to resolve the issues. Unfortunately, that was not possible. We had to push out the Grand Canyon trip out by two weeks to accommodate their schedule.

That put us into a colder time of the year. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is at 7,000 ft above sea level, and the late fall can see significantly cold weather. We were disappointed about that, but decided to try to make the trip happen.

Reservations at the Grand Canyon are hard to get. We usually book our trips there six to nine months in advance. Trying to get new reservations with two-weeks notice is just about impossible. But somehow, my wife was able to make it happen. We were both quite surprised. She was also able to rearrange the reservations at various RV parks for our trip to and from the Grand Canyon (we typically spend 2 or 3 days getting there). Doing so lengthened our trip to a day shy of 2 weeks, but we felt like we were up for it.

She also had reservations to spend the night at Phantom Ranch, which is at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and is only accessible by hiking (which she was going to do), mule ride, or raft trip. She was not able to get that rescheduled, but decided she would try every morning we were there to see if there was a cancellation.

So, we made our preparations for the trip. I felt a bit of uncomfortableness in my left abdomen and lower back in the days leading up to our departure. The day of our departure I noticed a series of red bumps on my left abdomen. My wife immediately suspected shingles. So, we tried to get me a doctor's appointment. Due to a spate of retirements, the doctor's office is very short staffed and could not see me. They suggested urgent care and that is where we went.

Urgent care confirmed it was shingles and prescribed some medicine for it. We wrapped up that visit and raced home to pack the wheelchair van with all our stuff. We did that, grabbed the cats, and headed for Grand Junction, Colorado, where our motorhome was still in the shop.

We stopped by the shop, arriving a bit after closing. We had let them know we were going to be late. The main technician I had worked with stayed late for us and we had a very enjoyable chat with him about the motorhome and his recent trip to Alaska. We then grabbed the motorhome and headed for a nearby RV park where "we" (my wife) unloaded the stuff from the van into the motorhome.

I was tired enough that I should have slept really well that night, but I must admit that the shingles kept me up a bit. Our girl cat decided that she needed to closely inspect my belly to see what was wrong, and spent much of the night investigating my shingles bumps. Fortunately, I was using my bipap, so the weight of her on my abdomen did not interfere with breathing!

I was not looking forward to the next 3 days of driving to the Grand Canyon, even though it is some of the most beautiful parts of Utah and Arizona.

Steve

 

[Mary2]

You and Lori have much energy and determination! Did Lori ever make it to the bottom of the Canyon? My husband had shingles and was quite uncomfortable.

 

[swalker]

Mary, we have certainly had a few obstacles placed in our path. We just keep on plugging away trying to find ways to overcome them. Most of the time, we manage to resolve enough issues to allow us to take our trips, but on occasion, we just have to acknowledge that things beyond our control mean that we have to change our plans. The shingles were certainly uncomfortable, but they were not debilitating. I am glad they did not prevent us from taking the trip.

When we picked up our motorhome from the shop, all engine-related Items had been fixed, except for the oil leak. That would have to wait until after our trip. The oil leak was not major and there was no threat the engine would run short of oil.

So, after spending the night at the RV park in Grand Junction, Colorado, we spent the next day driving to Moab, Utah. It was a beautiful and short drive of less than 2 hours. We left Grand Junction late in the morning, giving me a chance to sleep in and recuperate a bit. We arrived at Moab in the early afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful weather there.

One of the reasons that we decided to get a motorhome was to make our trips easier. When it is working, the motorhome sure does make things easier. I find it easy to drive and once we arrive at camp, it takes almost no effort to set it up for camping.

All we have to do is press a button to level the motorhome, press buttons to extend the two slides, and plug into power. That all took just a few minutes. We did not need to connect to water or sewer because we had a full water tank and empty gray and black tanks.

After we got set up, we relaxed and let me recuperate some more. Then we headed out for a drive through Arches National Park. It is a wonderful and very beautiful park, though there are very few places to go in a wheelchair. We were late enough in the day that it did not make sense to get the wheelchair out and I was just too tired to take pictures. We enjoyed the drive immensely and I was so glad that things worked out for us to be able to do that excursion.

We spent the night in Moab and then packed up for the short drive (about 3 hours) to Monument Valley, where we had booked a spot at an RV park for the night.

The drive from Moab to Monument valley is wonderful. We have done it many times before, but it never gets old. The red rock formations are spectacular and the geology passing through the small town of Mexican Hat is just spectacular. Monument Valley itself is one of the wonders of the world, in my opinion. There is just no way to adequately describe how uniquely beautiful it is. Again, I was too tired for pictures, but I have posted some in previous posts.

After getting set up at the RV park in Monument Valley, I spent a bit of time recuperating once more and then we headed out to do a sunset tour of the Monument Valley Tribal Park. This is a park run by the Navajo indian tribe and it has the most iconic views of Monument Valley. I was really looking forward to doing that drive.

Unfortunately, our trip to the Grand Canyon had been delayed by two weeks due to issues with the motorhome and we arrived at Monument Valley later in the season that we had planned. We were so late in the season that the park was not open for sunset drives. It closed at 3 PM. We were quite disappointed to find that out, but did a bit of driving through other areas outside the park that were open. The scenery was spectacular.

We headed back to the motorhome for an early evening where I continued to recuperate in preparation for the next day's drive, which would be a bit over 3 hours.

The next day was absolutely beautiful. The scenery of Monument Valley was spectacular, as usual. We headed south to Kayenta, Arizona, where we turned west toward Tuba City, Arizona. There we turned south to Cameron, Arizona. At Cameron, we turned west and entered the Grand Canyon through the east entrance.

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon Trailer Village, we discovered they had assigned us to a spot that would not accommodate our motorhome. My wife worked with the very helpful staff to get us reassigned to a spot that would work for us. We got settled into that spot and spent even more time allowing me to recuperate.

In total, it took us 4 days to do the 10 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. In the old days, that would have been one easy day of driving! The great news that the motorhome worked very well during the trip. There were no substantial issues at all to report. Of course, with a motorhome, there always issues, but there was nothing that would interfere with our trip.

That evening, we headed out to the rim of the canyon to see the wonderful sights as the sun was going down. I was able to snap a few shots, but none worth posting. I will save pictures for the next post where I describe a bit about our activities during the week we spent at the Grand Canyon.

Steve

 

[affected]

I can't describe how exciting it is to read each new post on your adventures Steve. thank you so much, and we are always left waiting and wanting more!

 

[Mary2]

Sounds beautiful Steve! I have been to the Grand Canyon a couple of times but never to Monument Valley.
I started with my brother in Phoenix AZ one year wearing sleeveless tops and by the time we drove to Flagstaff AZ near the Grand Canyon we were wearing our winter jackets!

 

[swalker]

Mary, many people think of Arizona as a desert state that never gets cold. I used to be one of those people. Then I moved to Flagstaff, and lived there almost 9 years in two stints. It is a beautiful place, but I certainly know what you mean about wearing a winter jacket there. I have spent a lot of time hiking, backpacking, and climbing. I was once active in winter mountaineering have lived at a ski resort in the mountains for Colorado for the last 25 years. With all that, the coldest temperatures I have ever experienced were in Flagstaff. I believe the low in the part of town I was at was -35 F (-37 C). Just outside of town it was -48 F (-44 C). That cold night, my roommate had an assignment to take pictures of the luminaria placed along the University's sidewalks. I went out with him. It was cold!

And now, I will resume our story. It was great to be in the Grand Canyon. While the weather was cold, with highs in the 40s F (5 C) and lows well below freezing, the skies were generally clear and there was not much wind.

After I had recuperated a bit, my wife and I did a brief tour of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, driving out to Hermit's Rest. There is a wonderful, free bus service that runs along the south rim. Some of the roads are closed to cars and only accessible by bus. Due to concerns about Covid, I was not willing to ride on a packed bus full of folks from all over the world. Fortunately, the park service provides passes to disabled folks so that they can drive their personal vehicles on these otherwise-closed roads.

We had such a pass, and that allowed us to drive the wheelchair van along the bus-only road out to Hermit's rest. It is a beautiful drive and some of my favorite observation spots are along that drive. In particular, I am partial to Pima point, having spent many hours there watching sunsets and sunrises over the years.

We stopped at Pima Point and took a few shots of the sunset, though none were very good. Still, it was absolutely wonderful to be there and enjoy it with my wife. It had been an awful lot of work to get me there and while sitting there it sure felt like it was all worth it.

Some might question why I would want to go to the Grand Canyon. I use a wheelchair and the trails into the Grand Canyon are not even close to being wheelchair accessible. From the South Rim, which is at about 7,000 ft above sea level, the trails drop almost a mile of vertical elevation over a distance of 7 to 10 miles. There are many trails into the Grand Canyon, I have have spent countless hours on them over the years. Unfortunately, I can't do any of them now.

What is remarkable about the Grand Canyon is that there is a 13 mile long mostly-paved trail that runs along the south rim. I can do almost all of that trail in my wheelchair and my wife can accompany me on a bike in several sections (some sections are closed to bikes). The views from that rim trail are amazing. It is fascinating to look down into the canyon and see the trails and often people on the trails that I used to hike. In some places, I can see the Colorado River from the rim trail and occasionally am able to pick out rafts of people on trips through the Grand Canyon.

It is an amazing place and I feel a bit renewed every time we go there. I do love Northern Arizona and feel blessed to have been able to spend some much time in and around the Grand Canyon.

Steve

 

[affected]

I've always wanted to see these places you visit Steve, so many thanks from down under.

 

[Tomswife]

Thank you Steve. We were fortunate to visit the Grand Canyon years ago. We went in late August when it was not too crowded. We have also been to Utah. Bryce and Zion. You are very courageous traveling as you do. You are an inspiration. I am hoping once PALS Tom gets his PWC we will go on some fun day trips also.
Kathy

 

[Mary2]

Steve, what a wonderful time! As you describe, the Canyon, I feel like I am there. I remember being there.
I have also been to Sedona AZ and have fond memories of there as well.

 

[swalker]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am glad you are enjoying the stories of our travels!

My wife had really wanted to spend a night at Phantom Ranch, which is a small group of cabins and a campground at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Phantom Ranch is only accessible by hiking, mule ride, or raft trip down the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon. She had reservations to do that, but when our trip was delayed by two weeks, those reservations would no longer work.

There were no reservations available for our trip (we usually book these reservations close to a year in advance), so she had to show up at the backcountry office early each morning in the hope that someone had cancelled for that night. After several days of doing this, she managed to get a reservation at one of the cabins! That was unexpected, but really great.

Later that morning, I dropped her off at the South Kaibab trail head a bit before noon. She hiked down the South Kaibab trail, spending the night at Phantom Ranch, and then returned to the south rim late the next day by way of the Bright Angel trail. I picked her up there and we returned to the motorhome where she recovered from her arduous trip.

While she did that wonderful hike, I decided to ride my wheelchair from the south rim to the very small town of Tusayan, Arizona, which is just outside the south entrance to the park. There is a bike path that winds from the visitor's center through magnificent stands of Ponderosa Pine to the park boundary and then continues south into the town of Tusayan itself.

This would be a long ride, testing the maximum range of the batteries in my Permobil F5 Wheelchair. While there are no views of the canyon on that ride, the ride does go through one of my favorite ponderosa pine stands.

So I packed up the wheelchair van and headed to the visitor's center, which is about 3/4 of a mile from the RV park. There, I unloaded the wheelchair and headed for the trail. Not many people use this trail, because it does not have views of the Grand Canyon.

I followed the trail through the more developed portion of the park, past some employee housing and then past the RV park where our motorhome was. Next, I went past the Mather campground, where we have camped many times over the years. After that the trail starts to go through less developed parts of the park. It crosses one of the minor roads and then dives into what feels like backcountry.

The path is paved the entire way and is an absolute delight to ride. The temperatures were a bit chilly, but mild for that time of the year. There was not a cloud in the sky and just a scant whisper of wind. It was really magnificent.

Many years ago, I went to college at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, which is about 75 miles south southeast of the developed portion of the Grand Canyon's south rim. While there, I studied the ponderosa pine ecosystem and fell in love with ponderosa pines. They are my favorite tree and have an amazing ecology. They generally have very little understory and so even mature stands of these magificent pines seem very open underneath. That allows me to see deep into the forest from the wheelchair, giving me an opportunity to see things that would otherwise not be possible. I have seen amazing wildlife in these stands over the years.

It was a magical experience riding on that trail. I enjoyed the ride immensely, going as fast or as slow as I wanted to and stopping periodically to study the beautiful forest. It was a very wonderful ride!

When I arrived at Tusayan, I found that there was a gate blocking my route. This gate had a very unusual release and I was jut barely able to unlatch it and then push it open with my wheelchair. I then continued through the length of the town looking at all the tourist attractions.

When I had my fill, I headed back into the park. I had been monitoring my battery state pretty carefully and it seemed to be OK. As I continued my ride back through that magnificent stand of mature ponderosa pines, I noticed that my battery gauge was dropping faster than I wanted it to.

I continued to monitor the battery gauge as my made my way back to my wheelchair van. When I was still two miles from the van, the battery gauge was down to 3 out of 10 bars. When I was a bit over a mile away, it was down to 2 bars. I have enough experience with that wheelchair to know that I was in trouble. I thought there was a chance I could make it back to the van, but that it would very, very close.

I considered stopping at a place that would be more accessible for a rescue vehicle and calling for help. But, I am pretty hard headed and was unwilling to admit defeat, so I continued on.

I used all the tricks I know to extend the battery range. I stopped and let the batteries rest. I went slower up even the most gradual slopes. And I cautiously continued on my journey.

I did make it back to the van, but I was not sure if there was enough charge left in the batteries to load the wheelchair into the van. I turned the wheelchair off and let it rest a bit. After doing that, I made a desperate attempt to load the wheelchair using the least power possible. It worked! I got the wheelchair loaded and breathed a sigh of relief!

I made it back to the RV park and put the wheelchair on the charger. I then took a good nap!

Steve

 

[KevinM]

Great stories, Steve. You are amazing…

 

[affected]

Then I took a good nap - what a an outtro!

 

[Mary2]

Wow...who knew when you were in college studying Ponderosa Pines that they would play such a significant role later in your life! Both you and your wife are independent and adventuresome! I bet that wheel chair ride was wonderful!

 

[swalker]

We had nice weather for the first 4 or 5 days that we were camping at the Grand Canyon. While the temperatures were colder than I would have liked, we generally had clear skies and calm winds. That meant there was the potential for me to head out in the evenings and try to take some sunset pictures.

As many of you know, photography has been a major hobby of mine for quite a few decades. I spent about 30 years being heavily focused on landscape photography. About 15 years ago, I became more interested in wildlife photography and many of my pictures since then have been of wildlife rather than landscapes.

Taking wildlife photos as a wheelchair user is a daunting challenge. Not only must I find wildlife in good light, but I also have to find them close to where I can park my wheelchair van. The wildlife then needs to stick around long enough for me to unload from the van and get all my photography equipment set up. Needless to say, it is rare to find such cooperative wildlife.

As a result, I have spent more time pursuing on landscape photography recently. While the Grand Canyon does have abundant wildlife (including magnificent bighorn sheep I have photographed over the years), it is really spectacular for landscape photography.

I particularly enjoy sunrises and sunsets. While the atmospherics can be better for sunrises (often there are less particulates in the air), it is no longer practical for me to be out for sunrises. Therefore, I spent my time chasing sunsets on this trip.

Along the south rim of the Grand Canyon, there are two particular viewpoints that I can get a wheelchair to and that are spectacular for sunset photography. These are Pima and Hopi points. Both are on the road that leads from the Bright Angel area to Hermits Rest.

At the Grand Canyon, I like to take sunset pictures looking east. This seems counterintuitive, as the sun sets to the west. But, when shooting directly into the setting sun, cameras are not able to capture the intense brightness of the setting sun along with the darker areas in shadow (that is, the dynamic range of the scene exceeds the ability of the camera to capture it). By shooting to the east as the light fades and after the sun has disappeared over the western horizon, I am able to have more uniform, muted, and often colorful light on the landscape I want to capture. So, shooting to the east at sunset was my primary interest on this trip.

I spent two evenings shooting the sunset at Pima point and another two evenings at Hopi point. The sunsets were spectacular and I would have enjoyed them immensely even if I did not have a camera with me. But, I did have a camera and tripod so I took many pictures.

Here is a favorite picture of this trip from Pima Point, looking east into the depths of the Grand Canyon

Here is a favorite picture taken from Hopi Point, again looking east into the depths of the Grand Canyon.

There is no way to adequately capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon with a camera. It is just so much more spectacular in person. But, I think these pictures will give a bit of an idea of just how magnificent it is.

Steve

 

[affected]

these 2 photos are sensational. I know they can never match being there, but since I am unlikely to ever get there I've been drinking in every detail.