Getting my Kicks on Route 66

If read the first part of this post:  3 Day Excursion from San Francisco:  Part I:  Las Vegas you read about my 12 hours in Las Vegas and start of my journey to the Grand Canyon.  After I passed the horrible traffic jam due to road construction around Hoover Dam I was able to make up some time the fun way.

I didn’t get a Corvette to break gas mileage records I got it to drive fast.  Driving mostly straight with slight turns through the desert and up the mountain was an invitation to speed.  Being a Thursday evening the traffic was light so each straight away indicated time to floor the accelerator and see how fast the Hertz “prestige collection” car could go.

I got lucky numerous times with the cops and my life!  I distinctly remember 3 separate occasions where I just was driving at triple digit speeds and around the corner was a highway patrol officer in the middle of the highway waiting to catch speeders.  On one occaison I got a little speed happy and although I didn’t really think about it at the time, almost died.

I have photographic evidence which will explain some of it.  I saw my chance to see how much of the Corvette’s 200mph limit I could get so I floored it on the straight away you see below.  If you look closely it looks like a semi truck is in the right lane further ahead.  It turned out the truck was actually in the left lane because an optical illusion of some kind.

As I floored it (you can see the tachometer at almost 6,000 RPM) in 5th gear at 150 mph I had to snap a photo with my 5 pound Nikon D700 & Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8 lens to prove how stupid I am.  What the photo doesn’t show is that as I got closer to the truck which @ 150+mph happened in seconds from when the photo was taken I saw it was in the right lane.  I was going to pass it on the right but it signaled and started getting over.  I had to snap the wheel back to the left and brake simultaneously to avoid turning my Corvette rental and my body matter into dust.

I didn’t think it at the moment but if I had been using different traction controls, or the road was slick I would have probably lost control.  There is just something about driving a car fast.  It’s really all or none.  You drive fast and almost get in a wreck and you’re 100% fine and laugh about it or you get in a wreck and they’re scraping your brain matter off the highway with a snow shovel.  Needless to say after I thought about I kept the car around 80 for the rest of my trip.

Idiotic Moment before Scary Moment with Semi on Route 66 in Arizona

Arriving at Grand Canyon National Park

I arrived at Grand Canyon National Park in darkness to empty toll booths.  Two of the toll booths had red X’s but one had a green light.  There was nobody in the toll booth so I drove by following the orders of the GPS which had the final destination within a very close distance.  I noticed at lest 2 or 3 cars being pulled over by park rangers or police officers so I made sure to adhere to the slow speed limits.  This should be a warning to anyone driving through the Grand Canyon National Park at night, DRIVE SLOW.

I pulled into a large, almost empty parking lot s the GPS lady told me I reached the final destination.  I expected lots of lights and tourists but I saw no people or signs of activity.  I pulled in the parking lot and was amazed at the amount of stars in the sky.  It must have been the elevation and lack of smog but it was amazing (see photo below).

I got out of the car and was going to walk to see if I could see the Grand Canyon but the dead silence, freezing cold and occasional canine howling in the distance had me a bit spooked.  If I knew what I found out later and hung out there before I would have had no problem with hiking around at night.  I’m actually glad I didn’t go blindly hiking around in the snow that night, I’ll explain later.  I admired the stars for a bit, got out the tripod I had bought at Best Buy in Las Vegas and snapped a couple shots before returning to the car to find a lodge for the night.

Amazing Stars at Yavapai Observation Point Parking Lot

Finding a Place to Stay at the Grand Canyon

I was driving around aimlessly inside Grand Canyon National Park and everything looked closed.  I didn’t bother stopping at many places because I couldn’t see a sign that said lobby or anything.  Some of the lodges looked more like groups of cabins and I didn’t want to be knocking on doors and having John McCain coming out with a sawed off shotgun in my face.

I finally saw a police officer or park ranger and asked her where a lodge was and she pointed to one which was right in front of my nose.  The place was called Maswik Lodge.  I parked and went in and was in luck because they had an available room.  It was a big room with 2 queen beds for around $80 USD which was too much but I took if anything for convenience sake.  It turned out that Maswik lodge was located very close to a viewing point for the canyon.  They gave me a map at check-in,   I bought my rip-off $12 flashlight in their gift shop and after I dropped my bag in my room I walked off into the darkness blindly looking for the largest canyon in the world.

The path was around a 7 minute walk to the canyon which I found.  I was there all alone and when I pulled out the tripod I bought at Best Buy the leg fell off rendering it useless.  I ended up dangling my camera over the railing and a 1000+ foot drop to take some night shots as my bare fingers began to freeze with the canyon breeze.  The best photo turned out to be a 77 second exposure which is below.  After I got my photos I walked back to the lodge, watched some TV and went to sleep early because I wanted to photograph the sunrise early in the morning.

5 Minute Walk in the Dark from the Lodge

Waking up for the Grand Canyon Sunrise

I woke up around 5am before my alarm was set to go off at 5:30 in anticipation of getting some great Grand Canyon sunrise photographs.  I was told the best place to witness the sunrise was the Yavapai Observation Point which I had no idea where it was.  I looked at the crude map the lodge staff gave me and I knew it wouldn’t help so I just got in the car and drove.

It was deja vu as I arrived at the same parking lot that I took the photo with the Corvette and the stars this time in the pitch black of the early morning.  It turned out the parking lot was for the Yavapai Observation Point which the GPS guided me to.  It was literally a minute walk from the parking lot to the south rim of the canyon.  Little did I know there was only a few inches between a great view and certain death at many points along the rim of the Grand Canyon.

The first observation point I got to was very unsafe.  The crude diagram I have inserted below doesn’t illustrate just how deadly this was but I will try to explain.  The snow was from a week or more ago.  It was no longer snow, but sheer ice.  The first part of the photo was at least a 30 degree down slope of sheer ice.  The railing was only around 15-20 feet but on either side was just an ice slide to the death.  You can see in the second photo where the sheer ice leads to.

There were no warning signs or anything.  I took the first photo standing on a log which I sat on while I tested my footing which there was none.  I thought for a second to pull the survival trick by Man vs. Wild TV show survivalist Bear Grylls and taking my socks off and putting them over my shoes to get more traction but I valued my life more than that and also saw a safe observation point with some tourists and their cameras close  by.   I got a chance to shoot some sunrise shots from the safe observation area which is below.

Crude Diagram of Grand Canyon Death Drop

Sunrise at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon - Arizona

Touring the Grand Canyon South Rim

After taking the sunrise photos I went on a short horribly ill equipped hike.  I had no warm coat, gloves or hat but walked around taking photos of the canyon and checking out some safe places where I could get off the path.  I knew I had a few hours before I had to check out of my lodge.  It was amazing but as I walked the scenery didn’t change very much.  After a couple hours I decided to get back to the lodge and eat breakfast, pack and check out for some more Grand Canyon sight seeing.

As I checked out I met a foreign exchange intern who happened to be a beautiful girl from Thailand!  After showcasing some of my pathetic Thai language skills I was off to explore more of the canyon by car.  I drove on the road which encircles some of the south rim.  I was told by a local guy that I was lucky because during the off-peak tourist season, roads are open to traffic as opposed to the tourist heavy season where the roads are only open to tour buses.

The speed limit was 20mph and I could see why.  The icy roads and close proximity to 1000+ foot drops would make for a good death scene for a Hollywood movie, but not for me and my rental car.  I drove for an hour or so, stopping at observation points the last which was called Hermit’s Rest.  Hermit’s rest marked the end of the road but had a little gift shop along with a snack bar which served hot chocolate, hot cider, coffee and other snacks which weren’t that good, but hit the spot.  After absorbing Hermit’s Rest it was time to make a decision.

Hermit's Rest Observation Point along the Grand Canyon South Rim

Getting Back to Las Vegas & San Francisco

I decided to get back to Vegas and get a flight to San Francisco instead of spending another night looking at the same scenery of the Grand Canyon or inhaling smokey air and gambling.  I drove back slower than when I drove there but didn’t stop at Hoover Dam so I made it in the same time although stalled again by the Hoover Dam area construction traffic.  I didn’t have a return ticket so I started calling airlines once I got near the Las Vegas city limits.

I got rip off prices so I decided just to go to the airport ticket counters and talk in person.  The first counter I went to was Virgin America.  The guy at the counter was super cool.  He explained that a cheap coach ticket plus baggage fees was around the same price as the good, front of the cabin behind first class seat which included baggage fees.  The seats had around 2 or 3 feet of leg room, laptop chargers and everything I could want for a flight including wireless internet.  I would do a whole blog post about it, but Virgin America is going to be my airline for US domestic travel from now on.  United can keep their piddly couple hundred frequent flier miles, I’d rather fly in comfort.

Overall Impression

I thought the Grand Canyon was just that, Grand and then some.  If I was with a friend and a not-so expensive rental car I would have loved to take the day hike to the bottom for further exploration and photos and staying in a lodge down there.  I didn’t want to spend another day checking out the rim because it got kind of old seeing the same thing over and over again.  I was happy I went when snow was on the ground because it added nice character to my photographs.

Even though I just got back from the Grand Canyon I can see myself going back in the near future.  I would recommend anyone who hasn’t been to the Grand Canyon to do it.  Anyone who lives relatively close such as in the San Francisco bay area can easily turn their average 3 day weekend into a fun trip with that real tourism feel, especially if they’re into the “What goes in Vegas Stays in Vegas” scene and/or hiking and the outdoors.

If you haven’t already make sure to read:  3 Day Excursion from San Francisco:  Part I:  Las Vegas

View more photos from the Grand Canyon South Rim at tourismPICS.com