Thursday 26 September 2024: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:03, 14 October 2024

Thursday 26 September

Maswik Lodge and the Bright Angel Trailhead/Rim Trail

Our stay on the south rim was at Maswik. John and Tammy scored a room in the newer soyth section (with elevators!), while were in "Aspen" in the north section. The main lodge building has a gift shop and a food court with several hot service stations, and a separate "Pizza Pub" resturant.

The hot service was a pretty mixed bag. The main breakfast station was pretty much always cold and frankly not very good. The omelet bar was OK, and Elizabeth talked the guy working it to make me cheese omelets with American cheese, so that was a win. I was also surprised that they didn't have more "homemade style" pastries and deserts, but I guess it's too remote to really do that.

Since I forgot to get pictures when I finished, early Thursday I went out to get pictures at the Bright Angel Trailhead and look at the Rim Trail a bit.

Our room
Our room
The Maswik Lodge Food Court
The Maswik Lodge Food Court
Maswik Lodge
The Aspen set of rooms
Wildlife abounds
The Bright Angel Trailhead is close to Maswik
Hermit's rest bus station is also close by Maswik and the BA Trailhead
The Rim Trail and BA Trailhead are really close to our lodge
Bright Angel Trailhead
Me at the Trailhead, at last!
Looking down the Bright Angel
Me at the Trailhead
John and Tammy at the Trailhead
All three of us Rim2Rim hikers
The BA Trailhead toilets
Looking into the canyon from the BA Trailhead

Driving Tour of the South Rim

We had some extra time in the morning so we loaded up Bev ("Beverly" was our Chrysler rented mini van) and drove out to Desert View, and stopped a few of the other overlooks on the way. As it turn out, we would visit some of these same places on the "Buck Wild" Humvee tour, but not Desert View, so I'm glad we did.

Desert View itself is neat, but it's a modern structure trying to look old, much like Hermits Rest is.

These buses run all over the south rim
Duck on a Rock
Desert View Park

Grand Canyon iMax

I don't have pictures of the iMax ("Grand Canyon: Rivers of Time"), I'm mostly just mentioning it because we stopped here for the show on the way to the Papillon helicopter tour, being it was in Tusayan just up the road. The show was entertaining, but mostly about John Wesley Powell's navigation of the Colorado river than anything else. Later we watched the show at the GC Visitor's Center (free) as well, and it touched more on the formation of the canyon and the native American connection, so they're probably both worth doing.

These maps were in the foyer of the iMax
The iMax

Helicopter Tour - Papillon

One of the things I really wanted to do was take the helicopter tour. I wasn't sure when or if I'd ever be back, so I really wanted to take in the entire canyon experience, sospending time on both rims was part of that, but so was seeing it by air. Fortunately John and both our wives were onboard with that, because it is a bit pricey, but it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

I picked Papillon, and their Ecostar EC130 hour long "Imperial" tour, because the big new helicopter with large windows seemed like it would offer the best experience. As a bonus, you could could get it with a sunset Humvee tour the same day. These both were starting in Tusayan, which is also where the iMax and "We Cook" Pizza & Pasta was, so it kind of made a day of it. The pizza was expensive and plentiful, and since I'd finished my hike I was taking a birthday break from the low-carb lifestyle and gorged myself.

The tour itself was pretty cool, we flew out over the Kaibab forest low, maybe 700', and then broke out over the canyon, flying down it's length for awhile, and then got to fly below the rim in a section that is outside of the park. On the way back we saw a group of bison resting in the park. Our pilot, Doug, was a former Coast Guard pilot, and put up with a lot of "we're pilots too" questions with a smile on his face. The fall colors were changing every day, and the weather was gorgeous, so it was a really, really nice flight.

Climbing out Over the Kaibab forest Nearing the canyon

The canyon and river I'm enjoying the ride Below the rim

More canyon More canyon Over the runway

Papillon EC130
The gang's all here
Don't stand on the toilet?? Who does that?
Arriving at the airport
The terminal
Fleet of EC130 helos
And some old Jet Rangers from the 80's
Getting ready to board
Greg, our pilot
Checking out the sectional
John and Tammy up front
The terminal from the flightline
Departing
Climbing out
We're collectively flying...
Coming up on the canyon
Kaibab forest
Our hero
John and Tammy
Elizabeth and Doug, our Coastie
The Colorado river
Colorado River
Colorado River
Colorado River
Me!
Bison!
Another helicopter outbound
Greg let Elizabeth check out the sectional for the canyon, with it's restricted airspace
Flying back into Gran Canyon airport
Our chopper
The gang's all here
Our ground crew/helicopter loader
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