Our June/July 2014 summer vacation to the American southwest was fun and filled with National Park goodness. We are grateful for the National Park Service’s “Military Annual Pass” program which saved us nearly $80 in entrance fees on this trip. Here’s the summary of everything we did: Drive to Durango Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge RR … Read more
After leaving the Grand Canyon on the morning of July 4th, we set forth on an approximately 8-hour drive to Moab, Utah. We chose the route that took us through Monument Valley, which is just north of the Utah/Arizona border near U.S. Highway 163. The drive is gorgeous, taking us through numerous ecosystems and significant terrain changes.
On the 2nd full day of our Grand Canyon trip, we decided to get an early start and hit the Bright Angel Trail.
The Bright Angel Trail originates at the heart of the “touristy” part of the South Rim Grand Canyon park. It’s a well-maintained trail, in part because this is the trail that the mules use for those tours. Because of the accessibility, it’s definitely more crowded than the remote Hermit’s Trail.
The day we stopped at Mesa Verde National Park and the Four Corners Monument, we had to eventually make it to the Grand Canyon campground. It’s only about 5-6 hours worth of driving from Durango, but we made several stops. So we were hard pressed to get to the campsite with enough time to pitch our tents before dark.
I have several posts to write about our trip out west in June, but between my full time work and making sure the kids are squared away this summer, I’ve been quite slow.
Feel free to browse these Grand Canyon photo albums and at the end of this post I’ll attach the text of the post I wrote for GeekMom about the Grand Canyon, which has a little of everything but not quite so much detail.
Grand Canyon Mather Campground Elk Sighting
Grand Canyon Bright Angel Trail
Grand Canyon Visitor Center & Mather Point
Grand Canyon Sunset at Mather Point
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When Geeks Go on Vacation: Grand Canyon, originally published at GeekMom.com 24 July 2014