Grand Canyon - Or How I Learnt to Love Back-Country US

Our trusty vehicle - it actually had two rows of seats in the back. Everything's
bigger in the US!

We were back in San Francisco late summer last year. Well it was really Sonoma Valley, but since we'd done a bit of Yosemite last time, and there are direct flights to Phoenix, we thought - Grand Canyon, why not. How can you turn down the Grand Canyon, it's like a wonder of the world. I always like hiking too, and camping. Waking up early in the morning, and there is always the possibility of a bit of fauna when you are camping. And the Grand Canyon promised all of that.

We found this awesome company - Wildland Trekking. We were actually going to the US for a wedding, so we thought it was easier to use a company. That way we didn't have to take a whole bunch of hiking gear with us - as well as wedding stuff. And that was such a good decision. It helped that the guide was just so good, and the other people in the party were also Australians which just made the whole experience so much better. I can see that if you were stuck with a bad group of guests it could get messy pretty quickly. But we had chosen the hardest route we could, so thought that should winnow out most of the chaff. And in the end there was quite a gap between our capabilities and the other two people with us, so it meant that we really were doing the walking on our own. But had the navigation, route planning, food buying and meal preparation all taken care of. It was like luxury camping. I would definitely use this company again, in fact we are planning a trip to Yellowstone for that very reason.

Fossilised animal prints

But before the Grand Canyon there was Phoenix, hmm what to say about Phoenix? Not sure I'll be back, I guess it's just a US city? I think I've figured out my strategy for the US, avoid the cities, and spend all my time out bush. Because their national parks are amazing. I thought Yosemite was something special, but then the Grand Canyon blows it out of the water. And if you camp or do anything involving a bit of physical exertion, there is nobody else around. Fantastic!

One weird thing is the incredibly poor transport links to the Canyon, you'd kind of think it would be super easy. Maybe everyone goes via Vegas, but I think that goes to the north rim, and the south rim is where it's at. I guess it is the land of the car. We managed to find this really weird shuttle bus, and when I say it's a shuttle bus it's actually a big SUV that's been converted to have 3 rows of seats. It's not even a van. And that is the only way to get from Phoenix to Flagstaff (which is the closest town to the Canyon). And even that is still a 2 hour drive away from the Canyon. It's incredible just how big the US is, it's much bigger than Australia.

Weird flora in the canyon - but check out those
rock colours!

With my southern American prejudices I was kind of expecting Arizona to be a real gun-toting state, I mean they do border Mexico and don't they have really weird paper checking powers there? But anyway I wanted to see how safe I would be walking around the streets, like is everyone going to be carrying a gun? Whilst they basically have no gun ownership restrictions, I'm talking assault weapons, concealed carry, open carry, it's all good in Arizona. They actually have only a median percentage of gun ownership. About 31% of people own a gun, that's 38th in gun ownership rates by state. So relatively low given how easy it seems to get a gun. I feel like I should have visited a Walmart whilst I was there now. I was a bit disappointed with my Walmart experience in California. Not a rifle to be seen, just military-grade crossbows.

Flagstaff was a much prettier town, much, much colder too. Phoenix was hot and this was at the very end of summer too, more autumn weather. I was expecting temperatures closer to London range, and it was high 20s. There were so many cacti too, I was not expecting that, it was really the west there, just driving along the highway and there are massive cacti, like ones you would see in old western movies. So cool.

Anyway Flagstaff was much cooler, but then it's at 2100m, which was another shocker. I really had done no research into this trip. Dave had done all the planning. I think I managed to find the shuttle bus and that was the extent of my contribution. Anyway 2100m is pretty high, that's almost higher than Kosciusko (which I think will always be my level for something being high). And you really felt the elevation, a little harder to breathe and crisp, clear, cool air. Really very pleasant. And the town was quite pretty too, with a nice main street. Not that we spent a lot of time there. Because the evening we arrived was the pre-trip meeting and then we were off again very early the next morning. This was exciting, a 2 hour drive and we would be at the canyon. And I really didn't know what to expect. I feel a bit bad now, I hadn't even checked out pictures on the internet. I guess I knew it would be big, that's about it. I was in for a shock I can tell you that!

So one teaser photo before the next instalment