Last month, Dan and I went on an unforgettable road trip to Arizona! My spring break as a teacher and his spring break as a graduate student both lined up so we knew that we had to take advantage of this opportunity to travel together. We started to plan this trip in February and left on Saturday, March 23rd. We left Reno around 6:30 am and had an 11.5 hour journey ahead of us. We switched off driving throughout the day. After over 4 years of dating in which we have taken many road trips, we have a good system down.
One of our first gas and bathroom break stops was in Beatty, Nevada which is right outside of Death Valley. We were delighted to see palm trees and start to feel warmer weather.
After over 12 hours in the car, we pulled in to the Grand Canyon National Park past 6:30 pm and saw our first of several wildlife sightings. Several mule deer were hanging along the side of the road! It was the perfect greeting. We made our way to Mather Campground where we had reserved a tent site for two nights. Mather Campground is located on the south rim of the canyon with 327 campsites. We made it to our site right before the sun began to set so we raced to set up our tent before it was dark.
We got our tent setup and then Dan started a fire so we could make dinner. With the sun down, it felt pretty cold but the fire warmed us up.
It was a very cold first night but we bundled up with several layers and had a few blankets in the tent as well. We slept through the night and woke up around 6:30am to a beautiful white wonderland of snow!
We were freezing but warmed up in the car with the heat blasting! Eventually, we had some breakfast and got ready for a day at the Grand Canyon. Our goal was to hike into the canyon on this day, taking the South Kaibab trail. It would be an all day hike so we were planning on getting started as soon as possible. However, mother nature had other plans for us. As we drove to the trailhead, it was very difficult to see the road in front of us even with windshield wipers on to the max. The snow was coming down and we made the executive decision to not complete the hike. Although we were disappointed, we knew it was for the best as we did not want to put ourselves in any dangerous situations. Instead, we headed for the visitor center. Once the snow calmed down, we walked to the lookout closest to the visitor center.
After a brief period of time spent at the lookout, we headed back to the visitor center as it started heavily snowing and hailing at times. We grabbed some hot food for breakfast from the cafe and waited out the weather in the car. We ate while watching downloaded shows from Netflix. After a couple hours, it began to get much better so we returned to the lookout for a mostly clear view and some hiking.
After some time exploring, we were hungry so we drove outside the park for lunch at a local restaurant called "We Cook Pizza and Pasta". We warmed up in the restaurant by playing one of our favorite card games, Skipbo.
After lunch, we had a few hours of daylight left so we headed out to begin the Bright Angel Trail. This is a trail that leads into the canyon; however, most of it is closed due to construction. The lighting was stunning and the views were everything we could have imagined and more! We also walked along the South Rim Trail until the sun started to set.
Afterwards, we headed back to our campsite to get a fire started as quickly as possible. It was going to be a cold night once again. We roasted plant based hotdogs and went to bed early. Overall, we had an absolutely amazing trip to the Grand Canyon! The cold weather and snow were certainly unexpected but it made our experience very memorable and we are already looking forward to our next trip the Grand Canyon. Thank you so much for reading and please keep your eyes peeled for a Spring Break part 2 as I debrief our trip to Phoenix!
You have a fantastic style of writing, Niki. Your photos are breathtaking!