A land to inspire our spirit, that overwhelms our senses, makes you skip a beat, romance our aloneness in a profoundly beautiful way is what can describe the Canyon! 

One of the earth’s most powerful inspiring landscapes. It narrates of the geologic processes played over an unimaginable time span as a unique combination of color, size, and dazzling erosional forms. The Canyon is 277 (446 km) miles long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile deep (1.6 km) deep. (Tip: Since there is no network in the Canyon, if you are using your phone for maps, make sure that you download offline map of the area)

One of the most awaited trips since I landed in the USA. The two fellas next to me were my travel partners for this captivating trip. For our 4 day trip, we flew from Washington DC to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving weekend. (Tip: As per my understanding, there are two airports you can fly into to reach Grand Canyon – Vegas, and Phoenix. The best is to fly to Vegas as the tickets are usually cheap, it will just add 30 – 45 minutes to your drive to reach Grand Canyon). After spending the night we rambled out of Vegas with dreary eyes but in good spirit, for our 4 hours, 30 minutes drive to South Rim Canyon. (Tip: I would recommend starting early like 6:00 or 7:00 am, I know that’s early but I promise this will be worth it!) At a short drive of 1 hour was our first stop of hoover dam and Lake Mead in boulder city, NV.

Hoover Dam: Massive and impressive feat of engineering on the border between states of Nevada and Arizona, provides water for several states and also generates hydroelectric power. You can simply drive up the hoover dam bypass, or book the guided paid tours if you want to go in, be sure to check online which tours are available. As we wanted to utilize the maximum daylight, we did not take the tour.

Lake Mead: There is a vantage point for Lake Mead at the west most point of the entrance lot for hoover dam, the largest reservoir in the United States in terms of water capacity enough to store nearly two years of Colorado’s river flow. This lake is 112 miles (180 km) long, 532 feet (162 m) at its greatest depth.

Route 66 or US 66: Then began the journey of the historic Route 66 or US 66, the name “historic” as it’s one of the original highways in the US established in 1926. A Tv drama “Route 66” about two young men who wander America in Corvette was named for the legendary highway. One needs to experience this route.

Grand Canyon South Rim: We reached the visitor center before the sunrise, parked our car and hopped on the bus to Yavapai point for the sunset. (Tip: Once you reach the visitor center there are buses that can take you to different viewpoints or you can drive on your own, though there are some viewpoints where the personal car is not allowed) Make sure to reach the point early and grab a rock before the crowd starts gathering. There is nothing more majestic than your first look at the Canyon. This time of the day is such an illusion because day and night are related in such a way that there cannot be one without the other yet they cannot survive at the same time. The sun dwindled on the horizon and the Canyon was filled with the blaze of colors orange, purple, red, pink and the darkness crept over the Canyons with tiny silver stars in the sky.

Star Gazing: After the sunset, we headed to the hotel to get fresh for another exciting stargazing experience at night. Since there are no street lights and cities around to create pollution, one has opportunity to enjoy the sky with millions of starts (Tip: Don’t miss star gazing at Canyon, you can actually go to any viewpoints for star gazing and since canyon is pitch dark at night make sure to carry flashlight) We went to multiple points like yaki, Mather, Yavapai (called as one of the best for star gazing), we laid on the rock for a long time and the sight of the stars made us dream and I was humbled by the brilliance of stars. (Tip: We were planning to go to North rim canyon as well but we came to know from fellow traveler that it was closed, so if you plan to visit north rim, make sure that you check if its open for visiting) 

We started out next day with sunrise at the dessert viewpoint. Sunrise is equally beautiful like sunset at the Canyon. (Tip: Budget time to see as many sunrises and sunsets as possible in the Canyon). After sunrise, we did hiking at Grandview point, we were not prepared for hiking so it was a short hike. (Tip: There are many hiking trails in Canyon, some you can do in few hours while others might take a day or it can be an overnight journey, make sure that you are prepared with food, water, map, flashlight)

Lower Antelope Canyon: This is not the most obvious attraction for many but the drive of  2 hours 30 minutes from south rim Canyon to lower antelope canyon is just mesmerizing and you can stop at many points to enjoy. There is a 1 hour guided tour for approximately $30 per adult that you need to reserve that gives an opportunity to understand and hear the history of Lower Antelope Canyon and take photographs, these tours are at fixed time intervals during the day with the last tour around 3:00pm. There are photography and kayaking tours available as well, so based on your interest reserve your tour.

Horseshoe Bend: Located close to the Utah border in a town called Page, Arizona around 15 minutes drive from the lower Antelope Canyon. Horseshoe bend features a 270-degree view of the Colorado River. After you park the car there is 15 minutes one-way trail to the scenic views, so majestic that it seems fake. We called the day off after experiencing the sunset at horseshoe bend. But the journey did not end here as we decided to drive to Zion national park, Utah which was 2 hours drive. We did not book hotels in advance for this trip which gave us the flexibility to drive to Utah. (Tip: Since staying in a hotel is only for a short duration of your travel time, you can book the hotels on the fly depending on where and when you want to halt. This can be both expensive or economical based on what deals you will get at that time, we got lucky as we got very good deals for hotels).

Read more about the Utah trip on my other blog that is coming soon!!

DISCLAIMER: ALL PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG POST WERE TAKEN AND EDITED BY MY TRAVEL PARTNERS AND ME.