Grand adventure

Mon 7th

Today I went to the Grand Canyon. I didn't have to worry about missing the bus as I was awake at 3am again this morning. It doesn't even make sense since this is about 7pm in the evening at home and in China.

I was at the pickup at the Excalibur about 30minutes early and there were a number of false alarms as other tour buses arrived before the correct one turned up. I got a front row seat upstairs and started chatting to the girl who had the other one. We were please with our seats but alas we were taking to a check in location and got back on a different bus for the actual trip. By the time we'd all checked in, had our breakfast (packaged croissant and box of juice) and boarded over an hour had passed. The bus itself was fine, seats were comfortable enough, air-conditioned and a double decker. They even had a video system that played a doco on the Hoover dam once we had seen it ourselves. This was the first stop and about a 5 minute walked from the car park to the bridge across the river, which gives a view of the dam.

We then drove onwards through some decent enough scenery with hills and gorges to a roadhouse where we had a short break. We then headed towards the West rim of the canyon, stopping again to transfer buses. They use different ones inside the area than for the trip from LV. There is a section of unsealed road that you pass. On the way you pass through the Joshua Tree forest. The spiky shrubs only grow in this area and only between a short range of elevations.

Once at the Canyon carpark you disembark and take shuttles between the 3 stops, one comes along every 5 minutes or so, so you can choose how long to stayat each location.. To my eyes, there was no apparent difference between the buses from LV, the transfer buses and the shuttle buses. We were told we had 4 hours and since it was about 11am by then we had to be back by 3.

The first stop is Eagle point, which is where they have the skywalk. this is a horseshoe shaped glass "bridge" that takes you out over the canyon and lets you look straight down. However you aren't allowed to take anything with you including obviously a camera, so I passed on this at an $35. (I also passed on the $175 helicopter and river boat option)

Unfortunately it was overcast and the views, while spectacular weren't easy to photograph.  There were also some wooden/ mud and branch native dwellings nearby. I didn't stay at this place long and took a shuttle to Guano Point.

This has a much more spectacular view than the first place, at least if you don't do the Skywalk. Also fortunately, the sun came out and I was able to get some great shots. I walked to the end of this bluff where the remains of a mining operation cable car can be seen. The mine itself was on the opposite cliff and was a cave full of bat droppings.

I decided to have lunch there, rather than the last stop at the ranch, since the meals looked OK, the sun was out and you could not have a better dinner table view.

The shuttle then took us back to the  main area and then we swapped to a smaller vehicle to go to the ranch. Surprisingly, there were lots of things to do for free! They would take a picture with your own camera of you sitting on a horse, rather than try and sell you one of theirs for $20 or $30 like at the skywalk. You could also have a quick draw match. I would have been dead 5 times over if it was for real. I think I only actually succeeded in cocking it properly and pulling the trigger once. There was also bow and arrow shooting, hatchet throwing and horseshoes. Finally there was a free wagon ride. I'd talked to a couple of ladies from South Carolina at Guano point and caught up to them again at the ranch where they had their meal. The 3 of us went on the wagon ride. As we were heading out we saw some ominous clouds in the distance and there was a splattering of rain before we got back. It also got cold again. I was glad I'd worn my tracksuit top and jeans and even then felt it wasn't enough at times.

We headed back to the transfer point, with time to browse the gift shop, where I bought a half price T shirt and pick up out Visitation certificate and see a bit of native dancing. The whole setup is on tribal land and run by the Hualapai tribe. The entrance fee is about $55 for the package with the meal that we had, so the bus was about half the cost.

Unfortunately 3 young girls were 45 minutes late getting back to the bus so we were about the last to leave. Some women at the back really tore a strip of them when the finally turned up (sounded like a school teacher) but I'm not sure if they even spoke English. We then had to drive back to our original bus and cross over. We got back to the roadhouse and had another 1/2 hour delay because somebody got left behind in the restrooms and we had to wait for another bus to bring her over.

By the time we got back to Vegas it was dark so we did get to see the lights as we came down the hill. However we then started the hotel by hotel drop off. On about the 4th place we stopped for a bit and another bus from the tour company arrived and split us up so we had 2 buses doing this. even so it was 8 by the time I got back to my hotel rather than the advertised 6 to 6-30.

My advice to any one not on their own would be to hire a car. Even paying the entry fees it would be no more expensive and you would save so much time. However, which ever way you do it, this is really one of those Must-do's if you come to Vegas.

I ducked out late for a bite to eat and finished up with some food court tacos. The wind was very strong so I hope that's not going to be the same tomorrow. A guy in the lift said one of the walkways across the strip was closed be cause a cable broke.