Hance Rapid

Thu, 6/25/09

Gouldings Monument Valley RV Resort to Mather NF Campground, Grand Canyon, South Rim: Up this morning and decided to vacuum before we leave since we won’t have hook-ups for 7 days. Went to the Monument Valley Lodge Restaurant one last time, had breakfast, and enjoyed the view. Back to our site and finished getting ready to leave. Left around 11:00 and backtracked to Kayenta and Tuba City. At Cameron we headed north towards the South Rim. Think it was 95 in Cameron. We headed up, up, up under low, leaden clouds. Started seeing the Little Colorado River Canyon which was pretty awesome. And there were dirt roads running right along the rim—at least 1000 feet straight down. Still heading up through a beautiful forest of ancient cedars. We finally made it to the top and the park entrance. And then you see the first view. Wow! After that the only words I uttered to Mike was “Oh My God” and “slow down!”. We had another 28 miles to go to get to the campground. And we drove through a beautiful forest of ancient cedars, junipers and old growth pines. Saw a beautiful elk along the road—his antlers covered with velvet at this time of year. Finally made it to the campground and saw two more elk right in the campground. They put us in a pull-through site which we barely fit in. But we made it! A really nice site in the pines and cedars. Nobody close to us. Looking forward to no hook-ups. Fired up my GE super radio which runs on batteries or 110. Grilled pork chops and I made a macaroni/tunafish salad and cooked up some corn. Pretty good. Turned on NPR and heard that Farah Fawcett died. And Michael Jackson!. I’m shocked about Michael. I loved his music. 76 up here on the rim.