Grand Canyon Suite

I had a hard time getting up after the long exhausting day from Boulder City NV but I knew the heat drill and the wisdom of starting off while the day is still cool. Kingman AZ is a odd town, most of the activity is in its two extremities out by the freeways leaving nothing much in the large space in between like a donut hole. I was hoping to find a cool place for breakfast on some old main street, but I found nothing except the fast-food joints the other end.  I've reconnected with old Route 66 so services are a little bit more reliable. Most of the stops are dripping with highway nostalgia—photo ops against old gas pumps and vintage signs.

Riding along, I was still slightly spooked from the extreme mid-day heat the day before, so I waited out the hottest hours under a porch at a federal police station. I could tell I was climbing out of the Mojave Desert region though, as cacti have become sparser and grasses were more common. At Peach Springs there was a good climb and I felt the temperature drop a couple of degrees.

It was nice to finally break out the tent after carrying it for over a week. There was hardly anyone at the Grand Canyon Caverns campground so it was nice and quiet. With no chance of rain I didn't bother with the waterproof fly, it was awesome to fall asleep watching the bright stars through the mesh.

"At first I was afraid, I was petrified..." 

I slept well with the temperature having dropped down to a decent 17˚C. I still had to get an early start since the day heats up fast. There were more lonely stretches of Route 66 as the interstate funnels most of the traffic farther south now. Lots of people touring on motorcycles, sometimes they give me that air handshake sign when they pass me.

I stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Seligman, and the air conditioning spoiled me to wait a couple of hours until the heat subsided. Ahead of me was a ride along the freeway since Route 66 and the interstate merge here. While the extra wide shoulders are decent to ride on the noise and fumes can be tiring. I was hoping to push on to Williams, which is the gateway to the Grand Canyon, but with a huge climb ahead and a really cheap motel in front of me, I opted to stop in Ash Fork.

I ate me some roadkill

It turned out to be a wise choice, because the big climb was better handled in the cool morning, a considerable 2,000 foot climb over 12 miles. I actually passed an 18-wheeler truck that was starting to overheat, and got to the top before he did. Suddenly, I'm surrounded with pine trees and in the rising heat they filled the air with their distinctive scent.

I beat that truck in the centre belching thick black smoke

Near the top , my (and every other cyclist's) nightmare

Williams is quite a touristy town, I doubt I could have gotten a good deal staying here. They had a nice big Safeway supermarket, though, so I took advantage by getting a cheap healthy lunch of salad, a roasted chicken leg and a quart of fresh orange juice.

Main street Williams

The road out to Grand Canyon National Park was somewhat tricky, there's not much of a shoulder at times and it is quite busy. Mid-way in, I had the first thing break on the bike (I'm hoping it will be the last one). I was feeling a wobble, like the beginnings of a flat tire but when I stopped and checked, the tires were nice and solid. I got back on and rode on before stopping again because I was sure something was not right. I gave the bike a good a check and to my shock, one of the aluminium bars that support my rack had broken. The wobbling I felt was the weight of my baggage swaying on one post. It was not that difficult to McGuyver, since the post was meant to adjust the height of the rack, so I reversed the bar and used the remaining length. It would have been a disaster if the post had struck the spokes in the rear wheel, so I'm thankful I caught it at the right time.

The broken rack post

At Tusayan, just outside the park gates I was so hungry I wolfed down half a burger and saved the rest because I did not want to get in too late. The guy at the park gate booth was not very helpful after taking my $15 park fee when I asked about the hiker/biker sites at the campground. The campground here fills up early, but they rarely turn down people on bicycles in their large shared site.

The long ride to the Grand Canyon gives you a sense of anticipation — you really don't see the canyon unless you get right to the rim. The park is well organized, they run free buses every 10 minutes to shuttle campers and general visitors to minimize traffic within the park. I took advantage of the cheap $6 hiker/biker site to stay for a couple of nights and get the experience of seeing the Canyon as it changes with the shifting sunlight.

Wildlife on the campground's pathways

The Grand Canyon is truly a breathtaking site, no matter how many photos or videos you see of it, nothing compares to having your eyes filled with its immensity. From my vantage point in the south rim, in the morning it looked hazy in the soft blue shadows, and as the day progressed the details sharpened up. My favourite time was in the late afternoon when the colours of the strata came to life.

Click on any photo to enlarge

When I was about 10 years old, I remember one of the vinyl records we had in our stereo library was Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite". I listened to it often, merely staring at the picture on the album cover for an idea of what this place might be. As an homage to that naive moment in my childhood, I downloaded the music to my iPhone, and in the rapidly changing early evening light found a quiet spot on a ledge to listen to it while sipping wine from a cut up plastic bottle.

If you are ever here and inclined to listen to the same piece: when you get to the 4th movement, "Sunset", and by chance the California Condors soar in the thermals below in seeming tandem to the orchestral swells, you might just be moved to tears, too.