Grand Canyon: the adventure continues

We pulled into Mather CG in the Grand Canyon National Park at around 3:00 Sunday after boondocking for two days off FR3 in Coconino National Forest, just north of Mormon Lake.  We pretty much stayed close to “home” for both days except for a really good lunch at the restaurant in Mormon Lake, which also housed the Zane Grey museum.  There were movie poster and book cover replicas hung along with lots of taxidermy – elk, deer, badger, even a cougar or two. We get it that this is a hunting destination; probably used to be a fishing destination as well but Mormon Lake has been reduced to a couple of puddles.  A sign in the restaurant said “Save your boat and oars, boys, the lake will rise again”.

The ride was uneventful except for a stop at Kendrick Park wildlife trail where we birded for a couple of hours, catching sight of mountain chickadees, pygmy nuthatches and a female Western bluebird, all of which we saw again at our Fir loop campsite at the canyon.

Once we checked into the campground we took a shuttle bus around the park to get the lay of the land and to make reservations at El Tavor, an upscale lodge and restaurant that Ron had eaten at with Doug on his first trip here a few years back. I also got my first glimpse at the canyon itself, with the waning light bouncing off the ledges and creating deep shadows among the cliffsides. Majestic, indeed.

On Tuesday we boarded the bus again, transferred to the Red Line which followed the rim trail for about 9 miles.  I decided to walk the last mile so I could walk along the rim for a bit, leaving Ron to take the bus to Hermit’s End where we met about an hour later.  It was somewhat cold and windy but the views were fantastic with many sights of the river and rapids below.

Woke early Wednesday morning to some strange sounds coming from outside the van.  It wasn’t until we lifted the back door curtain that we found out where the sound was coming from – a wet snow had fallen overnight and was dropping from the Ponderosa pines onto our roof. Four inches had accumulated, transforming  the campground into an unexpected wintry wonderland – in May!