Day 10: To the Grand Canyon!

May 12, 2003

Overnight it was cold enough that I put on my balaclava in the middle of the night. But the sun was shining when I got up at 6:45AM and it wasn't particularly cold then. I got on the road at 8:45 heading north on highway 64/180. The terrain is rolling hills with an uphill trend, climbing 900 feet in 30 miles to Grand Canyon Village (6860 feet elevation). The road has a narrow paved shoulder and traffic was light.

I arrived at noon, ate lunch at a café, then set up my tent in the hiker/biker section of the huge Mather Campground. $4 per night. I sat around for a while talking to another touring cyclist who had biked from Phoenix. At 2:30 PM I pedaled away on the unloaded bike to see the sights along the Hermit Road. I pedaled past the four lodges on the rim, then stopped at all the many overlooks.

Cars are prohibited on the Hermit Road. Non-cyclists have to ride shuttle buses that run every 10 minutes. So the riding was very pleasant with the only traffic being a bus once every 10 minutes. I took a lot of photos at the overlooks and walked around a bit at Hermit's Rest (6650 feet elevation) at the end of the 7-mile road.

One of the few places where the river is visible from the Hermit road.

Hermit's Rest is at the end of the road on the south rim.

The views were spectacular and the weather was perfect. It was a great afternoon. Unfortunately, the sun went behind clouds at about 5 PM so I wasn't able to get any photos with the near-sunset horizontal light that accentuates the colors. But the colors and shadows were still very good from 4 to 5 PM.

I got back to Grand Canyon Village at about sunset and stopped to buy groceries at the supermarket. It was almost dark by the time I got back to my campsite. I made dinner and spent a long time talking to the other hiker/biker campers. I didn't get to bed until 11:30 PM, by far the latest night of the trip. Grand Canyon Village has many tourist facilities but it's not as overdeveloped as Yosemite Valley. The campground appears to be less than half full. Maybe the lodges are full. The area wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be. The weather was sunny for most of the day with light wind and a high in the low 70's.

Distance: 51.8 miles (82.9 km)

Climbing: 2430 feet (741 m)

Average Speed: 10.9 mph (17.4 km/h)

Maximum Speed: 32.0 mph (51.2 km/h)

Hiking: 2 miles ( 3.2 km) at the various canyon overlooks

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 460 miles (740 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0