California or Bust…
Day 24 – Meteor Crater, AZ via the Grand Canyon
Monday, November 14th, 2011
We left the Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel (12 miles East of Kingman, Arizona) close to 8:30am and gassed up at the truck stop near the park and interstate. The morning was cool, blue skies, views of the Hualapai and Aquarius Mountains with fog in the low lying valleys… elevation 3400 ft.
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| Blake Ranch RV Park east of Kingman, Arizona |
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| Desertscape at our RV site |
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| View of the valley and Hulapai Mountains |
Today we are driving West on I-40, still parallel to old Route 66, through several mountain ranges. Through the day we will climb to the top of the Colorado Plateau in which the Grand Canyon was carved 6 million years ago. We took a short detour through the historic Route 66 town of Seligman. It is a funky, quirky little town with lots of touristy shops and nostalgic gas stations and motels that bring you back to the 60’s. There are just a few towns left along Route 66 that are clinging to it’s history to scrape out a living and not become one of the many ghost towns evident along the road.
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| This way to Seligman and Route 66 |
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| Nostalgic... |
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| Quirky... |
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| Funky... |
From Seligman we drove East climbing through the Kaibab National Forest. This is a very beautiful drive. We saw snow near the Elk Ridge Ski Area and several very high snow covered mountains on our way to the town of Williams, another Route 66 town and proud to be known as the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon”. Williams seemed to be a little more modern and well off economically. Many more tourists travel through or stay in this town on their way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon which is 57 miles North on Hwy. 64. There is also a historic Railway that provides daily service between Williams and the Grand Canyon to an elevation of 7,000 ft… it has been running for more than 100 years.
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| Williams, AZ - Gateway to the Grand Canyon |
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| Grand Canyon Railway |
We got to the Grand Canyon mid-day, the fog had just burned away and even though it was off season (mid November) the parking lots were filling with cars and tour buses. We could only imagine how crowded this section of the Park could be mid-summer. It was the first time for either of us to see the Grand Canyon and we were very excited to view this amazing natural wonder. It is so breath taking that pictures and words can not capture the awesomeness. We were able to walk the dogs starting at Mather Point along the Rim Trail to Yavapai Point. From this vantage, you are really only seeing a small part of the Grand Canyon National Park which is 277 miles long and it is one mile deep down to the Colorado River. The Colorado River is a huge, raging river and you can barely see a portion of it from the top of the canyon.
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| Riley Doodle at the Grand Canyon |
Our itinerary did not allow us spend all day at the Park, so we jumped back in the KeyZRv and were on the road again. Although we had a short delay due to a herd of elk crossing the road just south of the Park… that was cool!
Coming in to the City of Flagstaff we crossed the Arizona Divide at 7,335 ft. and could see Humphreys Peak which is the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 ft. It was close to 4pm and we stopped for gas, fresh groceries and supplies to change the oil in the RV when we get to Albuquerque.
After driving 294 miles today, we made plans to stay at the Meteor Crater RV Park. It was very secluded and quiet with Flagstaff 37 miles to the east and Winslow at 18 miles west. There was no “light pollution” and we could see a billion stars.
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