Grand Canyon South Rim

[Steven@147]

Tami and I are in Williams AZ and the Grand Canyon, staying at the GC Railway RV Park. The RV park is nice and works out to be $60 / night (water,sewer,power,WiFi,cable). We are in site 120 back in and right next to the bath house, laundry, pavilion and fire pit. The Railroad is next to the RV Park and it gets a little loud when freight trans roll through. Its just 2 blocks from the main drag through Williams and Route 66, the mother road. There are great restaurants and shops along Route 66 in Williams, and you gotta try the pie at the Pine Country restaurant! GC Railway brewery is right across the street from the RV Park, great local beer and wood fired pizza! Tami had a Prickly Pear Margarita, she it was a little strange but good!

We had round trip tickets for the old passenger train ride from Williams to the South Rim Village, about 1.5 hour ride each way. We had @ 4 hours to explore the South Rim before taking the train back to Williams. On the way back some train robbers on horseback boarded and held up the train. Was pretty cool old west feel, Butch and Sundance, everybody had fun.

One day we drove up to the South Entrance, boy, you got to get there really early, traffic was terrible and people everywhere at the Visitors Center and the Village! The majority of people go through the South Entrance thus traffic nightmare. Another day while we are here, we are going to drive over to Flagstaff, north on 89 to 64 then into the East entrance. Not as many people take this path so it should be a lot better. From the East entrance you can drive the rim of the canyon over to the Village and South entrance. This is the only section of road you can drive with your personal vehicle at this time of the year.

We spent another day at Bearizona, that was really fun, you drive through the zoological park while the Bears, Wolfes, Elk, Sheep, Buffalo, Deer roam free in their section of the park. You have to keep your windows rolled up! Then park your vehicle and walk through the rest of the park to see the other animals.

Yesterday we took the drive to Sedona AZ, I40 to Flagstaff, South on I17 to road 89A South winding through the mountains and canyons to Sedona, Wow great drive! Sedona is really a nice mountain town, very scenic mountain views, touristy, but great!

We have taken mostly videos but have a few pictures. We have a few more days here at the Grand Canyon South. Last year we made it to the North Rim of the GC so we can check the GC off our bucket list. Overall we liked the GC North Rim better than the South Rim. Once our time here at the GC is over we head to Tucson.

[Hoopy Frood]

Yeah, the North Rim is sooooo much better than the South Rim. 'Course being there 30 years ago without the crowds sure helps. We finally made it to the South Rim a couple years ago, and you're right: crowds, crowds, crowds. Makes me glad I saw many of the most popular parks before there were so many people around.

[Kevin2282]

If you have time, do the drive into Bearizona. Its a really nice wildlife/zoo area. Talk to one of the workers and find out when feeding time is. That is when you will see the most animals.

[xrated]

We did the South rim area and stayed in Williams, AZ back in Sept 2021. We wanted to do the train ride, but no pets allowed and didn't want to leave our furry guy in the trailer for that length of time. We drove up from Williams a couple of times and one day we took our bicycles and did some bike riding on the Rim trail. Another day was doing some driving and we came up from the south and turned right on 64, before we got into all the congested areas. We went as far east as Desert View Watch Tower, taking in the sites all along the way, then turned around and headed back to the South Entrance are and drove around in the Village area as much as we could. That was a very nice drive also. We stayed at Railside RV Ranch and it was a very nice RV park also. The train tracks run right next to the campground. That was my first time ever seeing the Grand Canyon and all I can say is just ....WOW. It was a month long trip, so from GC, we then headed over to Zion, then Bryce, then Moab and took in Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point SP and did some "chill" things in Moab.....including a SXS rental and riding up to and through the Sand Flats Rec. area

Here is a pic from one of the Sand Flats trails right before we headed down the trail and up to where you see the other SXS at the top....

[Steven@147]

We are trying to do and see everything in this area before we move on. Tami says she wants to go to Winslow AZ and stand on the corner! I told her she might get arrested for that!!

"Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see. There's a girl my lord in a flat bed ford slowing down to take a look at me."

[Hoopy Frood]

Oh you do have to do that!! And have your picture taken standing by the statue of Glenn Fry. We came upon it by accident and thought is was too cool.

[JM0397]

On that corner in Winslow, there is a statue of said flat bed Ford with a girl driving it, and Glen Frey as said above.
The drive between Sedona & Flag, 89a, is our favorite in the country (so far).
Great info for our trip west next year, thanks!

[Downsizingmakescents]

We just left lees ferry last week did a kayak run down the Colorado, bend to lees ferry. We thought we were going to the north rim but closed until June 2nd.

Lees Ferry, horseshoe bend and marble canyon were awesome view for a couple of Floridians.

We also hit Winslow while at petrified forest dry camping.

We will be doing Utah big 5 over the next 6 weeks or so.

[ajg617]

Verde Canyon Railway is a nice way to spend the day - south of Sedona. Sedona is beautiful - went there in 2015 and 2017 when visiting our oldest.

We took the bus ride around the south rim and I had a window seat on the canyon side - nobody would trade sides with me and the bus driver was heavy on the pedal. Closest we could stay to GC (and this was in 1989) was south of Flagstaff.

[xrated]

We just left lees ferry last week did a kayak run down the Colorado, bend to lees ferry. We thought we were going to the north rim but closed until June 2nd.

Lees Ferry, horseshoe bend and marble canyon were awesome view for a couple of Floridians.

We also hit Winslow while at petrified forest dry camping.

We will be doing Utah big 5 over the next 6 weeks or so.

You guys are in for a real treat....what an awesome part of the country. Enjoy!