The Grand Canyon and Beyond

Leaving Las Vegas

Decided to get up and get out early in the hopes of missing the traffic caused by the big EDM fest. My uncle had been watching the news and it didn’t seem like my route was going to run into any trouble because I was heading east to the Grand Canyon, rather than towards the airport or the west. They gave me plenty of stuff for the road, wished me luck and I was on my way.

Hoover Dam: Not This Time

After getting around the city, I headed for Hoover Dam, figuring it would be a fun stop. Unfortunately, because I’m traveling with a firearm, they won’t even let me get past the checkpoint in my car. It was especially a bummer because when you’re driving east you can’t see any of the dam from the freeway, so I’ll have to count on seeing it next time, somehow. No regrets, though. I’m not going to literally drive across the country by myself in the middle of nowhere without taking a gun with me.

Crazy Weather

As I got near Route 64, where I needed to turn north towards the Grand Canyon, I ran into a bout of hail and turned-off into a gas station to avoid it. The overall weather had turned from partly cloudy to over cast and stormy. As I approached the canyon from the south, I could see the storms moving in from the west, which was something I’d get used to over the next couple of days: tracking storms in the distance while viewing a wide array of weather across the horizon.

The Grand Canyon

It seemed to me that, after seeing all the things I’ve seen on this trip, the Grand Canyon wouldn’t be that big of a deal to me. I was wrong. The Grand Canyon earned its name. It’s as epic as you think it should be. My best description is that’s it’s basically a canyon, within another canyon, within another canyon, finally within another canyon. It’s difficult to comprehend the mechanisms and the time it took for something like this to come into existence.

While there was a storm blowing through from the west the entire time I was there, catching up with me at each stop as I drove around the southern rim to the east, it didn’t bother me that I never got many great views of the canyon. Maybe it was because I’d been there as a kid over thirty years ago, but I think it was because seeing it in a snow/hail storm felt like a unique situation. Everyone seemed amused by the fact that we just had to assume that the canyon was out there somewhere.

The Void

After getting my fill of what I was able to see, I headed east on my trip around the canyon and up to Kanab, Utah. Much of this route took me through absolutely nothing, mostly Indian reservations. Most of the time was spent with all my windows closed as I drove through numerous storms. Some of the areas felt like I’d entered some apocalyptic world with desolation all around me and storms moving from left to right in the far distance.  It was a beautiful and melancholic drive.

Back In Utah

As I neared my destination, the weather broke and the skies cleared a bit. I was back in Utah! It reminded me of the day I missed getting into Canyonlands and Arches national parks and thought, “You know… maybe I’ll just come back through Utah…” and here I was! My reservation was for a little, single room cabin in Kanab, Utah. After unpacking and tracking down dinner, I got things downloading and ended the night watching the finale of Game of Thrones in bed.