Grand Canyon Winter Road-trip - South Rim

My husband has lived in California for 31 years, and I moved here roughly 8 years ago. Sure, we have taken our share of trips in that time, but we had NEVER been to the Grand Canyon! So, we decided to change that and opt for an impromptu road trip. We booked the hotel, took Friday off work, packed the car, woke up early and headed on out. Roughly 500 miles and 7 ½ hours later we made it.

Now, let me back up a bit. As stated previously, I am a planner, so we had to have some structure to the trip. We would be that the first day of winter and during that time only the South Rim of the Grand Canyon would be open. Also, we would need some cold weather gear. We had researched the trails and decided on Bright Angel Trail and the 9-mile roundtrip option to Indian Garden instead of the full 19 miles roundtrip option that is not suggested especially in the summer. Another researched point was where to watch the sunset on Friday night, we decided on Hopi Point and no pun intended, it did not disappoint.

Friday Afternoon Arrival:

We had arrived and checked into our hotel in Tusayan on Friday afternoon. We spent a bit relaxing and then jumped back into the car to head into the park. We paid the $35 entrance fee that is good for 7 days, and we continued through the park. We arrived at Hopi Point early and were easily able to park and get a spot. As we were driving, we had got the first glimpse of the canyon and we were awestruck. We quickly gathered our gloves and hats and hopped out of the car to make it over to the edge to see all of it. It was truly amazing to see the canyon in person; it seemed to go on forever and this was only one area of it. We may have arrived a bit too early, or it seemed too early because we were freezing our butts off. It would not have been bad if the wind was not coming from the canyon itself and from all angles so there was no escape. Being stationary also did not help. It was all worth it and made for some excellent photos. Here are a few of our favorites.

We completed the evening by deciding to eat at “We cook pizza and pasta”, as there were very limited options for food. I got the Spaghetti and Meatballs and the hubby got Shrimp Alfredo with Broccoli and a local beer. The only thing that was enjoyable about the meal was the warmth and the beer. It was paying for overpriced mediocre spaghetti. Not recommended but we ate it and had full bellies for the hike the next morning.

Saturday Morning:

We woke up at a reasonable time and started getting ready. A lot of thought went into what layers to wear as it was cold, but we would be moving around quite a bit. In hindsight we would have been fine with one long sleeve shirt, a jacket, leggings and/or camping pants, a hat and gloves. We took walking poles with us as well for the trek back up. Before we left on the hike, we had gone to the hotel breakfast area to sit down and get a nice filling breakfast. We both got breakfast burritos. They were nice and reasonably priced for a hotel. We stayed at the Best Western.

We came prepared with spike shoes as we were made aware the beginning of the trail would be icy, but we opted not to take them. The trail was icy at the top but nothing unbearable, although Jack did slip and fall but he was alright.

As you would expect the trail is all downhill at the beginning and that means all uphill at the end. The trail was extremely well taken care of with spots to rest at 1.5 miles, 3 miles and 4.5 miles. These rest stops have toilets at each spot. The 4.5-mile spot had a campground and day use area as well.

We were able to take our time, take photos and the trail was not overly crowded either. I call it perfect hiking weather because I much prefer hiking in cooler weather. It is much easier to warm up then cool down.

We saw our share of wildlife as well, we saw some young bighorn sheep and mule deer (fawns, does and a buck). We have a video of this buck scratching his antlers on the branches of a nearby tree.

After taking a break at the 4.5-mile rest stop we began the trek back up and this is where the strenuous ranking of the trail came from. With consistent uphill terrain and switchbacks, we were certainly tired at the end but able to do it no problem. We had taken the breaks we needed and stopped for some beautiful pictures. We had plenty of water, nature valley peanut butter bars (so good) and trail mix to eat.

It is something special to be able to see the canyon from above and then to hike down into it and see it from below, it was very neat.

Saturday Evening:

After our hike we got back to the car and simply sat in the car for a while before driving back to the hotel. We decided to shower and then head to a place that had TV's to watch the football games. We ended up eating at Maswik Pizza Pub, this was a much better option that We Cook Pizza and Pasta and did not disappoint. We relaxed, ate and then made our way back to the hotel. As we were watching the Chargers game, we packed everything up. We then found a Harry Potter movie marathon on USA before falling asleep early.

Sunday Morning Departure:

We had checked out of the hotel and decided to get breakfast in the cute town of Williams, where they have the Grand Canyon railway train which is the Polar Express train at Christmas. Jack had wished to surprise me with the Polar Express tickets for Christmas, but it was sold out, we will be back again one day.

We looked up reviews for the Grand Canyon Coffee and Café among other breakfast restaurants and we came here because of the positive reviews and menu options. We were not disappointed. The second we walked in we were greeted so nicely and seated right away, menus provided, and drink order taken. Lots of selections on the menu and amazing staff, I ordered the veggie omelet and Jack ordered the biscuits and gravy. Food was so good, and that cinnamon raisin toast was the best!! Highly recommend to any stopping in.

Overall, we are so glad that we made the trek and were able to check off another National Park and bucket list item. As always, any questions you have feel free to ask away and happy to answer! Have a Happy New Year, cheers to 2019!