Grand Canyon: We have Arrived!

We arrive at Grand Canyon National Park from the east, and stop at the Desert View area, where there are many tourists, and beautiful views from a stone building that houses a souvenir shop and viewing platforms.

The canyon looks beautiful, and the idea of hiking down to the river doesn't seem overly daunting. Not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but looking down at the river doesn't make it seem any more difficult than we imagined. Jim's pictures really do look like postcards to me (but I promise they're his pictures!)


Our plan is to spend two nights in Tusayan, a commercial area of hotels and restaurants just outside the entrance to the South Rim of the national park.

The entrance gates are open 24 hours, so no worries about being locked in or out if we need to access the hiking trails at odd hours.


For today, we just want to get situated at the hotel and look at the canyon that we traveled all this way to hike.