The Grand Canyon

On day 5 of the Contiki Wild Western trip we drove from Sedona (see last travel post) to the Grand Canyon. On the way into the park we saw our helicopters for the next day and lots of elks, one even crossed the street. Before going to the lodge, we were staying at, Jon and Ray (our driver) took us to see The Grand Canyon. We were all just speechless!!! Omg, that view is incredible!!!! Why would people hike all the way down and up again, that seems crazy! We were at the South Rim, able to see the North Rim, which is about 300 meters higher. You definitely cannot see that it is higher. You don‘t know where to look, because there are new formations everywhere. Of course we took some first pictures. At the offical sign we took our first group photo, before heading to our rooms.
After settling in it was time for dinner. We just went to the lodge, where we finally had internet 😉. There is no phone reception whatsoever in the park and no internet everywhere, #firstworldproblems I know 😉. We also headed to the General Market to gets some bits and pieces for the next few days. Then it was time for some relaxing and girly things, like doing nails etc.

The next moring started with a highlight: helicopter flight!!! It was six of us in the helicopter, I was in the front next to the pilot. We started by flying over the forest just in front of the Canyon and then there it was, the moment when it just opens up. The Canyon has so many great colours and then you see the Colorado river, so impressive. We flew over a big part of the Canyon, but it‘s so huge, you never see the whole thing.
After the heli flight, we went for lunch and then we hiked the Bright Angel Trail. Walking down is easy, so we kept on going for about 40 minutes. We met some of us on the way up, they were really out of breath, so we didn‘t end up going to that view point. Walking up was harder yes, but it was actually fine.
In the evening we went for a sunset picnic on Hopi Point. Food, drinks, music, new friends and an amazing sunset. I absolutely loved it!!! SO PRETTY!!!!
After getting back some of us looked at the stars outside our lodges and we hung out otside of your tour guides room, that was a lot of fun.

The Grand Canyon is definitely on of my fave things on this trip, absolutely AMAZING!!!