Day Sixteen - Starting the Roadtrip
// August 12th - Grand Canyon // Distance today: 428 km //
Has it only
been one day? It feels so much longer.
Stop 1 –
Montezuma’s Well
From
Phoenix I started my trip, first to Montezuma’s Well, one of the recommendations I got. It was a natural limestone sinkhole, surrounded by pueblo ruins of people who used
to live there about one thousand years ago, around 1050 AD. You were
even still able to see the blackened rocks on the “ceiling”, where they used to
have their fireplace.
Stop 2 –
Sedona
On the way
to Sedona I saw the red rocks, the first time since I went to Vegas and Grand
Canyon West. Impressive! Sedona itself is a picturesque, colorful town surrounded by those. It’s very touristy, with pink jeeps all around,
someone playing the flute and loads of gift
stores.
I talked a
while to a guy from an animal rescue team, petted a tarantula, held a snake in
my arms and cuddled a ferret. In this order, by the way, otherwise the snake
would’ve thought I was food. I drank a coffee and continued on the
Route 89
Apparently
the route 89 is one of the most beautiful roads in the West. Scenic views over
a valley and driving through a forest, it was pretty nice until it started
raining so badly that I barely could see anything. It was over after maybe 15
minutes, but apparently I took the wrong turn already, so I drove the rest of
the way to Grand Canyon National Park on the highway. At least I still got to
drive a part of the historic Route 66, but I practically just crossed it when going through Williams.
Destination
– Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim
I was
surprised when I entered the park. It was so much greener than expected. There
are juniper and pine trees everywhere, and only every now and then you pass a
view point without trees and suddenly GRAND CANYON (it’s so huge that lower case letters don’t do any justice). It’s fantastic.
I pitched
up my tent and a hammock (best decision, I cannot wait to hang out in my
hammock in Hawaii!) and went to Moran Point to
watch the sunset. No odd conversations this time. It got a bit crowded, so I
guess it’s true when they say that the South Rim draws way more tourists than
the North Rim.
It was great though. Just sitting there, breathing in the dry
air that turned from still too hot suddenly to a bit crisper and enjoying the
moment.
Then I went
back to the campground and realized: I’m the only person around that I saw
camping alone. It feels odd. I’ll have some pretty lonesome two weeks coming
up.
But also
it’s peaceful (not so much when I have to walk 3 minutes through the dark night
to go to the restrooms, thinking about the creepy dolls from the night before).
I’m kind of
wondering how I can take being alone after being surrounded by
hundreds and hundreds of people every day at Disney for so long, but I’m also
looking forward to it.
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