Saturday April 13 – On To Grand Canyon

Saturday April 13, 2019

The plan for today is to drive into Flagstaff and do a few errands then onto the Grand Canyon. Last night the weather was cold with rain showers. We didn’t talk with any other campers since all were hunkered down in their trailers just like us. This morning it was a task just getting out of the campground. A very pleasant task actually. We are in our truck driving around the campground to get to the exit when Wells spots a map on the inside of a camper door. It’s exactly like what we are looking for. The map is of the United States and Canada with the outline of each state and province. It has stickers for each state and province that you put on the map once you travel to that state or province. Wells stops the truck and asked where they found the map. That leads to an interesting conversation with Brian and Tammy. Next we see a couple with a Scamp trailer. Wells had chatted with the man, Bob, earlier in the morning so we stop to get a tour Bob and Marcy’s trailer. Again the conversation goes on. Next it’s on to the dump station. We finally leave the campground after more than 45 minutes after leaving our campsite.

In Flagstaff it’s first to REI to get a few camping supplies and new hiking boots for Marsha. Next stop is Whole Foods to pick up food supplies. Final stop is a hardware store where we pick up a couple of small items.

We are out of town and heading to the Grand Canyon. We first park the trailer in the National Forest where we will do some boondocking. Once the trailer is dropped it’s on to the National Park. We head to the visitor center first in order to orient ourselves on what to do. We attend a ranger lead program on the California Condor and the efforts to pull them back from extinction. Last summer there were four condor nests in the park and those nests produced two chick in the wild. Not big numbers but still it’s more. There may be as many as 400 living condors up from just 22 in 1982.

It’s around 5 pm now and we drive eastward along the south rim road and enjoy the majestic views of the Grand Canyon. We arrive at our trailer shortly before sunset and unwind. The temperature is around 50 but we expect it to get below freezing tonight.