When I first read in my Geography book in school about Grand Canyon National Park especially Horseshoe Bend I am dreaming since to visit and see through my eyes the wonder of the earth by myself. Therefore, visiting Horseshoe Bend in Grand canyon is like a dream which cames out true. I was literally on tears when I was there. Before visiting there we touched two more places and scenic spots in our way. The first is Wupatki National Monument.
The plan: Grand Canyon has two parts the North Rim and the South Rim. Our plan is to visit North rim which covers Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell, and some more destinations. The South Rim remains open all year round, the North Rim is open from May 15 to October 15. After October 15 it is open till December 1 for day use. We planned to visit at the end of May and I think it is a good time to visit there. Mostly the portion is desserts, it is too hot at day time and cold at night time, so June end and July will be the hottest time over there. Summer clothes and winter clothes both are necessary to visit over there. Hotels and restaurants, the market place are more than 5 miles from there. We didn’t opt for those we stayed in the Kaibab Plateau area. Our plan vacation is for 5 days and we try to cover as much as possible. In our route to Kaibab Plateau, we visited Wupatki National Monument and the experience was amazing.
Lodging: We stayed in Jacob Lake Inn. It is beside the Kaibab Plateau visitor center. We rented a cottage over there. It is small but tidy. Other than heating and electricity, no TV. Refrigerator, microwave or other modern amenities are available over there. The wifi signal is also very low. The Inn has a restaurant that serves fresh breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other restaurants are far away from there.
Day 1 → We fly to Phoneix Sky Harbour International Airport. It is the nearest airport to Kaibab Plateau. We reached in the morning at 9 am. in local time. After reaching the airport we rented a car, have some food, bought some supplies for our tour and starts at 1:00 pm to visit **Wupatki National Monument. **It takes about 3 hours to reach there.
If you are adventurous enough to visit this place download your map first at home. Over there no data connection is available and it is a completely deserted place. It can be possible that you will not find any living thing without yourselves over there. There are lots of different sites of the pueblo( the remnants of the ancient habitats house)in Wupatki, unfortunately, we visited one or two. It was too windy though it was the end of May we are feeling cold. My family and one of my friend’s families are traveling other than us we didn’t find any human trace.
The experience was amazing, though after some time you will feel scared. The road is well maintained but be cautious while driving, the animals in the forest are always crossing the road. The most dangerous are reindeer they always pass with flocks. If they hit the vehicle the result is obviously not very good.
That day only we need to reach Kaibab Plateau so we wrapped up quickly and starts toward our final destination. We started at about 5.30 pm for Kaibab Plateau. It takes 3 hours and more including resting hours.
The scenic view is awesome while we are driving to Kaibab Plateau. However, after 7.00 pm we missed the view, it’s getting dark and cold. Other than moonlight no street light or not a single vehicle was there which we can follow. It was scary and another hand adventurous too. We are on the road one side is dessert and another side a big stretch wall-like mountain. The fun facts are the time zone is 3 hours back from where we lived. So when we reached in Jacob Lake inn at 9:30 pm, it is almost 12:30 pm. for our body clock. Kids are already sleeping in the car, we are also tired. The next day we are about to visit Horseshoe Bend, how tired and sleepy we are, we planned and check our itinerary before calling it for the day.
The Wonder of the Earth Part II - Horseshoe Bend, Glen National Recreation area is next coming up?
This is incredible travel story sharing with us. Thank you so much
