DAY 3: Grand Canyon > Bryce Canyon > Lake Powell

Adler was a little restless that first night in the tent even though he said in the morning that his sleeping back was “extremely comfy.” The birds woke up around 4am which is more than an hour earlier than I’m used to back home. If you combine the excitement of the trip with the novelty of camping resulted in Adler up well before six. Not nearly enough sleep for the little guy.

Given that I’d planned to show Adler many of the national monuments and cool stuff in America (west of the Mississippi) in one month didn’t leave much time in any one place to experience them fully. We could have spent a week in the Grand Canyon but I figured why not do it by air and knock it out in 45 minutes? So on day three we started at 8am at the Grand Canyon Airport for a helicopter tour of the canyon. We lucked out and were seated in the front and after the ride Adler said to me, “Dad, I’ve never sat next to a pilot before.”

There are many ways to experience the Grand Canyon and I will return someday to do those but being in the vantage point of a bird didn’t suck. Also the expansiveness and size of the canyon is appreciated more from above. Even so, scale was incomprehensible. As we flew from the rim of the canyon over the Colorado River the pilot said, “We went from being 100 feet off the ground to now having the bottom of the canyon one mile below us.” It was a ride that, like opening gifts on Christmas, was over too soon. I could have spent an entire day up there in the sky.

The rest of the day was some intense driving. We left the airport headed north east towards Lake Powell. Two and a half hours later we stopped at Horseshoe Bend for a hike to one of the coolest features of the Colorado River. It was 94F when we arrived and the hike was through dusty sand up a short hill and then down a long one to the edge of the rim (which meant the return trek was the reverse). There were hundreds of people along the path and it was HOT! Adler did okay on the way there and even wanted to climb some of the overlooking rocks. But on the way back the heat and grade were overwhelming. We stopped frequently for water but he drank too much then developed stomach cramps. By the time we got back to the top of the hill we rested in an open air shaded structure for a few minutes to cool off and then descended back to the car for some air conditioning. After a quick stop for lunch it was another 2.5 hour drive through Utah to Bryce Canyon National Monument.

Adler took a much needed nap for the last hour of the drive. Thankfully, Bryce Canyon is a drive through park where you can go from vantage point to vantage point for breathtaking views and select when/where you want to hike. Our first stop was at Sunrise Point for a view of the Amphitheater and to experience the hoodoos for the first time (The song lyrics, ‘the voodoo that you do,’ kept rolling around in my head for the rest of the afternoon).

He seemed to be fully recuperated at this point and eager to explore.  We descended into the depths of the amphitheater which felt like a realistic version of the Thunder Mountain ride at Disneyland. After about 1/3 of a mile down he wanted to return the way we came and we rose back to the top. Faced with another long drive back to Arizona he opted to explore Bryce further. We drove down to the Natural Bridges viewpoint before starting the return trip back to Lake Powell.

Along highway 12 not too far outside of Bryce Canyon was a couple of rock tunnels that I drove through on the trip up. Adler was asleep earlier but got to see them in person. We opted for one final stop at Red Canyon for a quick hike through and the opportunity to me further mesmerized by the hoodoos.

One other great thing about the rental car was that it has SiriusXM radio--which means we always have commercial free music. But it’s also meant that we haven’t missed the last two Warriors games and got to listen to the first three quarters before watching them win the Finals last night. Go dubs!

Today's Miles: 465
Total Miles: 1309