Road trip to Grand Canyon suggestions

In article ,
(WebCrawler) wrote:

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions.
Is it true that the north rim will definetely be closed around the
ThanksGiving week?

It's never guaranteed to be open past mid-October; if it is, it's just
open for the day and no facilities are available.

Rather than asking here, you could have verified that by looking at the
national park web site:

http://www.nps.gov/grca/pphtml/basics.html

--
_Deirdre http://deirdre.net
"Dogs may have kept us company on the hunt, but it was the cats who
insisted we invent houses and discover fire." -- Khiem Tran

In article ,
gemmilljim@hotmail,com wrote:

I don't care for the scenery between Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. It
is rather flat, high desert with lots of cedars.

I loved that stretch, as I loved pretty much every mile of the drive I did on an
open-jaw trip from Phoenix to Flagstaff and on to Las Vegas via Route 66. We
visited the canyon on a day trip from Flagstaff, which was a fun town to use as a
base for day-tripping. It's hard to go wrong with road trips in that part of the
world.
--
---
Eric Holeman Chicago Illinois USA

I don't care for the scenery between Las Vegas
and Grand Canyon. It is rather flat, high desert
with lots of cedars.

I guess I enjoyed the drive a little more than you, although it's
certainly not the most scenic drive in the west.

By the way, the traditional route between Vegas and the south
rim of the Canyon used to involve a road (route 93, I think) that
literally goes over the top of Hoover Dam. But security concerns
after 9/11 have caused greater security around the dam and I
*think* they recommend you take an alternate route that avoids
the dam to avoid traffic slowdowns.

Anyway, you might want to check into that when planning your route.
However, the dam itself is quite spectacular and is worth a visit
if time permits.

James



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On 01 Oct 2003 13:56:13 GMT, OSPAM (JamesStep)
wrote:
[...]
By the way, the traditional route between Vegas and the south
rim of the Canyon used to involve a road (route 93, I think) that
literally goes over the top of Hoover Dam. But security concerns
after 9/11 have caused greater security around the dam and I
*think* they recommend you take an alternate route that avoids
the dam to avoid traffic slowdowns.


What happened is that after 9/11 they banned big trucks and buses from
using Route 93 between Boulder and just north of Kingman (a few
special permits are allowed for local construction companies). These
vehicles are rerouted to Route 95 to bypass the dam..

The immediate impact of this change was wonderful for car drivers
using Hwy 93 over this formerly frustrating stretch, and over the dam.
They have security check-points before and after the dam, but in the
dozens of times I've driven through those they were quick and easy.

What is happening now, however, is that they have started building a
new bypass bridge route for Hwy 93 traffic that will avoid the dam
entirely. So the construction in the area has again slowed things
down. Plus the pedestrian traffic on the dam itself is a bottleneck
during vacation periods.

Overall, though, it's still not too bad to drive Hwy 93, especially if
you want to see the dam up-close on the way.



Caveat

If you've got a few hours you might be interested in driving east
through Flagstaff to see the Barringer Meteor Crater (what's one more
hole in the ground after seeing the Grand Canyon ;^). Meteor Crater
is located about two miles south of I-40 about 25 minutes east of
Flagstaff. This is one of the most impressive geologic features I've
ever seen. A very professional museum sits at the north rim of the
crater and includes catwalks so that you can stand on the edge of the
rim. Optional tours go down into the crater itself. It really makes
you think about what would happen if a meteor hit a major city.

....And if you drive a few miles east of Meteor Crater on I-40, you
will come to Winslow, Arizona. The good people of Winslow have
constructed a small monument tribute to the Eagle's song "Take It
Easy" which includes the line:

"Well I'm standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see..."

The monument is, of course, on a corner in downtown Winslow and
includes a statue of a guitar player (can't really tell if it looks
like a member of the Eagles though) along with a building-side mural
that includes "a girl in a flat-bed Ford", an Eagle (the bird), and a
few other bits of relevant trivia. The corner also includes a little
information about the history of Route 66. Sights like this are
definitely for driving vacations because you'll never see these things
from your airliner window.

Martin

Rather than asking here, you could have verified that by looking at the
national park web site:

http://www.nps.gov/grca/pphtml/basics.html


Thanks for the link.

I'll be in Vegas in Nov, and I've never been to the north rim.

I'll check the website for current conditions before I head out.


-Larry Lloyd



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