Jim & Lyndi ZR-1 Road Trip to Death Valley and The Grand Canyon

[QB93Z]

Day 8: Sight seeing in Death Valley


We drove back towards Beatty on the Nevada side of Death Valley and went to the abandoned mining town of Rhyolite, NV. The town was working mines in 1907 but the ore ran out or cost to much dig out and the town was abandoned.




There is an effort underway to restore the train station but progress is slow:



The weather in Death Valley has been wonderful. Late March is a good time to visit. The high temperatures have been in the 70's. In the summer time the temps in the valley are routinely over 110 degrees.

Driving in Death Valley is fun. The Park Service has done an excellent job of maintaining the roads and services. Some of the roads have long descending slope that you don't notice until you realize that you have "coasted" up to high speed. It is not advised to "ride the brakes" due to over heating so it is best to act like a truck and down shift to a lower gear.

Even though there is very little plant life in the Valley, this time of year has a lot of pollen in the air that is trapped in the Valley by the same forces that make the Valley so hot and dry. Lyndi has been suffering from airborne allergies.

Tomorrow we will leave Death Valley and drive to Williams, AZ.

PS-- I had to do make this post at 4 AM. Even though I am using a Verizon HotSpot for WiFi, the HotSpot has to be able to connect to a cellular provider. During the day, there is no reliable cellular connection in the Valley.

Jim

[JThomas]

Excellent pictures, and documentation Jim, Thank You!

[QB93Z]

Day 9 drive to Williams, AZ:

We bid farewell to Death Valley and drove to Williams, AZ, gateway to the Grand Canyon Railway and the Grand Canyon.

We packed up early and got underway by 5 AM in the dark. We decided to drive to Bad Water and then on south to the southern end on the National Park. It was about 75 miles, mostly in the dark. We only met 3 on-coming cars on the trip. We went east to Pahrump and then Las Vegas, then to Williams, AZ.

The "darkness" of Death Valley before sunrise is really dark. Lyndi took some artsey photos of Venus and the coming sunrise:











This part of Death Valley is about 250 feet below sea level:




We crossed over Jubilee Pass and returned to civilization.





In Williams, we checked in to the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and got our tickets to ride the Grand Canyon Railway to the El Tovar Hotel in Grand Canyon Village tomorrow morning. We relaxed in the Pub, and enjoyed the massive historic bar that was imported from England:




Jim

[QB93Z]

Day 10 - Train to Grand Canyon:

From Williams, AZ we boarded the Grand Canyon Railway for the 2.5 hour ride to Grand Canyon Village. On the first Saturday of each Spring and Summer month, the train is headed up by a vintage steam locomotive. Riding this train has been on my Bucket List for a long time.












After the enjoyable ride, we took a hike along the South Rim of the most stunning landscape in the world.





The crowds are minimal this time of year and the weather was nice. We even got up close with a deer that did not care that we were there:




Among the many wonderful scenes in the Grand Canyon, I found this interesting rock formation I have never seen before:





Jim

[QB93Z]

Day 11 - At Grand Canyon:

The day started cool and cloudy. We relaxed at our lodge, The El Tovar Hotel which was built in 1905.




We spent the rest of the day hiking on the Rim Trail. The trails were more crowded than yesterday, but not too much.
Near the top of Bright Angel Trail we found the Mules that had just completed the hike up from the Canyon floor and were returning to the stables.




Here is a view of the El Tovar Hotel from the West:





We hiked East along the Rim. The stunning scenes of the Canyon are stunning. In this view you can see the parts on the Bright Angel Trial that runs from the Canyon rim all the way to the Canyon floor. The trail runs 7.8 miles and has a 4460 foot elevation change.




In this picture, another part of the Bright Angel Trail is visible and I marked the Colorado River on the Canyon Floor:





Jim

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

Day 10 - Train to Grand Canyon:

From Williams, AZ we boarded the Grand Canyon Railway for the 2.5 hour ride to Grand Canyon Village. On the first Saturday of each Spring and Summer month, the train is headed up by a vintage steam locomotive. Riding this train has been on my Bucket List for a long time.

A 2-8-2 Mikado! Great engine Jim, and it looks like a great train ride. I would certainly like to do that also. Maybe someday! Look forward to seeing more pics from your trip. --Bob

[QB93Z]

Day 11 - at the Grand Canyon and train return to Williams, AZ:

We spent the day hiking along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon until it was time to board the evening train for the return trip to Williams. Then we drove about an hour west on I-40 towards Las Vegas. Our lodging for the night was in Seligman, AZ, and we didn't have WiFi so we postponed the daily posting on pictures.

to be continued:

[QB93Z]

Catching up on pictures ..

Here is the grand lobby of the el Tovar Hotel at Bright Angle. The Hotel is historic and in very good condition, but it is not really a "Grand Lodge" in comparison to the Glacier Park Lodge, or the Old Faithful Grand Lodge in Yellowstone NP:





The train car that we were in for the return trip to Williams. All of the Grand Canyon Railway equipment is in excellent condition and it was an enjoyable trip:





Sunset behind the mountains on west-bound I40"




We stopped for the night in Seligman, AZ in a restored Route 66 motel. Next door was the Black Cat Bar, which Lyndi and I could not pass up.





The Black Cat Bar is a nice "local" bar, clean and neat, nicely decorated and we enjoyed meeting some of the locals including Lyndi's new best friend who showed us the shot glass that he has drunk from for 49 years:

[QB93Z]

Day 13 - drive to Las Vegas:

We spent some time getting our ZR-1 storage squared away after the train trip where we only carried a small amout of our gear to the Grand Canyon. Then we took some morning photos of the Route 66 era buildings and shops:









The west bound traffic was a little heavier than yesterday, with more trucks:





An highway overlook of Lake Mead:





in Las Vegas, the weather is beautiful with a pleasant 88 degrees:




Jim

[QB93Z]

Day 14 at Las Vegas - continued:
We got caught up on some chores including WASHING THE ZR-1, (finally) and restocking the beverages.

We are staying at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort.









In the evening, we caught the Las Vegas Monorail and went into the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. The crowds were about what I remember from 3 years ago. There were lots of people enjoying the sights and attractions:






At Treasure Island, we discovered a custom motorcycle on display. It is a beautiful bike, called The Siren Of Ti. The design is amazing. The bike was built for Metropolitan Choppers by Scott Cawood of Frederick, Maryland, about 25 miles from where we live.






One of the new attractions on the Strip is the High Roller wheel, at 500 feet in daimeter, it is advertised as the tallest "wheel" in the world.







Later in the evening we were enjoying a beer at the out-side patio when the wind picked and started blowing the beer bottles off the tables. We decided it was time to return to our resort.

Jim