An Amazing Drive – Vegas to the Grand Canyon
If you’re visiting Las Vegas then the Grand Canyon has to be high on the list of things to do. The main thing to know is that the Grand Canyon is GRAND. It stretches over 446km and is over 1800m at it’s deepest.
You can do a helicopter trip from Vegas, but you miss out on some fun sights along the way. You can also drive to the West rim and do the skywalk. I was driving from Vegas to Grand Canyon village, a 450km drive with a couple of awesome stops along the way.
I was keen to get on the road as it would take around 6 hours to get there, picking up the car was quick and easy and I had practoced with an automatic back in the UK. After a quick stop for snacks including cans of my fave U.S. drink Arizona I was on my way. First up on the list was the Hoover Dam.
The Hoover Dam was completed in 1935 and was the highest dam in the world at the time. It is 60 stories high and two football fields thick. It holds back the largest resevoir in the U.S. – Lake Mead. The dam is a marvel of engineering, especially being built during the Great Depression. It’s only a 30 minute or so drive from Vegas and a great starting off point for an adventure!
It was fun to grab a couple of pics with the state signs, first I parked up and walked over the bridge looking over the dam. Then you could park up and actually walk over the dam, it was incredible! Next I took a little detour to park up and check out Lake Mead, it’s just so vast, you could see for miles. Although you could tell the water was super low, this area of the U.S. has been experiencing a really long drought.
Next on the road trip was route 66! Athough you can no longer drive along the whole route, there are plenty of places where you can drive segments of it. I had google pinned a place called Kingman and got to drive along some of 66! It felt like such a fun moment, and I stopped at a route 66 diner and got a pic with a 66 sign next to it.
Now was the long drive to the Grand Canyon Village. The landscape on the drive was absolutely stunning, just crazy rock formations for miles to see. You don’t get views like this in the UK.
It took around 3 hours to drive from Kingsman to the village. As I turned off just after Williams the scenery changed and got more green which I wasn’t expecting. I used my National Pass Park easily to get through the gates and here I was! I’d made it!
Parked up I headed straight to the rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s crazy because you don’t really see it until you emerge from the trees and it’s suddenly there. It truly is breathtaking. I could feel the excitement build inside me as I gazed into the distance and barely able to see the other side of the canyon.
I had to snap out of it, I was on a mission! It had taken most of the day to drive here and sunset was in about 2 hours. I had looked on Google maps and checked where on the rim I could watch the sunset. It seemed like Mohave point was my closest bet and it was an hour and a half hike!
Off I went, stopping at times to enjoy the golden hour views over the Grand Canyon. It was such an amazing moment, I almost had tears in my eyes. I just made it to Mohave Point in time and witnessed a gorgeous sunset over the canyon. You could see the glittering Colorado river snaking its way West. I was so happy and it was certainly a bucket list moment.
Rather than walk back in the dark you can take a bus back to the Village. By the time I got back it was really dark and I had a one and a half hour drive to Flagstaff where I’d booked to stay. There is accommodation at the Grand Canyon but I had booked too late and I wasn’t sure what options there were.
The drive was pretty uneventful and I made it to Flagstaff and checked into my Super 8 motel room. Pretty much passing out as soon as my head hit the pillow after a long and perfect day.
In the morning I awoke to views of snow capped peaks and fir forests, was this the same Arizona I’d spent hours driving through?! A quick Google found me a breakfast stop called the Toasted Owl. It was hilarious, a diner filled with owl memorabilia!
Nice and fueled up for the journey back, I was headed to the Grand Canyon but this time I’d be following it East. The drive back was so cool, at one point I thought I was on a Disney film. A couple of deer went skipping across the road, startling an eagle from it’s nest in the trees while a few gophers sat up to see what all the commotion was.
I parked up at the village again and had a little wander along the rim. It was amazing but quite busy in that area. I did spot a few Elk which was amazing.
I decided to head off and stop wherever it looked interesting. My first stop ended up being Shoshone point which was incredible! You walk through this gorgeous pine wood before emerging onto a rocky point with perfect views of the Grand canyon. I’d highly recommend this spot, there were only 2 other people the entire time I hiked.
As amazing as the canyon is, you soon realise it’s so vast that it doesn’t change much no matter how far you drive. So I headed to the desert view watchtower point. Here you can see North up the canyon where the Colorado river comes down from Utah. It’s a nice stop and the tower adds something a bit different.
From here I was ready to move on. I’d definitely love to hike down into the canyon next time, or kayak down the river. But I definitely enjoyed the experience of driving along it! Now I was headed to Hurricane in Utah to visit Zion National Park.
This was an incredible 4 hour drive. I stopped off a couple of times just to enjoy the views of a vast nothingness, some amazing red rocks and incredible landscapes.
As a little break from all the driving I stopped off at the Horseshoe bend near Page. This is an incredible feat of nature. It’s about a 15 minute hike from the car park and then you meet the Colorado river once again. Bending right round this huge chunk of rock. It’s stunning and definitely worth a visit!
From here there were so many places I could have stopped but with limited time I took the long drive onwards to Hurricane. Finally I arrived pretty late I’m the evening. So I got some pizza from Little Caesars and it was not good at all hah. Not to worry, I was too excited about visiting Zion National Park tomorrow!!
ALWAYSANOVICE 