Four Corners

We stopped at Four Corners Monument on our way to Mesa Verde. Not much to see as far as the monument but I did some more shopping at the booths which was fun.

Scenic overlook on the way out of the Grand Canyon park and shopping.

Today we headed back toward Colorado. On our way to the Grand Canyon we saw a ton of Indian roadside stands with jewelry and other items. But we did not stop due to the time of day and the heat. We had also seen a scenic overlook and decided on the way out we would stop there to look and do some jewelry shopping. Boy do I wish we had stopped at every set of stands. The shopping was fabulous! The ladies were super nice and a number of them had unique hand made items. The pricing was also excellent.

Below is the view from one of the scenic overlooks.

Orange Bus route

The next day we took turns taking the Orange route bus to view the sites.


In this picture you can just barely see a mule train heading to Phantom Ranch with tourists.



























Folks viewing the canyon at the South Rim visitor center.

A deer at the Grand Canyon

The Blue bus route

The next day we took turns taking the Blue bus route while the other baby sat the dogs. It was a easy way to see alot. You could get off at just the stops or walk between the stops and pick up another bus. In addition I visited all the historic buildings on that side of the canyon as well as the gift shops.






You can see Bright Angel Trail into the canyon.

A closer view of the trail.

The river in the canyon.

Trailer Village

Unfortunately for us we had reservations at Trailer Village for the remainder of our stay because we were afraid of the heat in July so wanted hook ups to have AC. It was ugly and depressing. I didn't even take any pics of our parking spot. I would have much rather stayed at Mather but they were full and we couldn't move. Trailer Village had tons of open spaces the whole time we were there even though they had the FULL sign out. Many of our neighbors just drove up and got a space even with the FULL sign out. I think it is because most people cancel and leave early once they get there. My pics. don't really capture the nature of the village. I would only recommend staying there if you are used to RV parks where everyone is lined up in little rows.

The one redeeming feature of Trailer Village was the Elk that roamed through. One half of Trailer Village is for visiting RVs. The other half is a trailer park for workers. The worker half put out water for the Elk so you could reliably count on them visiting it.







Another redeeming feature is that you could walk your dogs right into the forest surrounding the village which is where we saw this Elk.

On the back left corner of the village is a service road that goes by the water treatment towers. If you follow this you take a short cut to the Greenway which takes you to the South Rim Visitor center. This is great for people with dogs. We hardly ever saw anyone on the Greenway as the park encourages people to take the shuttle or drive. In fact the one time we asked a ranger for directions he recommended that since we were a mile from the rim we go back and get our car instead of walk. It was pretty funny.

Mather Campground

The first night we stayed at Mather Campground. It was a very pretty campground with alot of trees and if we go to the Grand Canyon again we will stay there.

In Mather it is well worth staying at the edges so you have forest behind you and not other campers. For people with dogs you can walk along the service roads and in the forest to take short cuts to the canyon. The canyon path allows dogs but the shuttle system does not.

The next day we walked along the rim path in the opposite direction to the day before. I really enjoyed the rock samples and descriptions that they have all along the path. As a result I didn't take many pictures. We walked from the amphitheater path up to Maricopa point and then took the Greenway path back to the campground after dark.