Going down was easy and beautiful...
We passed some donkeys, some hikers coming back up the trail, and also some hikers going down the trail who were packed to camp down in the canyon for the night. Before we knew it we were past the first trail stop and headed down to the second.
It was an awesome hike and even nicer lunch on the canyon edge...
After a relaxing lunch, we decided to head back up to the trailhead so we would make it to the other side of the canyon in time for the sunset. We took a few breaks going up but it wasn't too strenuous - I would love to go back and camp down at the bottom one day. Once at the top, we decided to walk back to the Visitor Center via the Rim Trail.
After resting, snacking and napping in our Jucy (the awesome part about having a car as your house), we continued along the Rim Trail and took a brief stop in the Yavapai Point and Geology Museum before jumping on the Red bus to try to get to Pima Point to catch the fast-approaching sunset. It certainly didn't disappoint.
There were so many people waiting to catch the bus back to the Visitor Center but luckily it didn't take too long. Once we back in our Jucy, we took a quick pit stop at the grocery store to pick up a few miscellaneous items before getting to our campsite - Mather Campground. The check-in process was easy and we soon found ourselves opposite another Jucy campervan. It was time for dinner....and it was Tuesday....so naturally it was Taco Tuesday (and Mac and Cheese).
It was a tad chilly outside (35 degrees F), so we set up the bed inside the car, cranked up the heat for a few minutes, then went to bed.
On Wednesday, we woke up bright (not really) and early (yes) to see the sunrise. We drove from the campground to the Village to grab a spot on the Rim Trail to view the sun rise over the canyon.
After, Maddie and I made our way back to the campsite to make some breakfast which included eggs and yogurt - we really mastered the cooking, if I do say so myself.
After breakfast, we gathered up our stuff and made our way out of the campground again toward our next destination - Lake Powell. But first, one last hike on our way out on Grandview Trail.
After about 3 hours of driving, we almost drove right past Horseshoe Bend. We had to do a double take - was that the famous Horseshoe Bend? It was! Maddie whipped us right around and parked in the lot before heading down the short sandy trail to the edge of Horseshoe Bend. It was really cool - I'm glad we didn't miss the small sign.
Once we got to Lake Powell, we realized that the economical thing to do was to buy the America the Beautiful pass. Luckily, we could use our Grand Canyon pass toward the $80 pass. We made our way past the gates and toward the Wahweap Campground. It was situated overlooking the lake and even had access to the resort just down the road. After checking in, we decided to go down to the lake to rent some kayaks. We got a 2 hour rental and made our way out into the lake after getting some directions to Ice Cream Canyon from the cashier.
It took us a few minutes to figure out exactly where it was, but once we did it was easy. The water was nice and the sun was shining. We stopped at the end of the canyon and hiked around a bit, and even managed to FaceTime my parents before getting back in our kayaks for a failed attempt at hiking to the windows. Running low on time, we returned the kayaks and headed to our campsite for dinner.
I decided to go for a run before we ate dinner - so off I went for a 4 mile run out along the trail by the lake. After, we made grilled cheese - one of Maddie's genius ideas - with a side of Mac and Cheese before enjoying some relaxation in our Jucy top-tent. Just enough to fuel us up to continue our adventure!
