Williams to the Grand Canyon (Day 1)
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Time: 10:30am-3:30 pm
Route: From Wllliams (AZ Highway 64 at Interstate 40) to the South Rim Grand Canyon's Visitor Center.
Weather: Moderate to strong wind, gusting. 63-74 degrees, sunny.
Riding Surface: Paved road. Medium, narrow and no shoulder with "wake-up" ruts; light to moderate traffic, including RVs and tour buses.
Miles: 59.7 miles (28 miles to Valle, 50 miles to Tusayan).
Duration: 3 hours, 48 minutes.
My speeds: Averaged 15.7 mph, maximum 39.7 mph.
The Story:
This is the first day of a two-day biking road trip from Williams, AZ to Cameron, AZ via the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on AZ Highway 64 (which ends at Cameron). My nephew, Luke, is driving the "sag wagon" (in reality, my Toyota Corolla) and making this trip possible. This is his first time to the Grand Canyon region. Both of us are excited.
When we stop just off Interstate 40 on AZ Highway 64, the breeze is blowing stiffly. Fortunately it is a quartering tailwind, and may actually help me out (for a change!). Bike off the rack, I'm ready to go!
I start out in the ponderosa pine forest, with the road losing elevation quickly, putting me into the scrub oaks within a few miles. I can tell the change in altitude by the size of the trees and vegetation. The road undulates forming long rollers. The ride is smooth and pleasant. Some of the rollers turn into formidable hills, and I scream down those hills, carrying enough momentum to make it half way up the other side of most of the rollers.
The shoulder is pretty precarious at some points. The "wake up ridges" make most parts fairly narrow. On the steeper downhills I edge out into the road to feel a bit more confident. The side is scattered with a few "alligators" (those truck treads that fly off), a dead desert creature or two and--yes--sizable chunks of horse dung. This makes the ride interesting and a bit stressful in spots.
The landscape on this windswept Colorado Plateau is dotted with the smoothed mounds of volcanic cones from the past. I can see where a few of them had their sides were blown out and dark holes are evident. The terrain is interesting and varied, making the ride go by fast.
Twenty eight miles and 1 hour and 20 minutes later, I arrive at the Valle, where Hwy 180 meets AZ 64. I have averaged 20 miles an hour, and hit almost 40 mph on one downhill run. But the easy part of the ride is over, as the route begins to climb back up to the rim from here. Luke is waiting, and we eat lunch at the Grand Canyon Inn. We're the only paying customers in the restaurant. The waitress tells us that the "beginning of the tourist season has some attitude," and blames in partially on the ash cloud that spread over Europe (cutting down air travel from all over, I presume). The food is fair, but it is fuel. I remount and head out.
The rollers continue, but become steeper in the uphill direction. I'm definitely getting my exercise! At mile 50 of the ride I'm already back up in the forest, a couple of miles from the Park Entrance. Twelve bucks gets me through the entrance, and I continue mostly uphill to the Visitor Center, where Luke is patiently waiting. I've gone almost 60 miles, averaging 15.7 miles per hour. I'm happy with the ride, and happy to be done today.
We've decide to drive down to Cameron and stay at the historic Cameron Trading Post located on the edge of the Little Colorado River. Although it will add a couple of hours of driving onto our trip, it's almost $100 a night cheaper than staying in a motel near the Canyon, and also gives me a chance to scope out tomorrow's ride. We have Mexican Food at the Trading Post dining room, and get to watch the sun set just outside our room, which is very inviting.
Tomorrow Luke plans to get up to watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon in the morning, and I'll head back to the Visitor's Center to start my ride westward along the South Rim and down to the Painted Desert.
Time: 10:30am-3:30 pm
Route: From Wllliams (AZ Highway 64 at Interstate 40) to the South Rim Grand Canyon's Visitor Center.
Weather: Moderate to strong wind, gusting. 63-74 degrees, sunny.
Riding Surface: Paved road. Medium, narrow and no shoulder with "wake-up" ruts; light to moderate traffic, including RVs and tour buses.
Miles: 59.7 miles (28 miles to Valle, 50 miles to Tusayan).
Duration: 3 hours, 48 minutes.
My speeds: Averaged 15.7 mph, maximum 39.7 mph.
The Story:
This is the first day of a two-day biking road trip from Williams, AZ to Cameron, AZ via the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on AZ Highway 64 (which ends at Cameron). My nephew, Luke, is driving the "sag wagon" (in reality, my Toyota Corolla) and making this trip possible. This is his first time to the Grand Canyon region. Both of us are excited.
When we stop just off Interstate 40 on AZ Highway 64, the breeze is blowing stiffly. Fortunately it is a quartering tailwind, and may actually help me out (for a change!). Bike off the rack, I'm ready to go!
I start out in the ponderosa pine forest, with the road losing elevation quickly, putting me into the scrub oaks within a few miles. I can tell the change in altitude by the size of the trees and vegetation. The road undulates forming long rollers. The ride is smooth and pleasant. Some of the rollers turn into formidable hills, and I scream down those hills, carrying enough momentum to make it half way up the other side of most of the rollers.
The shoulder is pretty precarious at some points. The "wake up ridges" make most parts fairly narrow. On the steeper downhills I edge out into the road to feel a bit more confident. The side is scattered with a few "alligators" (those truck treads that fly off), a dead desert creature or two and--yes--sizable chunks of horse dung. This makes the ride interesting and a bit stressful in spots.
The landscape on this windswept Colorado Plateau is dotted with the smoothed mounds of volcanic cones from the past. I can see where a few of them had their sides were blown out and dark holes are evident. The terrain is interesting and varied, making the ride go by fast.
Twenty eight miles and 1 hour and 20 minutes later, I arrive at the Valle, where Hwy 180 meets AZ 64. I have averaged 20 miles an hour, and hit almost 40 mph on one downhill run. But the easy part of the ride is over, as the route begins to climb back up to the rim from here. Luke is waiting, and we eat lunch at the Grand Canyon Inn. We're the only paying customers in the restaurant. The waitress tells us that the "beginning of the tourist season has some attitude," and blames in partially on the ash cloud that spread over Europe (cutting down air travel from all over, I presume). The food is fair, but it is fuel. I remount and head out.
The rollers continue, but become steeper in the uphill direction. I'm definitely getting my exercise! At mile 50 of the ride I'm already back up in the forest, a couple of miles from the Park Entrance. Twelve bucks gets me through the entrance, and I continue mostly uphill to the Visitor Center, where Luke is patiently waiting. I've gone almost 60 miles, averaging 15.7 miles per hour. I'm happy with the ride, and happy to be done today.
We've decide to drive down to Cameron and stay at the historic Cameron Trading Post located on the edge of the Little Colorado River. Although it will add a couple of hours of driving onto our trip, it's almost $100 a night cheaper than staying in a motel near the Canyon, and also gives me a chance to scope out tomorrow's ride. We have Mexican Food at the Trading Post dining room, and get to watch the sun set just outside our room, which is very inviting.
Tomorrow Luke plans to get up to watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon in the morning, and I'll head back to the Visitor's Center to start my ride westward along the South Rim and down to the Painted Desert.
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