I got up, had a great breakfast at the hotel in Cottonwood and hit the
road by 7:30 AM. I was quickly in
Sedona, where the red rocks were just beautiful. Cottonwood is only about 30
minutes South from Sedona. The temperatures were really nice as I rode up the
canyon on highway 89.
I headed up to the South entrance to the Grand Canyon on
Highway 64. The number of cars heading to the Grand Canyon was overwhelming.
There was a steady stream of cars going 51 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour
zone. There was at one point at least 100 cars in front of me that I could
actually see when I got to the crest of a hill. I have no idea why they were
not passing each other, so I just passed as many as I could before getting the park
gates. I think there were only about 3 left in front of me by the time I got to
the gate. The park was doing an amazing job of process all the cars. I got
through in about 20 minutes.
I went to the visitor center and grabbed a sandwich to
eat. I went right to Mather point and sat
on the bench and looked out over the Grand Canyon. There were many people from
all over the world at the edge. I guess a fence at the edge of the canyon means
different things to different people.
There were many people climbing over the fence in order to get a better
spot for a selfie, or for someone else to shoot a picture. There where whole
families climbing over the fence. I was just waiting for that “ahhhhhhhhh” scream
as someone fell to the bottom of the canyon.
After lunch I headed back to the Bike, which I had parked
right next to a newer Suzuki V-Strom.
Frank (fabricated), the owner of the new V-Strom and his girlfriend where
standing there looking over my bike when I arrived. Frank had a million questions about all the
farkles that I had on the bike since he had just purchased his about a month
ago. Frank was from Illinois, and had just pretty much ridden the same route I
was about to do, only in reverse. We talked for about 30 minutes regarding
equipment. They were leaving for
Colorado and then back to Illinois after the Grand Canyon. Great guy and a lot
of fun to talk to.
I left the park heading out of the East entrance. It once
again got just horribly hot by the time I hit the 89. You do not realize it, but the busy part of
the Grand Canyon is at a higher altitude.
I continued North up the 89 and made an executive decision along the way
to skip Zion and Bryce parks. I had been to both a fair number of times in the
last 10 years. I wanted to make sure that I had more time in the Tetons and
Yellowstone, which I had never been to.
I decided to camp at the KOA Zion and Bryce campground. It
was right off the road, yards from where I had to pull over to a rest stop,
about 4 years ago during a massive rain storm when it hit hard and
unexpectedly. I remember the previous event very well, and the ride to Bryce in
the heavy rain.
The KOA camp ground was a good compromise. It had a little
grocery store where I purchased some noodles and a hot shower. They also had horses that came right up to
the fence next to your camp spot. The camp spots where very small. I had people literally sleeping 3 feet from
me during the night.
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