day 16: grand canyon nat’l park.

We planned this road trip with the ultimate goal of seeing the Grand Canyon, but in the process had three sets of people look over the itinerary and tell us, “With young kids, you should spend more of your time in places like Estes Park and Moab, and less at the Grand Canyon. The hiking trails are difficult and there won’t be as much for them to do.”

So we altered our travel plans accordingly and can I tell you how thankful we are!?

One day may not seem like enough to take in Grand Canyon National Park, and of course it isn’t, but it was plenty for us on this trip. I wouldn’t change a thing about where we spent our time.

The other bit of advice we were grateful for was to splurge on riding the Grand Canyon Railway to the park.

If you’re taking kids to the Grand Canyon, riding the train is the perfect experience. It departs from Williams at 9:30 in the morning and arrives at Grand Canyon at 11:30 (it’s a slow train ride, but very pleasant). You get just under four hours in the park, then you board for the ride back to Williams.

I booked us tickets in the vintage Pullman car of the train, which was built in 1923. We had a wonderful guide in our car who’s published several books on animals and was a wealth of information on desert wildlife. Thanks to him, we saw a bald eagle’s nest.

Not only were the kids thrilled by a real train ride through the desert, it was a wonderful break from the van. And a break for David from driving and navigating new roads. We could get up, stretch our legs, use the restroom, and wander into the dining car for candy and a soda.

Grand Canyon National Park, Bright Angel Trail

The first view of the Grand Canyon is larger-than-life. Actually every view is.

It is vast and magnificent.

As we began our day, we had little idea what we’d do when we got there, but our train guide told us there was a flock of big horn sheep about 30 minutes’ down Bright Angel Trail, so David said, “Let’s go find them.”

You guys, we were all so tired!

We plodded along and Noah gave out old man groans every 30 seconds or so. Poor Noah. He’s asked for months about the Grand Canyon, and when we got there, he was unimpressed. There were no animals. No bugs.

Nothing but an awesome view and . . . another hike.

We found zero big horn sheep, but did see some nice men riding mules.

After 25 minutes David and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s go back.”

So the six of us huffed and puffed our way back up the canyon. It’s not for the faint of heart!

But it sure was beautiful!

We decided to find the Visitor’s Center for our Junior Ranger guides and stamp, but picked the wrong shuttle line, which took us about 45 minutes to reach it.

This sums up how we felt at that point:

David said, “This is exactly what happens we you arrive in a National Park without a plan.”

You just kind of wander aimlessly.

But you know what?

It’s okay. Everyone was too tired for a plan. So we enjoyed the views and Noah perked up considerably when he got his Junior Ranger guide.

We got Junior Ranger guides at every park, but never turned them in, completed, for a badge. I asked the kids in the beginning of our travels if they wanted to, but they preferred to keep their booklets. I was fine with that!

I love the new vocabulary they gained from their books and the park rangers. We regularly heard comments like, “Is that a condor? No, it’s just a common raven,” or “I wonder if we’ll see a mule deer on this walk,” or “Look at that ground squirrel!”

The wildlife we saw and learned about on this trip was a highlight for everyone.

By this point, it was time to begin thinking about making our way to the train depot, so David and Judah opted to hike back while the younger kids and I caught the shuttle.