Spring Training Grand Canyon Side Trip    

This trip is being offered on the following dates -
To be determined when the 2024 Spring Training schedual is released.

Day One - Tour of Grand Canyon South Rim, from Desert View to Grand Canyon Village.

Early hotel pick up and departure.   North through Black Canyon, across the Central Highlands and down to the Verde Valley and the first rest stop.   From there up the Colorado Plateau, through the second largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world and Flagstaff Az. to a close encounter with Sunset Crater and dramatic views of the San Francisco Peaks, highest point in Arizona.   Then across the Painted Desert and onto the Navajo Reservation to a rest stop at Cameron Trading Post.   Along the gorge of the Little Colorado River and East Kaibab Monocline to the east entrance of Grand Canyon National Park.   Stops at scenic overlooks along Grand Canyon S. Rim to Grand Canyon Village with box lunch along the way.   Time on your own at the Village.   Leave the National Park +/-3:15pm for Peach Springs Az. by way of Williams Az., west on I-40 and Historic Rt. 66 to +/-5:30pm check in at Hualapai Lodge (just below The Canyon Rim), dinner at Lodge.

Day Two - Drive to the Bottom of Grand Canyon with Picnic Lunch at The River.

Breakfast at hotel and check out.   +/-7:30am leave on drive to the bottom of The Grand Canyon with scenic stops along the way and the option of walking the last mile along Diamond Creek to The River and getting to say you hiked to the bottom of The Grand Canyon.   (About that drive:   people get a picture in there mind of a van tippy-tiring it's way along a narrow track, scraping against a cliff wall on one side, the occasional rock falling from beneath the van into the abyss on the other.   That's not how it is.   The road is in the only place where the bottom can be accessed by following a drainage the entire way, descending through Peach Springs Wash to Peach Springs Canyon to Diamond Creek Canyon to The Colorado River, all the while with cliff walls steadily rising around you.)   After a picnic lunch on the beach above Diamond Creek Rapids, back up the road to Historic Rt. 66, east to I-40 and Flagstaff and by way of Oak Creek Canyon and with time on your own in Sedona Az., return to your Phoenix hotel.