No April Fools - it's SNOW! and a Train Trip to the Grand Canyon

To beat the high winds of the incoming cold front, we pulled out of our spot near the Petrified Forest before 7am, Thursday morning, 3/30. Our goal was to make it to Williams, AZ and get snugged into our spot at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park before the 45 mph gusts hit. We were at least partially successful. We arrived before 10am and drove through the campground, which was only about 2/3 full. We had a reservation, but no assigned space so we stopped at the office to check-in. Nope. Official check-in time is 1pm and she wouldn’t even talk to us until after 11am. I realize we were early, but there were plenty of empty spaces. At the very least let me know which space we are assigned so we can move in when it is open. Nope. Couldn’t possibly do that. Really? It’s not like a hotel room where you have to clean the bathroom and change the sheets. So we sat and waited in an empty parking lot across the street while the winds kicked up and other RV’ers with the same idea we had arrived early and sat waiting. So silly.

We finally got settled in and prepped for the big freeze. There is something extremely satisfying about being safely parked as a storm rolls in with plenty of food, water, heat and the local craft brewery a short jog across the street.😊 The forecast proved accurate with howling winds, freezing temps, and SNOW!  By 10pm the winds were rocking the coach and the snow was coming down hard and sticking. We woke up Friday to an inch or so of the white stuff – well, it should have been white, except the winds had added fine, red volcanic dirt to the mix. As the snow melted it left a layer of nasty red grit – the coach, car, bikes – everything was coated. Ick!

All part of the adventure. :)

We had more snow on and off all day Friday.  We enjoyed walking the town and sitting in the brewpub watching the weather change almost minute to minute. We found it humorous to have headed south to avoid winter weather, only to have snow for April Fool’s Day. Guess the joke was on us!

Friday we strolled through the town.

Lot's of Route 66 memorabilia. 

It's snowing again!

Williams is a touristy little town that is situated on what was one of the last remnants of Route 66. They also bill themselves as the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon.” The south rim visitor’s center is about 60 miles away, but their real claim to fame is the vintage railroad which runs daily between Williams and the south rim.

Diesel locomotive. They run a vintage steam engine too.

By Saturday, the snow had melted in town and we drove several miles down a mucky, red dirt road in search of the Dogtown Lake trail. We found the lake, but the trail proved more elusive. We chatted with a local who said the lake was up 11 feet and the trail around it was likely underwater. Well that explains it. 😊 Undaunted, we started out on a nature trail and ended up hiking about 7 miles to the top of Davenport Hill, elevation 7805 feet. There was still lots of snow on the trail and at one point we were following animal tracks in the snow. Too fun!

Following tracks - raccoon maybe, certainly not Bigfoot. Lol.

View of Dogtown Lake and Bill Williams Mountain from the top.

In the other direction, the snowy San Francisco Mountains. 

The Grand Canyon has the only functioning train depot in a national park. We had booked a roundtrip train ride to the south rim for Sunday, 4/2. Our hope was to catch a sunny day before another cold front moved in on Monday. We hit it perfectly and had beautiful blue skies and sunshine for our trip to the Grand Canyon. The train ride was about 2½ hours each way and we had about 3 hours at the park. We also booked a 1½ hour bus tour so we could see more of the rim drive.

The Grand Canyon Railway vendor does a good job of trying to make the trip more than just a train ride. They start out with a short Wild West show and shootout. Singing cowboys make an appearance in each of the cars and the outlaw gang shows up on the ride back for a well-mannered train robbery. All hokey, but fun. The scenery ranges from pine forest to high plateau desert and grasslands with the snow-capped San Francisco Mountains in the distance. We saw a herd of elk, antelope, mule deer and Rog even spotted a javelina.

Setting for the Wild West shoot out.

Our singing cowboy.

We rode in a dome car on the way to the Grand Canyon.

The train shadows the high desert plateau. 

Great views of the San Francisco Mountains.

All aboard for the trip back to Williams. 

The Great Train Robbery - tourists are easy pickings.
(We're used to being fleeced. lol.)

Those of you who have visited the Grand Canyon understand what I mean, when I say there is no way to capture either in words or images the incredible scale of the place. It has to be experienced. Even standing on the rim, my eyes have trouble focusing and my brain is challenged to comprehend it. (Yes, I know, my brain finds many things challenging. No need to rub it in. 😊) Since we only had a few hours there in mid-afternoon, I’ll have to come back another time for the iconic sunrise and sunset shots over the canyon. Always good to have a reason to return!

Hopi Point

Mohave Point

Fantastic colors.

You can see the Colorado River in the distance.

The ravens were having a ball riding the air currents.

Still happy campers.

We leave Monday morning, planning for another early start (maybe not quite as early!) to beat out the next storm front moving in. Our goal is a spot at Goosenecks State Park in Utah.