Bicycling Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico - 2006

Grand Canyon National Park Train Excursion

July 12 & 13, 2006

We arrived in Williams Junction at 5:30 AM, (8 hours late). The Grand Canyon Railroad met us with a bus and took us to the hotel in Williams where we registered for a room and immediately went to bed. Although we slept in the coach car on the train, it felt great to crawl into a real bed. We awoke around 8 AM, packed, ate breakfast and walked to an outdoor stage where an old west shootout was reenacted.

We than boarded the train shortly before 10:00. The train was pulled by another steam locomotive. This one was an oil fired locomotive so it was not as dirty as the coal fired locomotive used by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park and took a guided bus tour that was included in our paid for package.

We got great views of the Canyon along the Hermits Road.

Upon return to the south rim village we checked into our room and rested. Finally, we ate and walked back to the canyon to look at it in the very late afternoon sun. Mary Kay stayed and participated in a Sunset Canyon Worship service.

The next day we walked about 3 miles along the canyon rim. We saw a number of people walking down and up the Bright Angle Trail. This trail down into the canyon is 4.5 miles to the river. It consists of a number of switch backs as it works its way around cliffs to get to the river.

We again got some great sights of the canyon including a long distance view of Phantom Ranch, the only place in the canyon where there are overnight cabins. Phantom Ranch is on the north side of the Colorado River and is the green area in the following picture. You must walk or take a mule ride to get to Phantom Ranch.

After our walk we took the shuttle back to the railroad depot for our 4:30PM return ride to Williams. We arrived in Williams in time for dinner while we waited to get back on Amtrak. This time Amtrak was only 1 ½ hours late, not 8 hours late when we arrived. We did not have a sleeper car, so we had another night of trying to sleep while people moved in and out of our coach.