Across Covid America - Tour of National Parks 2020 - Day 21

Day 21

16257 mileage

8:46 A.M.

14177 steps

Surprise, Surprise. Today we ate breakfast in an actual restaurant in our hotel. They had a full menu complete with actual pancakes and bacon! Nothing that came shrink wrapped or required microwaving. It was awesome!

We booked a bicycle ride from Bright Angle Bikes right next to the South Rim Visitor's Center. We went over the three possible routes (red, orange, blue) and decided to start with the shortest, orange. Guided tours were on offer, but we decided to just head out on our own for five hours. The Orange Path took us off to the right of the Visitor's Center to Yaki Point. It was an easy ride on paved road with few hills. It takes you right along the South Rim where you feel like one wrong move and your bike would be sailing off the cliff. At least that's how us Clumsy Folk view things. 

We could look down into the canyon and see the Colorado River, the Bright Angel Trail, and stop to view the Mather Monument, set up to honor the man who saw the potential in the Grand Canyon as a national treasure. 

We rode past deer and elk who hardly gave us notice and made it out to the point in no time. We headed back to the bike shop and decided to see how far we could get on the Red Trail. The 7 mile trek up steep hills, but closed to traffic. The shuttle service wasn't available due to Covid-19, so we were on our own. 

We made it out to Hopi Point, which is about halfway. We had to ride past the village and the train depot that was still offering rides. I will admit there were a few times where we had to walk our bikes uphill. But there is something a little freeing about riding right in the road with no worries about cars getting in the way.

Coming back down into the Village seemed to be over in seconds since most of it was downhill. We finished the ride back at the bike shop with still an hour left on our time having riding about 17 miles. We drove back to the Yavapai Tavern for some lunch outside on their patio. 

Then we checked out the famous El Tovar hotel and the Hopi Museum before driving out on the other side of Hwy 64 to Navajo Point. It was here that the road was closed to traffic to protect the Reservation inhabitants. We could just see the Watchtower but weren't able to go up inside. 

Bucket List is getting pretty short over here!