Yeah, that's snow. At 7:00 in the morning. It's pretty awful trying to pack up a tent in it. I'm still not sure when I'll get a chance to clean/dry it out. Once I was all packed up and just a little soggy, I drove to the GC Village to see the main event. This was the extent of the view:
It was at this point (tired, wet, hungry, and disappointed) that I proceeded to have a little meltdown. I decided the best thing for me to do was to go into a lodge and have a scone and tea and think about things. I also got a banana, which is really strange because I don't like bananas, but some part of me decided I needed one. Anyway, I decided I would wait out the fog and see the inside of the lodges in the meantime. The lodges were nice but a bit underwhelming compared to Timberline. It's cool they were designed by a woman in the the late 1800s though.
The fog finally seemed to be lifting around 11:30 so I took the scenic shuttle to the west of the main village. There were some good views but it was very cold, windy, and often hailing/snowing so you had to really want to see it.
I took this photo during one of the sunniest moments of the day. Once the clouds lifted enough that you could see the top of the canyon it definitely became a lot grander. I intended on taking a short hike into the canyon but by the time the shuttle got back it was getting late and had started really snowing again, so I just took off for the East Rim Drive down to Flagstaff.
The snow made part of drive prettier, other parts just plain treacherous.
The weather let up briefly while I stopped at Pipe Creek Vista (?) further on down Highway 64, which was my favorite view. My timing was perfect again, I got into Flagstaff right as it was getting dark. I'm especially glad it worked out that way because it was 33 degrees and snowing as I got into town. According to the staff at the Hostel this is not normal weather for this time of year. I think my lesson for the last couple of days is to work on making the best of disappointing situations. I'm glad I managed to see that canyon at all today. I was considering rearranging my schedule to go back tomorrow but it sounds like the weather will be more of the same so I think I'll just move on as planned. Hopefully New Mexico will be warmer!
Tomorrow: a number of monuments and parks (depending on time and weather) on the way to Albuquerque.
I can't believe that it was snowing at the Grand Canyon this late in the year! I'm glad that the weather cleared off so that you could at least see it though. Did you stay warm enough?
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