Grand Canyon Pt.II

After photographing the early morning wildlife, and a breakfast of croissants, we began the day walking the 2-mile rim trail from the village to the bike hire centre. The trail was surprisingly empty and we had much of the view entirely to ourselves. This was perhaps explained later by the bike hire staff who said the average time spent at Grand Canyon is 17 minutes.

Once we'd been fitted with our bikes, we set out to Yaki Point, an easy ride to the west of the Visitors Centre. The views from the trailhead were, unsurprisingly, fab. Heading back, we cycled to the hotel, stopped briefly for lunch, before heading east to Hermit's Rest, beginning with a fun 6% incline in the baking early afternoon sunshine. Hermit's Rest is a 10-mile each-way trip and, with four applications of factor 50 sunscreen, we made it there and back with no significant burns, even outracing the thunderstorm on the way back. We also had the excitement of seeing an elk on the way home; Ben was most pleased (although still bitter about the lack of loose in Canada).

The evening held the excitement of trying American beers...we picked six and shared each one. Sadly, Mum and Kev managed to pick there porters for their choices - little variety! But, much fun had and a good end to a brilliant but exhausting day.Read more