Help plan a trip to the Grand Canyon

[D Martin]

We are wanting to plan a trip from Atlanta GA to the Grand Canyon. We have about 2 weeks. I would love to hear about your trips. Where to camp at the canyon and along the way. Good free spots as well as pay spots I dont mind parking in a Wall Mart lot but want to hit some nice camp grounds as well.

What are the must sees as well as th dont bothers.

Thanks for your help

Don

[Donna D.]

I've never camped it....but south of the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff is the red rock country. It's absolutely spectacular. Here's a website about Sedona, Arizona and describes some of the stuff to see.

You may find the website interesting too. The picture at the top is some of the red rock country. Sedona.net

[gail todd]

Check out Lake Powell-it has a nice campground at Wahweap. Also Lee's Ferry; the North Rim is beautiful and a little less crowded-the campground nearby is at Jacob's Lake. Flagstaff and vicinity is worth a visit. Mormon Lake has a nice campground. North of Flagstaff is Sunset Crater-also worth a visit. All of these places are within a half day's drive of Grand Canyon. Have fun.
Gail Todd

[Frederick L. Simson]

Good free spots...

Kaibob Lake Campground
courtesy: John Lawrence

Kaibob Lake Campground Map

[Frederick L. Simson]

...as well as pay spots

KOA franchises are the closest campgrounds to the Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon KOA is the closest to the entrance of the South Rim. However, it is a "newer" park with immature landscaping laid out like a suburban subdivision. It was surrounded by open grassland and had little shade during our last visit. But it is the closest one.

Circle Pines KOA is right off Interstate 40 at exit 167. Only slightly farther away from the South Rim entrance, it is nestled in a Pine Forest. This is my choice, and IMHO the best franchise in the KOA system. They have a nice cafe and an indoor swimming pool and saunas. WiFi is available.

Williams, Arizona is a good place to see in it's own right. The town plays up it's route 66 heritage, and has several excellent restaraunts. This is the location of the station for the train into the Grand Canyon.

[Linda R002]

We were just there Wednesday. It had snow on the sides of the road and was cold. We stayed in the Trailer Village and it was nice. Good sized camp spots for about average price. I think with tax it was $28 per night. They have full hook ups when the water isn't frozen. They told us it was the first time the whole system had frozen. We had booked the mule trip and it was a wonderful experience. It is a really good idea to book that in advance. At the entrance they charged us $25.00 so we felt glad that we were inside the park for our whole adventure. I have no problems recommending the in park RV park. We didn't check out the dry camping areas.

[Adrian W]

I assume you will be traveling on I-40, if in need of a place to stop in Albuquerque take side trip up I-25 to Bernalillo & Coronado State Park; over by Grants off I-40 is Bluewater Lake State Park and by Gallup there is Red Rock State Parkhttp://www.ci.gallup.nm.us/rrsp/00182_redrock.html)

By Santa Rosa there is Santa Rosa Lake State Parkhttp://www.newmexico.org/place/loc/p...place/486.html)

Coronado State Mon't next to the SP:
http://www.newmexico.org/place/loc/parks/p.../place/408.html

Bluewater Lake State Park:
http://www.newmexico.org/place/loc/parks/p.../place/480.html

El Morro National Monument if you have the time is a neat place down from Grants and to get to it you would drive by the western edge of El Malpais National Monument (lot of lava flows around Grants): http://www.nps.gov/elma/

El Morro: http://www.nps.gov/elmo/

In Arizona the Petrified Forest National Park is just of I-40 Drive through the park (28 miles): http://www.nps.gov/pefo/

Out from Flagstaff there is Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument: http://www.nps.gov/sucr/

Wupatki National Monument is on a loop drive from Sunset as well: http://www.nps.gov/wupa/

We stayed at a Nat'l Forest CG close to Sunset Crater and drove up and by the Canyon but it is a long drive if one is spending more than one day at the Canyon. We did the loop by Wupatki over to the main north/south hwy from Flag and entered the Grand Canyon from the East Entrance and came out the the West and back to I-40 a long drive, we a day trip out it.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Utah/Arizona is a little farther over to the northeast of the Grand Canyon and Flag, but is a really neat area to see. Lot of movies were make there.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/monument_valley/

http://www.desertusa.com/monvalley/du_muv_camp.html

Also in AZ Canyon de Chelly National Monument: http://www.nps.gov/cach/
They have a free campground also.

In New Mexico:
Santa Fe would be interesting: http://www.santafe.org/Visiting_Santa_Fe/
State park by Santa Fe: http://www.newmexico.org/place/loc/parks/p.../place/482.html
Wal-mart will also allow over night stays.

A list of NM Nat'l Monuments: http://www.nps.gov/state/nm/

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Utah/Arizona one of my favorite places, lot of movies have been shot there.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/monument_valley/

Have a good trip and hope the Canyon is clear for you when you are there. There is a lot of neat things to see out here in the West and Southwest.



the DesertHawk