Reporting Live from the Grand Canyon

.....and it sure was grand.

Visiting the Grand Canyon has been the #1 item on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, and I am SO excited to share my adventure with you. If you are even considering a visit to the canyon, THIS IS YOUR SIGN TO BOOK IT AND GO! Words and pictures do not even do the Grand Canyon justice. I was in such awe of it that I couldn’t even speak sentences and just started tearing up when I saw it.

So when you are reporting live from the Grand Canyon, here are my recommendations for places to stay, things to eat, and trails to hike at the Grand Canyon!

Where to Stay:

When planning where to stay Seth and I prefer to find a cool airbnb to call home while on an adventure. Seth is the ultimate cool airbnb finder. I can always depend on him to send at least 4 options before we make a decision and all of them are top tier choices. We stayed in two airbnbs for our Grand Canyon adventure. Was it because we couldn’t decide or someone messed up the original reservation??? I’ll let you decide what you think happened.

Both airbnbs we stayed at were at the same off grid camp called The Nest. The Nest was conveniently located 30 minutes from Williams and about 35 minutes from the entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. To get to The Nest you have to drive down a couple dirt roads, but almost popping a tire is part of the adventure, right?!

The Nest offers you a taste of off grid camping, but with the ~luxury~ of not having to buy or pack any of your own camping gear. You are also not completely alone there because they have a couple airbnbs that they rent out on the property. The airbnbs are pretty spaced out, but you can always meet other people staying there at the community fire pit. The Nest also has some friendly animals at camp, like Dodger the Donkey, Oreo the llama, Chewy the alpaca, Roger the Chicken and Bo the kitty. In the morning we fed the animals, which was a fun way to start the morning.

On night one we stayed in the school bus! The bus was nice because it had a heater, a comfy bed, and a cute backyard with a fire pit, a hammock, and school bus seats. In the morning the desert chickens made sure we were up early to beat the crowd at the Grand

Canyon.

On night two we stayed in the tipi at The Nest. The tipi had two beds, a wood stove to keep us warm, and a mini tipi outhouse next door to us. The tipi also had a fire pit and we made a ~fancy~ dinner of hotdogs and s’mores. We even had a visit from a permanent resident at The Nest, Bo the desert kitty. On both nights at The Nest we stayed up to stargaze and I was seriously blown away by how many stars we could see from the desert.

Things to Eat:

On this adventure 90% of the eating we did was from groceries we bought in Flagstaff on our way to The Nest. If you are adventuring on a budget, food is an easy area to save some cash money dollars. After hiking at the Grand Canyon, Seth and I drove to Williams and went to the historic route 66 strip of stores and restaurants. We stopped at Cruisers 66 Diner to enjoy some post-hike burgers and BBQ on their outdoor patio. The food was *chefs kiss*. The fries were the star of the show for me.

Day at the Grand Canyon:

If you are going to take one piece of advice from this reporting live guide, let it be this—— start your Grand Canyon day as early as possible. Trust me. It will be easier to find parking, less of a wait at the gate, and the trails will not be crowded. We were into the park before 8 a.m. and it was the ideal time. We started our day by parking at the visitors center and walking to Mather Point. We walked along the path for a little before heading to the car to drive to the Bright Angel Trailhead. We parked by the Maswik Cafe a walked about a quarter of a mile to the trailhead. We hiked down to the 1.5 mile rest stop, enjoyed some snacks, admired the view, and turned around. Going down was fairly easy (except for that moment when I slipped on ice and fell on my butt). Going up…whew *wipes sweat* she was tough. Be sure to pack LOTS of water and take breaks as needed when hiking back up.

We were also thinking about doing the scenic drive, buuuuut we somehow lost our map and couldn’t find our way to it. We also saw that they rent cruiser bikes at the Visitors Center, which would make for a fun addition to an afternoon at the Grand Canyon (we didn’t rent them) (but now I’m feeling fomo that I didn’t get to ride with no handlebars next to the coolest view).

Hope you enjoyed my recs and pictures for the Grand Canyon! xo, Ris 🦋