Train Hold-ups in the Wild West
Williams -> Grand Canyon, 4th November 2001
As comfortable as the chairs were, I'm not very good at sleeping
unless I'm lying flat, so after a restless night of twisting &
turning, my alarm started beeping at me at 5:30am. Reluctantly we
started to get our things together and got ready to get off the
train. Outside it was still dark and we were constantly yawning
because our brains were screaming 'It's still night, you should be
asleep!'.
The train pulled up at a tiny, unlit square of tarmac, surrounded by
forest, in the middle of nowhere that constituted the Williams
station. We stepped out into the darkness, Blair Witch images taking
the opportunity to fill our minds. We looked around and saw a small,
nice-looking, white mini-van waiting for us. As we watched, a large
skin-head, the driver, walked up to us and politely directed us to
the van. We walked over, followed by a young American couple going
to the same place as us.
We all sat quietly in the bus, still half-asleep, as we wound
through quiet tracks bordered by forest. As the time passed, the
trees got fewer and fewer and the sun started to show it's face. Our
level of life increased proportionally to the amount of sunlight.
We'd originally intended to take the train (the mini-bus is a free
service included in our train pass) to the closest stop, Williams
Junction, then walk to the Grand Canyon. However, when the driver
told us that the Grand Canyon was another 2 1/2 hours by train (not
an Amtrak train) from Williams Junction, that soon quashed our
plans.
 About 20 minutes later we pulled up outside a huge, grand and
amazing looking hotel. The driver led us up the drive, carrying as
many bags as he could manage. We all followed, open-mouthed at the
quality of this hotel. As we stepped into the reception, our jaws
dropped even more, right to the ground. The interior of the hotel
was even more amazing than the outside. We stared around in awe at
the luxuriousness of this place. This hotel was at least 5-star
quality and it was a good job we weren't going to stay here, I don't
think we could have afforded to sleep in even the rubbish bin here!
 The lady at the desk was really friendly and helpful and managed to
book our tickets on the Grand Canyon Railway at very reduced rates.
The train journey was still a big chunk of money though, and it made
a hefty dent on out budgets, but hey ho, it's the only way we can
see The Canyon. Once the tickets were sorted, she told us we had a 3
hour wait until the free cowboy show started and the train left (it
was currently 6:30am). Ok, we looked around the reception foyer,
looking for somewhere comfortable to plant ourselves. But the lady
then told us that we had free use of the swimming pool, Jacuzzi, gym
and showers until it was time to go! Wow! She even gave us
complimentary towels! Thanks!
We all hurried out to the (indoor) swimming pool area, dumped our
bags on the side, got changed and jumped into the lovely pool. Ahhhh,
now THAT was needed. We spent an hour or so swimming around the pool
and relaxing, then a friendly American lady started chatting to us.
She was fascinated by our travelling plans and she must have started
to like us, because she invited us to her house for dinner when we
reach San Jose (in a few days time). Yeay! She then added that if we
phone her the day before we reach San Jose, she'll pick us up at the
train station. Thanks again!
 After we'd had our fill of the pool & gym, we headed back to
reception and sorted out the things that we'd need over the next
couple of days. We'd decided to leave our main bags at the hotel and
only take our small bags and any essentials. By the time that was
all sorted, it was 9:30, so we wandered outside to see the cowboy
show.
After a few minutes, we grew bored of the show. Basically, it was
group of old guys playing cards and shooting each other. Well, it
seemed to entertain the kids and the Japanese tourists.
We boarded the train a few minutes later, and then set off for our 2
hour journey to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. As we drove off,
the staff at the hotel waved goodbye to us, in a really strained
manner. It was obvious that they were forced to wave at every train
load of passengers that left. They all stood, shoulders hunched,
waving mechanically and dejectedly. I waved excitedly back, but to
no effect.
The train journey was pretty average at first, we passed through
miles and miles of dusty scrubland. Then after about 40 minutes, a
couple of guys dressed up as cowboys played a few songs as they
walked through the carriage. Then, to continue the 'Wild West'
theme, there was a pretend hold-up by some cowboy bandits who
stopped the train then proceeded to walk down the train demanding
money & jewellery. Quite amusing, but mainly pretty sad. Oh well, it
made an interesting 'themed' experience.
 After another half-hour or so of themed fun, we stopped at the rim
of the Grand Canyon. We grabbed our bags and scampered up to Hopi
Point to have our first view of The Canyon...and WOW! What an
stunning, amazing, awe-inspiring, breath-taking, fantastic
and...every other positive superlative word...view! That is really a
unique wonder of the world. It's difficult to explain the sheer
scale and beauty of this place, you have to see it yourself to
appreciate it. I've taken a few photos to try to help explain it,
but they don't do it justice at all. You must see the Grand Canyon
at least once in your life.
After we'd tried our best to take in this awesome view, we decided
to look for a way to do a walk down the canyon. I'd read about a
place called Phantom Reach, a camp-site at the bottom of the canyon.
Apparently, you can walk down to the bottom in a day, camp at the
bottom, then walk back up the next day. During our search for more
information about Phantom Reach, we noticed that our tickets said we
had to return to Williams on the train today, in a few hours! There
is only one train each way each day, but we wanted to spend the
night here. Luckily, we quickly found the train office and they
changed our tickets without any hassle.
The offices, accommodation and facilities on the South Rim of the
canyon are spread over a large area, with a network of free buses
connecting then. However, this means that if you need to go to
various buildings, it takes a long time, waiting for and travelling
on the buses. After getting some lunch, we spent a couple of hours
travelling all around the park area, trying to get advice about
hiking from the various offices. The main office eventually tells us
that it's now too late in the day to get the required walking
permit. If we left now, it would be dark before we reached the
bottom, which is unsafe. We then inquired about the accommodation at
the base of the canyon, and we were told that it was all fully
booked and that there was a couple of days waiting list. Great. We
finally went to the backcountry office to see if there were any
short walks we could do, and they just recommended that we wait
until tomorrow.
Ok, so now we need to find some accommodation at the rim of the
canyon. The only option we'd found so far, was the Angel Lodge, a
excessively expensive, classy hotel. By now, we'd been walking
around, back & forward for almost the whole day, and everyone was
getting a little irritated, accompanied by Nat feeling sick, we were
not happy bunnies at the moment.
As a last resort, we tried the Mather Camping ground, another long
bus ride away. We all filed sulkily onto the bus and sat in silence.
When we reached the campground, we hauled ourselves along a steep,
tarmac trail to a small office. The lady told us they had loads of
empty tent sites, and they only cost $2 each! Now, as anyone will
tell you, any form of bargain or discount is all it takes to make
the mood of backpackers rocket up to high happiness. Backpackers are
naturally stingy, and they love cheap things. The lady then
proceeded to half the price to $1 each, even better. As you can
imagine, we practically floated, content, to our small tent site,
sheltered from all other life by a shield of trees.
The next hour or so, was spent trying our best to find ingenious
ways to pitch our tent. The ground was rock solid and we didn't have
a mallet. As the pile of bent pegs started to grow, we began to have
some success with using handy rocks to club the pegs in. In about 30
minutes or so, the others managed to get the tent up, while I
supervised (stood around watching & eating Pringles).
After popping to the shops for some food, we decided to take a short
walk. It was too dark to make walking near the canyon worthwhile, so
we headed out to a nearby view point. After a 30 minute expedition
style walk, complete with marching songs, we reached the view point
on the edge of a dark forest. Of course, it was too dark to see
anything (duh!) so we quickly headed back to our tent.
After some chatting, and scaring each other with Blair Witch
stories, we all nodded off to sleep.
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