A Last Minute Trip to the Grand Canyon

Many years ago, I decided to take a spontaneous trip with a college friend. We chose a destination we had never visited - the Grand Canyon - and then took off from Los Angeles for the weekend. Somewhere along Interstate 15, we decided to visit the Grand Canyon's North Rim rather than the more popular South Rim. To reach the North Rim, you have to drive through Nevada toward southern Utah and then south into Arizona.

Our last minute trip proved memorable. We stopped at several interesting sites along the way, including a ghost town in Calico, California and an old western movie town in Kanab, Utah. We drove past breathtaking landscapes, visiting the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and Zion National Park in Utah.

It was late when we reached the final route to the North Rim. That's when our trip got more interesting than expected. While driving along a dark mountain road, a very large elk crossed our path. I slammed on the brakes and our car skidded to a stop. "Thank goodness we didn't hit him!" I said to my friend and then added, "What a beautiful animal...did you see his antlers?"

Our car was out of gas when we reached Jacob Lake, about 45 miles from the North Rim. Unfortunately the gas station was closed for the day and there was no vacancy at the only lodge in town. We had no choice but to camp out in our car and wait until morning. We huddled under blankets and layers of clothing to keep warm as it was only 35 degrees outside. The next morning, the gas station attendant told us the North Rim had just opened for the season; we hadn't even bothered to check before our trip whether it was open or not!

As you can imagine, the views and landscape of the Grand Canyon were well worth the 500+ mile car ride and a few inconveniences. In retrospect, if I took a last minute trip again, I would do a few things differently. Like making sure the place I want to visit is open, booking reservations in advance for lodging, keeping emergency supplies in the car, etc. I know it sounds like common sense, but when you're a spontaneous traveler, you can sometimes forget that a good trip requires more than just a car and a full tank of gas!