The Grand Canyon and historic Cameron, AZ

     Hello readers!  This post is about our trip to the Grand Canyon, and or stay in Cameron, AZ.

     Cameron 
     Cameron (NavajoNaʼníʼá Hasání) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The population was 885 at the 2010 census.[3] Most of the town's economy is tourist food and craft stalls, restaurants, and other services for north-south traffic from Flagstaff and Page. There is a ranger station supplying information and hiking permits for the Navajo Nation as well as a small selection of books for sale. There is also a large craft store run by the Nation itself; most vendors in the area operate from small private stalls.                          from   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron,_Arizona

     We had read on Campodium that it wasn't that nice of a place to stay.  All gravel.  Park slopes towards River.  No bathrooms or laundry.  Sewer was hard to use-it was way too high.  Bad cell signal.  So, we just dealt with the inconveniences.  We stayed 2 nights, it was around $33.00 each night with Good Sams discount.  The store and restaurant across the street made the visit worth while.  More on that later.

    Soon after we parked we decided to take a trip into the Grand Canyon park to pick up their map to make walking (hiking, ha ha) plans for the next day.

This was my first view of the Grand Canyon.
     I had been to the Grand Canyon back in February of 1985.  I wasn't impressed, I had been in a bad mood anyway.  We just went to one look out that I remember.  There was some sort of building there with a hotel or visitor's center.  It was snowy.  It looked flat.
     This trip was much different.  I didn't realize how immense the whole thing is.  It is 277 miles long.  The width is 4-18 miles.  It goes on and on!  You can't access most of it by car.  I learned some interesting historical facts on this visit.  One about someone who could be an ancestor!


I really like this picture of the raven.   I hope you can read the plaque.

After the short visit, we returned to Cameron.  There is a beautiful bridge that goes over the Little Colorado River.  The river had no water during our visit.  The pic on the left shows the RV park from the bridge.  The pic on the right shows a walking tunnel under the bridge to get to the other side.  The RV park was on one side. A gas station, post office, museum, hotel, and the trading post that had a restaurant and giant gift store was on the other side.  

This is the view for the first half of the car trip to the Grand Canyon.  
 When we starting walking I noticed dust coming up from my shoes.  Look at the bottoms!  All that red sand from Utah and Antelope Canyon!  When Artie got his spa experience at Petco a few days ago, she said she had to bathe him twice because of all the red dirt that came out of his fur!  And he hadn't been hiking in all the places we had been.  I still really like the red canyons a lot.

 The Glen Canyon Dam is in Page, AZ, where we had been just before.  The dam is what made Lake Powell.  Grandcanyon.org says that Grand Canyon NP extends from Glen Canyon Dam, or Lee's Ferry to the Hoover Dam, or the Grand Wash Cliffs.  Google these places if you want more info.

Happy 100th Birthday, Grand Canyon National Park! 

     There are several ways to visit the park.  There are several drives you can take, and there are several shuttles you can take.  The above pictures were from the Visitor's Station.  We drove a little, and took the shuttle bus a little.  I can't remember the names of the places we stopped at.  But it was all quite grand!  





If you so desired, you could walk between shuttle stops.  We did that, too.  Sometimes the path was paved nicely like this, sometimes the path wasn't, and it was right on the edge.

     My maiden name is Hogan.  There is a Hogan genealogy book that I have back home in Fairbanks.   I know that Dan was a common name back in the 1800's.  I'm going to go have a look at the book to see if he is listed.  Business quickly changed, but it doesn't really say if "cousin" Dan Hogan was involved with the new mine.  Which came to be an environmental hazard for the NP.

 Yes, this picture was taken right at an edge.
Now, here are some awesome pictures.  Remember, click on the picture to enlarge it.










There's not much else to say.  Just beautiful.

Here's more about the Cameron Trading Post and the history of the area.
The below picture shows the gas station and collection of buildings I mentioned earlier in this post.

 This is the original bridge that crossed over the Little Colorado River.  It now is closed to traffic probably because it also has a natural gas pipeline.  The second, smaller picture shows the dry river.



     This is the restaurant part of the trading post.  Both Richard and I liked the ceiling.  Right now Artie is resting his head on my keyboard making it hard to type!  The wall hanging is authentic native woven.  They cost into the thousands.  There was a loom there for demonstrations, but no one was demonstrating.  I really like the ones with birds, of course.

      Richard had a fry bread taco.  I had trout.  I love trout!  I ordered a fry bread, too.  Yes, a lot of carbs, but it was soooooo good.


 Lots more decor made of things you can purchase at the shop.  Below you can see a smaller loom, more of a decoration than a working loom.
 The wood decor was quite pretty, too.
      We had seen this parked at the Grand Canyon.  It arrived at the RV park!  Quite the conversation starter!

Here's a better picture of the current bridge to drive over, you can see the suspension bridge, too.



According to Wikipedia  The bridge formerly carried U.S. Route 89, but was replaced by a newer deck truss bridge in 1959. Built in 1911, it has an overall length of 680 feet (210 m) and a main span of 660 feet (200 m). The bridge was built by the Midland Bridge Company of Kansas City for the Office of Indian Affairs and the Indian Irrigation Service. W. H. Code of the Midland Bridge Company was the designer. The suspension design was chosen to address the steep-walled canyon at the crossing, which required a single span with no temporary falsework.[2] When built, the Cameron bridge was the longest suspension span west of the Mississippi River.[3]

And   The bridge was damaged by an overload of sheep in 1937, when it almost collapsed.[2] The damage was repaired and the bridge served highway traffic until 1959. It was sold to the Four Corners Pipeline Company when the new bridge opened, and carries a natural gas pipeline. It is the oldest suspension bridge in Arizona,[2] and one of only two of that type in the state.[4]




     Here's the front to the Trading Post.  Looks are deceiving.   It is 2 1/2 wider than the picture shows, and goes way back.  It is very modern.  I don't know why they can't put some of the money into upgrading the RV park.


The fur babies.

 Arizona, flat land and mountains.


And over some mountains we go to find saguaro cactus!  




 Ending this post with this Halloween picture.  We spent the night at a Harvest Host.  

Thanks for reading.  Next post should be all about MIM,  the Music Instrument Museum!



Comments

  1. Great write up as usual Bridget! How were the crowds? Almost makes me want to go down to the Grand Canyon again.

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    Replies
    1. I would say a little better than Zion. Never had a problem finding a seat on the shuttle. No one was in anyone's way taking pictures. Didn't run into international bus tours, either. Thanks for the compliment.

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