Grand Canyon Train Ride

[Wendy]

I love the NPS campground at North Rim but I believe it has a 40' limit....don't remember but I think you're bigger? If you don't mind boondooking, and I've seen you do that a fair number of times, there are places off the highway heading from Jacobs Lake to North Rim where people park and camp all the time.....Sky would be in doggie heaven.

We've stayed in the Forest Service campground at Jacobs Lake but we were in the VW and I really wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to site size. Definitely no hookups, though. There is a private campground there, also, Kaibab Camper Village. Closer than Kanab.

You might also want to think about leaving the motorhome in Kanab or wherever it's parked, drive into north rim and spend a night or two at the lodge.....nothing like a night at an NPS lodge.

Nothing wrong with staying in Kanab, either. We've thought of moving there....Cortez is up to 8500 people, toooo big.

 

[Smoky]

We are just under 40 feet so we should be OK.  How do I find these places between Jacob's lake and the rim?  And are you comfortable leaving the MH boondocked there while you travel around in the toad?

 

[Wendy]

We've never felt uncomfortable leaving our MH anywhere.....Mr Sam is usually there to chase anyone away. He's pretty harmless but he is loud and has big teeth.

Do you have a DeLorme Arizona Atlas? It shows most of the side roads. You pretty much head south from Jacobs Lake toward North Rim and turn off on a forest service road. People boondock like crazy out there. Last road we were on was FR213 (head east) and there were lots of places. You might want to try a side trip in the toad scoping out sites before driving the MH out the forest service roads. They're almost all gravel and/or dirt which I know you're not thrilled about. But the peace and quiet, the coyotes yipping, and the stars are worth any worries about the MH paint job.

Under 40' you should fit in the NPS campground at North Rim but you almost have to have reservations or get there at 8 am and sit waiting for someone to leave. But it's nice to be in the park. Although it's also nice to be outside the park where the regulations are a bit more lax.

This talk of North Rim has me asking Mike if we can make a visit next month before it closes up for the winter....he didn't say 'yes' but he didn't say 'no' either!! And it's less than 5 hours away.

 

[Smoky]

Thanks for the info Wendy.

We did look at one forest road last year.  It was just past the little country store inside the park, coming in from the north.  there were workampers running that store and they showed us a road to look at.  the Taurus struggled up and down it, but no way would our motorhome make it.  Most of the spots to park would have required 4 wheel drive.  We found a couple of spots the Taurus would fit in, but the ones a motorhome could fit in could not be accessed by the MH.

However, I am not at all sure this service road is representative of the norm.  Inspecting by toad is a good idea and we will do that next year.  We love boondocking, but I have found moving a 39,000 pound motorhome a LOT different than my old 30 foot trailer.

 

[colleenfl]

D2
I would like to hear input from you if you took the train ride?
We have made reservations for the train next summer we opted for the more expensive class so we could have all the benefits such as the outside observation platform and the doom on our car, etc. We are also going to go into the canyon by car as well.
I heard the mules you have to be mule weight and the fill up way in advanced, my husband would not make mule weight so I never bothered to look into it anymore but heard it is awesome but the mules can be really stubborn.

Good Luck
Colleen FL

 

[DougJ]

Hi Colleen

we opted for the more expensive class so we could have all the benefits such as the outside observation platform and the doom on our car, etc.

I've been to the south rim via the train from Williams twice.  Once on my own in May, arriving in a blinding snow storm!.  The second time in October, in gorgeous weather.

On both occasions I booked one way in the dome car and the other way in the "last car," whatever that's called, but is the one with the outside platform which is a good vantage point for capturing a few images.

If I get down south again I hope to take my wife with me to the south rim and we'll do it again the expensive way.  And even if we're down south in our rig, we'll probably rent a car in Phoenix and drive from theire to Williams, may be spend a night at the Tovar(?) hotel.

Ciao,

Doug

PS:  If you're going by train, don't forget to take in the short cowboy melodrama that happens by the station before departure.

 

[D2]

Colleen,

We opted not to take the train ride into the Grand Canyon.  We drove to the park and from the highway, I didn't see any spectacular scenery that would have been viewed from the train but there have been folks on the forum who have reported they enjoyed the train ride.  We also didn't want to be totally dependent on the shuttle service so for us, it worked out to drive ourselves.