We recently visited the wonderful city of Flagstaff, Arizona while on a cross country road trip. We got an early start on a Sunday morning and headed north to the Grand Canyon.
We decided to take the scenic route on 89N through the Coconino Forest. Once you arrive in the town of Cameron you turn towards the Grand Canyon on AZ-64. I believe there was a gas station in Cameron and a few stores but once you turn on AZ-64 there aren’t any gas stations and the road is about 30 miles to the park. The drive is absolutely beautiful.
The drive takes about an hour and 35 minutes and is 82 miles to the East entrance of the Grand Canyon which is also called Desert View.
When I was doing my research about the Grand Canyon I kept reading that this entrance is less visited so that is exactly why I picked it! It is still considered the south rim and once you are inside the park you can drive to the more commonly visited village. However, we didn’t choose to do that!
We loved that we could fill up our water bottles from the billboard display.
There are nice shade canopy areas with benches so you can stop and take a break if you want. We arrived very early so we practically had the park to ourselves!
There is a trading post and another general store along with bathrooms.
The watchtower is pretty amazing!
There is a small store on the main level and a place for demonstrations.
You can climb to the top of the tower! The views are stunning from the top!
The inside of the tower is pretty amazing also. It is very hot inside the tower so that’s another reason to get an early start!
I’m very glad that we visited the East entrance / Desert View part of the Grand Canyon. Years ago, we did the north rim so I guess all I have left is visiting the village!
Kerry visited the south rim of the Grand Canyon, you can read about it here!
I highly suggest making Flagstaff part of your trip to the Canyon! For a great hotel check out the DoubleTree! We enjoyed staying there.
-Crystal
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