Rocks in a grand way

It was 10pm in Williams, Arizona, US, and just below freezing. Everything was either closed or closing and we didn't have a bed for the night.

Shivering on the street outside our bed and breakfast, we tried again, in vain, to reach the proprietor.

We had planned to leave Los Angeles at noon, since check-in at the Red Garter Bed and Bakery was strictly between 4pm and 8pm.

After leaving an hour late, we were caught in holiday traffic and were crawling in first gear for another hour.

Rush hour

We were going to have to drive like the Santa Ana winds to check-in on time and that we did, with only the briefest of stops.

Just after 7pm, after hurtling across California and Arizona for five hours, we realised with surprise that we were going to make it with ten minutes to spare.

We decided to call ahead and ask them to wait, just in case. To our horror, we learnt that Arizona is on Mountain Time in winter: It was already past 8pm. “Call when you get in,'' said the proprietor, on his way home. “You will be given instructions.''

Two-street town

Williams, with a non-tourist population of … oh I don't know, five?, is a two-street town about an hour south of Grand Canyon National Park.

The historic Route 66 loops through. The Grand Canyon train chuffs out of here and in winter, the themed “Polar Express'' runs most nights, making Williams a lively family stop.

It is also the home of the Red Garter, a restored former saloon and bordello, built in 1897 and said to be haunted.

The night we reached, the hope of checking into the B&B gave up the ghost …

We had to check into a faceless motel with a 24-hour desk, deciding cynically that “full of character'' was just a euphemism for “bad service''.

We had made one gaffe with the time zone but, luckily, our near-afterthought about Weather.com saved us a second one.

Many tourists assume Arizona doesn't get cold in winter, not realising that the Grand Canyon region is at an average elevation of 5,000 feet (the southern rim of the canyon is 6,850 feet).

The temperature on our first morning was — 7°C and hovered around 0°C for the rest of the day.

Thawing to it

And so, the first thing we did was have a fortifying all-American breakfast at a Route 66 café, after which we accepted the Red Garter's apologies (a problem with phone forwarding).

Anyway, all was forgiven when we saw the room. And after we checked in, it was time to visit the canyon.

One of the first stops is Mather Point and unless you plan to hike down into the canyon, other viewing areas offer only minor variations on the theme.

But what a theme it is. The Grand Canyon is a collection of hundreds of canyons and some of these, such as the Abyss, would be wonders of the world just by themselves. But there's much to see in the vicinity, too.

Much to see

Not far from here, for example, are the Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments.

This region was settled by Hopi farmers in the 1100s before the area was devastated by a volcanic eruption.

Cinder cones visible everywhere, as well as the shapes of two lava flows attest to the fact.

The best way to describe the landscape? NASA used the area to train astronauts for the moon landing.

The drive between Sunset and Wupatki goes from lunar to stellar as a series of pastel bands leading to the horizon come into view: vistas of the famous Painted Desert.

It is against this soft banner that the Wupatki park
offsets a harsh landscape dotted with the remains
of masonry pueblos or villages.

One of these, the Wupatki Pueblo, stood three-storeys high in some places — sophisticated for a land that looks as if it wouldn't support anything but cactus.

But the Hopi people thrived here and still preserve their culture.

Travelling south, the plateau gathers itself up and closes in on the road.

The Oak Creek Canyon is the first of many surprises on the way. Steep, rocky and covered with trees, it is impressive enough to hold its own.

The road goes down a series of hairpin bends and on to the town of Sedona. The Red Rock State Park is there and almost all stops make for pictures that scream “Arizona'': blazing red rocks set against an intensely blue sky, a tribute to the Earth's immensity.

This is why a visit to the “Grand Canyon State'' is a powerful experience; it's a much-needed antidote to a time that keeps insisting we live in a “small world''.

Gautam Raja is a US-based freelance writer

Williams ... Go there ... From the UAE

From Dubai
Las Vegas Airport is one of the closest international airport from where one can take a car, a helicopter ride or a domestic flight to Williams or Grand Canyon National Park.
KLM flies via Amsterdam and Mineapolis. Fare from Dh5,450
Delta flies five days a week via Atlanta. Fare from Dh5,400
— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Ph: 04 3166160