Shuttling On

Folks may recall that last year when I was at the Grand Canyon I had a bit of an incident with the Shuttle Bus system. I wrote about it in Abyss Bus Barefoot Ban.

Today was a bit of a rest day here at the Grand Canyon, so my son and I did a bit of shuttle riding, heading out to Hermit’s Rest.

First, let me say that I wrote the Shuttle System at Zion National Park without a bit of problem. The Shuttle System there is heavily integrated into the Park, so it’s really the only way to get just about anywhere.

As I noted in the older post about the Grand Canyon system, there is no rule prohibiting bare feet. I never could get an official copy of anything from the bus company (and I suspect that is because nothing exists). Anyways, on this trip I had no idea what to expect, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

The rules are even posted at the front of the buses. Here’s the main one.

Overhead Rules

No smoking, food or drinks – except water
No pets – service animals are welcome
Do not stand forward of the white line
Keep hands and heads inside the bus

There is also a picture version that added “No Smoking”, “No Food”, and “No Radios”.

More Overhead Rules

We made it out to Mohave Point. Here I am with the Colorado River behind me. You can also make out Granite Rapids down there.

At Mohave Point

From Mohave we rode a bus with a different drive to Pima Point. It just so happened that the driver for this bus was the same one who gave me trouble last year. I’m pretty sure she noticed my bare feet (but cannot be sure), but she didn’t say anything.

Here’s Ian at Pima Point (farther west), and you should be able to see Granite Rapids below.

At Pima Point

All in all, today I boarded a shuttle 5 times without having any trouble at all. It’s an encouraging sign; maybe something was said by somebody higher up.

But with this sort of thing one never knows.