No picture, no movie, no written description, no painting can prepare you for the Grand Canyon. In it's sheer size, complexity, variety, and overwhelming spirit, it is truly one of the earth's most extraordinary places. We spent three days in, along, and around it, and came away with a sense of wonder along with plans for our next visit. But first, a word about getting there.
The important fact to know is that Arizona is on a huge slant upwards to the north, so that when you get to Flagstaff and the south rim of the Canyon, you're well over a mile above sea level. This means that even though you're at roughly the same latitude as South Carolina, March doesn't necessarily mean spring. And I wasn't very enthusiastic about driving a 40 foot bus through a March snowstorm on the Colorado plateau, so we left the RV about 100 miles north of Phoenix, just off I-17, and headed north in the car. Good move.
Here's a snowman (he's looking through binoculars into the Canyon) that Ben made the day we left the Canyon. I felt silly for the first three days seeing RV's on dry roads under clear skies, but when we woke up to six inches of new snow and predictions of sleet and freezing rain on the day we had to get east to Colorado, I felt like a genius.
Ben made another snowman of someone jumping over the edge. Imaginative child.
Surprisingly, only 10% of the visitors to the Grand Canyon ever venture below the rim, and only 1% go all the way to the bottom. We didn't make it all the way down, but had some beautiful hikes down part way on the Bright Angel and South Kaibab trails. Here are Molly, Mom, and Ben on the way down. Molly was too short for the mule ride, but after seeing some of the drop-offs, I was just as glad to be on my own feet.
Take
this stretch, for example. Those two specks you see in the left center are
Ben and Mary; the drop at the turn is at least a thousand feet.
And of course, you should never go hiking without your walking stick; here's Molly with hers that Mom got in Big Bend National Park.
Travel Tip of the Week--if you're planning a trip anything like ours, at your first National Park or Monument, get a Golden Access Pass for $50.00; it gets you in free to any and all National Parks or Monuments thereafter. It'll pay for itself in the first two weeks.
Here's Dad contemplating nature on a rock perch about 2,000 feet up. The picture came about because I saw a French guy (we didn't discuss foreign policy) sitting there as I was going by and was so struck by the setting that I offered to take his picture. I then gingerly crept out on the rock and he returned the favor. Wonder if my picture of him is on his website?
Molly has gotten into the Junior Ranger program at the parks; earning a badge
involves a kind of treasure hunt through the park museum or environs and a
project of some kind. Molly's project was to fill a trash bag; we helped and
she got a cool patch for her jacket.
Here she is studying the rule book while Mom checks out a poster. Notice the fleeces.
Another view down into the canyon; the early explorers estimated the Colorado river at the bottom was six feet wide. They missed--by a factor of 50; it's more like 300. The Canyon is almost exactly a mile deep and it has a completely different climate at the bottom. When it was about 60 degrees where we were at the rim, it was over 80 at Phantom Ranch.
And here was a surprise--a series of petroglyphs just below the top of Bright Angel trail. We never would have noticed (I was looking down and puffing pretty hard at that point), but a nice lady hiking with us pointed them out.
And of course, you should never go hiking without your walking stick; here's Molly with hers that Mom got in Big Bend National Park.
Travel Tip of the Week--if you're planning a trip anything like ours, at your first National Park or Monument, get a Golden Access Pass for $50.00; it gets you in free to any and all National Parks or Monuments thereafter. It'll pay for itself in the first two weeks.
Here's Dad contemplating nature on a rock perch about 2,000 feet up. The picture came about because I saw a French guy (we didn't discuss foreign policy) sitting there as I was going by and was so struck by the setting that I offered to take his picture. I then gingerly crept out on the rock and he returned the favor. Wonder if my picture of him is on his website?
Molly has gotten into the Junior Ranger program at the parks; earning a badge
involves a kind of treasure hunt through the park museum or environs and a
project of some kind. Molly's project was to fill a trash bag; we helped and
she got a cool patch for her jacket. Here she is studying the rule book while Mom checks out a poster. Notice the fleeces.
Ben
on the trail; he's a mad hiker--just takes off and only waits around for us
if he has something special to show us. He also enjoys being able to beat
me up the hill in any and all cases. I can still beat him in arm wrestling,
but barely. I've told him that Dad's have a sixth sense as to the exact moment
their son can take them and thereafter refuse further challenges. His time
is coming in about a year.
Another view down into the canyon; the early explorers estimated the Colorado river at the bottom was six feet wide. They missed--by a factor of 50; it's more like 300. The Canyon is almost exactly a mile deep and it has a completely different climate at the bottom. When it was about 60 degrees where we were at the rim, it was over 80 at Phantom Ranch.
And here was a surprise--a series of petroglyphs just below the top of Bright Angel trail. We never would have noticed (I was looking down and puffing pretty hard at that point), but a nice lady hiking with us pointed them out.
We
do plan to come back--to visit the North Rim and hike all the way down, stay
at the bottom for a couple of days, and hike (slowly) out.
What a place; what a trip.
What a place; what a trip.