September 11-14, 2014 - Days 105 to 107
Grand Canyon National Park
When one thinks of the magnificent national wonders of the world, one thinks of Grand Canyon National Park. In the northwestern reaches of Arizona, the Colorado River carved the grandest of canyons. Measuring 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and 1 mile deep, this canyon is a sight everyone must see.
Norm had seen a glimpse of it 13 years ago on a trip with his daughters, and I just had to look over the edge for myself.
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| Norm and I perched out on a rock on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park |
After a rather long, 6 hour drive from Las Vegas, we arrived at the South Rim, at Grand Canyon Camper Village, just outside the park.
The sites were bare bones, to be sure. Dirt mixed with gravel, open, and rather ugly compared to what we have been enjoying of late. We got a “double wide” site which gave us a little elbow room, and made it bearable. The choices, if you want full hook-up, are few – even for those of us that made reservations months in advance.
We set up, and then took off for the visitor’s center. We were pretty tired, and it was dinner time, but we took the brief walk to the edge of the canyon and peered over.
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| At 6:45PM the sun was setting, casting a warm glow over the canyon |
Oh, my! The sun was setting, casting a rich glow on the sheer cliffs below. For the past month we have been looking up at the cliffs - now we are looking down over them. What a change!
We took a few dozen photos then headed back to make dinner and to get ready to hike very early in the morning.
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| I have always had a thing for Smoky the Bear! |
The South Kaibab Trail could only be accessed by shuttle bus, classified as a “difficult and hot” 3 mile round trip hike. That does not sound like much, but we had to hike nearly 1300 feet down at a very steep angle. Once you get down, you HAVE to come up! In the blistering heat! There were signs everywhere cautioning the seriousness of dehydration and exhaustion.
We were one of the earlier hikers, and enjoyed the magnificent views around each of the switchbacks as we descended into the canyon. We went as far down as Cedar Point taking into account the trip back up was still to come.
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After hiking about a mile straight down, the sign says it all |
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| Such a beautiful day to paint! |
These “well-seasoned” folks were hiking 7 miles to the bottom of the canyon, ( where the temp is over 100 degrees ) staying overnight, and then hiking a grueling 10 miles up and out the following morning! Good for them!
Something I can aspire to. ( I could hike down, for sure, but would never make it out without several day’s rest first!) I learned that one couple was going to hike down to a lodge at the bottom, and the next day take a helicopter out! I would have DEFINITELY wanted to do that, had I known about that option.
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| Going down wasn't so bad, but the trip up was a little tough! |
I must say, I really underestimated the difficulty of this hike, and am ashamed to say I didn't carry enough water. I was foolishly trying to save my knees by not carrying too much weight. I made it , and was not all that tired, but it would have been easier if I was more hydrated. Shame on me! Norm’s knee was a little sore, and he was a bit tired, but he did very well, once again, for an old guy!
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| With a drop to the bottom of the canyon about a mile down, don't you think Norm might have warned me that the rock I was standing on was splitting? |
We were dying for a shower, so we headed back to clean up and nap. Upon waking, I had a yearning for an ice cream. Norm would never object to that, so we headed out to find one. Not that easy, I am shocked to say. We finally found a soft serve and decided to try the “prickly pear sundae”, which was rather sweet, but hit the spot.
We shopped around for the mandatory Christmas ornament, and by then it was time to get back and make dinner, and get a good night’s rest.
One thing about the Grand Canyon which was similar to the Grand Tetons, is that there really is only one magnificent “view”, but with a hundred vantage points in which to see it. And just like in the Tetons, Norm and I set out to see every one of them! Looking back over the hundreds of photos, they unfortunately all look pretty much the same. All 476 of them!
Today we took the shuttle bus to the west end of the South Rim. It was so darn hot we didn't hike much, but jumped on and off the bus with many others doing the same thing. Taking photo after photo, then going back at the end of the day- overwhelmed when Picassa shows “ downloading 1 of 250 photos”! How do you decide which to keep, and which to post on the blog? I must say, the picture portion of blogging is by far the most time consuming for me.
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| Desert View Watchtower, East Entrance of the South Rim |
This 4 story, 70 foot tall structure was built in 1923, designed to resemble a watchtower of Ancient Pueblo People. There was a pretty large crowd there, so it was difficult to see out the windows and marvel at the view. I elbowed my way to a window to take a picture, but quickly got pushed out.
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| A scenic look-out accessible by car is always crowded. |
At this point,although it was hard to imagine, we were getting pretty bored with the same old, yet magnificent, view. We wanted to get back, clean up and watch the IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon across the street from the RV park, which proved to be quite enjoyable.
After our few days here, we felt we saw and did all we were physically capable of doing here in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, so it was time to move on…..
After deleting hundreds of photos, I am left with a mere 288! Looking back at them, they all look pretty much the same. Beautiful. But like they say, if you have seen one, you have seen them all.......
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