The Big Hole in the Ground

GRAND CANYON

On our way to the Grand Canyon we passed through terrain that gave us a taste of the Grand  Canyon.  Chewed up terrain!  Rugged cliffs, small canyons, dry river beds all in glorious reds, whites and yellows. Down and down we went to about 4000 feet (before we went back up again into the Grand Canyon.  We became very conscious of the elevation because we both do so much better lower down!)

Of course, we had to stop in 4 Corners first.  Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah all touch at one tacky point that we paid $6.00 There was nothing there but a viewing stand and a marker and some souvenir huts.  We did have a wonderful meeting with some lovely folks from Texas whom we had met on the tram in Mesa Verde, leading us, once again, to appreciate how much the people we met are adding to our pleasure in the trip.

Our next stop the Glen Canyon Dam which makes Lake Powell.  The dam is second in size to Hoover dam and is huge.  We took a great tour and then were on our way.

Then…on to the big time, Grand Canyon.  David wisely chose the North rim for our adventure, it being closer to us and less crowded.  That being said, we could only get one night’s camping reservation in the canyon campground.  So, we decided that the night before and the night after our in-park reservation, we would take the plunge and camp on our own in the Kaibab National Forest surrounding the park.  Anyone can camp almost anyplace on National Forest land.  We drove into the forest on a forest access road and found what amounted to a pull-through site for the car and Celeste.  What a treat.  No people, no noise…of course, not bathroom, water, table or electricity either.  But I would give that up in a minute for the privacy and beauty that we had.  We decided, again, that we need to slow down a bit and enjoy.

The next day we got to our park campsite around 11 am, set up camp and headed for the Grand Canyon.  Our first taste was a 1.5 mile hike down into the canyon, dropping 1500 feet along the way.  We could have gone all the way to the bottom, but we started too late in the day.  (Hah!  We would have died!  And besides all the literature gives giant warnings about not doing that journey in one day.  One lifetime is more like it).  Our little hike was quite enough.  At 8000 feet again, we were huffing and puffing away.  The one drawback of this hike was the mules train tours with whom we had to share the trail.  They had right of way and there were 5 mule trains of 20 mules each.  Do you know how much 100 mules pee and poop?  And they STINK!!!!  The hike (struggle was more like it) gave us a great sense of the terrain.  Since we spent most of the time looking down at our feet, trying not to fall or step in mule presents, we had to wait until later that day to actually SEE the canyon.  On the way we met two women, who, surprise, surprise, had been at the bluegrass festival and Mesa Verde and 4 corners.  There seems to be a tourist trail that we are all following.

That night we went back to the Canyon for a great sunset and planned to see the sunrise the following morning.

Up at 4:45 for a 5:15 sunrise.  Quite worth the early morning wake-up to see the rocks change from gray to other-wordly hues of white, green red, gold.  All glowing and changing by the minute. 

 

Then, in keeping with our “slowdown” mode we went back to Celeste and slept to 9 am, had a leisurely breakfast, packed up and dropped Celeste off at a convenient parking lost and took off for an easy 4 mile hike to a lookout point over the canyon.  Up and down through the bordering woods, to a wonderful rocky prominence over the canyon. 

 

 We were quite impressed with how unguarded the rim is.  Quite easy to fall in.  I was careful to stay away from that danger, but managed to brush against a cactus, and spent a good while hiding behind a tree with my pants down plucky spines out of my hip.  Two days later and I am still finding spines!

David made a friend along the way.

Back to a new campsite in our favorite forest to gear up for our foray into Las Vegas.