Days Seven & Eight: Grand Canyon National Park

We got to the Grand Canyon National Park at 11:00 am and were ready to hit the ‘hole’ running.  Could we do it all in one day was the big question?  We sure wanted to try!  We knew we would have to prioritize… so, we followed our travel agents’ instructions and found the Visitor Center firstJ

We were beginning to wonder about this so-called amazing natural wonder because we had yet to see anything registering on the wow-scale.  As Kevin wound around the park roads, I was reading up on the daily events in the park newspaper.  Then, very casually, Kevin said, “Honey, look.”  When I looked up from the paper…OMG(oodness)!   I have to say that the Grand Canyon definitely lives up to its reputation.


The pictures just don't capture the WOW:(

We continued on, stopping at the first two overlooks on Desert View before deciding that we needed to backtrack and hit the other side of the South Rim since we would be heading out this way tomorrow.

Someone was 'hamming it up' for the camera!

We got to the Yavapai Observation Station just in time to hear one of the ranger talks.  The young ranger summed up the ‘what, where, why, when and how’ of the Grand Canyon in just 20 minutes.  Afterwards, we headed for the shuttle station.   We didn’t think we were going to make the first one because there was only one seat (no standing allowed), but the driver said that she’d let us ride if I didn’t mind sitting on the tall guy’s lapJ   So, our Grand Canyon adventures were underway.  We spent the whole day hopping on and off the shuttle.  Each point offered a little something different:  a Stellar Jay, squirrels, chipmunks, bugs (as bad as the mosquitos in Alaska), plants, flowers, the Colorado River, and a man in wooden Dutch clogs (and I thought the girls hiking in flip-flops were being brave).  Each point gave a spectacular view of the canyon!



Sunset was scheduled for 7:45 pm and we definitely wanted to experience that at the Grand Canyon.   After making all the shuttle stops we went back to the Bright Angel trailhead.  We observed the people below before deciding to venture down ourselves.  We were barely past the second switchback and…whew—we had to tip-toe through the poop plops!!  (You would think with all that space they would have a separate trail for the mules!)  We did stop to view some remnants of Native American pictographs--believed to be painted by the Anasazi over 800 years ago.

Then, we continued on and passed through an archway. 

As we glanced upward, we recalled those words of wisdom:  For every step you take into the canyon, it is three to come back up.  So, considering it was dry and hot and our backpack packed with water was in the car…we headed back up.  Technically, we did hike down into the Grand CanyonJ

Even though Hopi Point was supposed to be ‘the point’ for sunset viewing, we decided to go back to Powell Point.  It was about an hour before sunset and beginning to cool off.  We made a quick dash to the car and grabbed our jackets (and water/snacks that were still in the backpack) and hopped back on the shuttle.  We were very fortunate, in that, not many people had chosen this point.  There was, however, a gentleman who proceeded to share his entire wealth of knowledge regarding the Grand Canyon in a tone audible for everyoneJ  Several people hung-out until just before sunset and then made a mad dash over to Hopi Point.  Kevin and I, along with two other couples, stayed and enjoyed a peaceful sunset.

The next day we set out for Glen Canyon Dam and a view of Lake Powell.  Our route included the 25 mile Desert View in the Grand Canyon Park…three hours later we pulled

out from the Watch Tower!



Looking up inside the Watch Tower.

 We thought we were finally on our way until Kevin spotted more wildlife…another brief delayJ

Hey Rich, I shot more than you this year!

Unfortunately, we were too late to tour Glen Canyon Dam.  We did, however, look around the Visitor Center and take some pictures.

As we stamped our Park Passport and selected our magnet, the lady at the counter asked where we were headed.  She was very curious about which route we had selected and walked us over to the map.  (She had uprooted from Michigan and made Arizona her permanent home.)  She was eager to share the many possibilites along with her many adventures over the past eight years...after 45 minutes she had convinced Kevin to alter our planned route home.