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| That green color is vegetation |
The Grand Canyon doesn’t look like its pictures and
videos. They don’t capture how big it is,
how deep, how wide. You hear that it is
a mile deep and 10-18 miles across. You
say to yourself, yeah, that’s a lot. But
really, it is REALLY a lot. At Yosemite
and Zion we looked up at the beautiful structures of stone. At Bryce we looked down at the hoodoos. At the Grand Canyon you look out, way
out. When you look down, you can’t see
the Colorado River except in a few places where you catch a tiny patch of
green. The stone structures left behind during
the erosion process, but still well below the rim of the canyon, are blocking
your view.
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We visited the South Rim, the North Rim was still closed
for the winter. There is a wide paved
Rim Walk along the edge with an extensive overlook at Mather Point. Our first morning we walked along the Rim
Walk oooing and aaahing until we got to the South Kaibab trailhead. South Kaibab is one of the two most used
trails for descending below the canyon rim and, perhaps, on to the river. We had lunch there, enjoying the beautiful
view and watching hikers huffing and puffing their way to the top, it is a very
steep trail. We also got a chance to eat
the dust (quite literally) of a mule tour returning to the top.
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| That green splotch is the river... |
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| ...here it is zoomed in |
Like the other major parks we visited recently, Grand
Canyon has a shuttle system to transport visitors from lodgings to viewpoints
and trailheads. We took the shuttle back
to the Yavapai Point Geology Museum where they had wonderful exhibits in front
of plate glass windows describing what we were seeing. Best yet, there was an informative geology Ranger
Talk which taught us even more. Since we
have been giving lots of geology details in previous posts, suffice it to say
that the Grand Canyon is also on the Colorado Plateau along with Zion and Bryce
and so has the same horizontal strata of stone that were lifted up to high
elevation by a tectonic event. The same
event created the Rocky Mountains. The
Colorado River rushes down from the Rockies to the Gulf of California and over
millions of years has carved down through the plateau revealing a geologist’s
history of layers of different rocks.
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On the second day we went early to the Bright Angel
trailhead, the other most frequently used trail to hike below the canyon rim
and down to the river. We hiked the
first 1.5 miles down to a rest area with pit toilets, and then we hiked back
up. In that 1.5 miles we went down 1,200
feet of elevation change through constant switchbacks. That is roughly the same height as the Empire State Building. The steep hike was difficult for us (and for many
of our many fellow hikers), but the scenery and views were fabulous. We were fascinated hiking down through some
of the rock strata that we had learned about the day before.
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| Wouldn't you love to stay in this house? |
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| The rim was a long way up on our hike |
Bright Angel trailhead is located in the Village, a
bustling complex of hotels and gift shops.
There is even a train that can deliver you to the park! We wandered around the Village for a bit, and
stared down into the canyon some more, mesmerized by the view.
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| This suspension bridge was made under in very difficult circumstances in a very remote location in 1928 |
Something else that is hard to get used to is how very
popular this park is. The parking lots
are massive. There are busloads after
busloads of foreign tourists. At times
it felt like we were walking through a big city.
We stayed in a town about 50 miles south of the canyon, and
over 1,000 feet less in elevation.
Conventional wisdom would say that a town to south and/or with less
elevation would be warmer. Instead, the
canyon rim was easily a full 10 degrees warmer.
On the first morning, we woke up to temps in the 30’s and didn’t believe
the predicted highs in the 80s at the canyon. We were very overdressed in our
flannel shirts and long pants. The second
day we wore lighter clothing and were much more comfortable.
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| Bright Angel Trail |
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| Looking down as the trail continues |
Everyone should visit
the Grand Canyon. It is a natural
phenomenon and it is a place of unique beauty.
That said, be prepared to be surprised.
It is so much MORE than the pictures lead you to believe.
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| Lovely strata |
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| Lining up the strata from the Bright Angel trail with the same strata on the North Rim |
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| Happy Grand Canyon hikers |
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