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Published: September 13th 2008
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Here at last!
Mather Point, South Rim,Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon, lost for words! 10th & 11th September 2008
Words cannot describe the majestic grandeur of the Grand Canyon. It is awe-inspiring. We got up early, checked out and left Williams at 9 a.m. to drive up through the Kaibab National Forest to the canyon. In our ignorance, we were unaware that the forest went right up to the south rim of the canyon. It was a beautiful drive. When we arrived, we parked in a car park and then deliberately walked away along the rim trail before stopping to look. We wanted to be away from everyone else and just soak up the view on our own. It wasn’t busy anyway; September is a good time to visit. Then we stopped, turned and looked; and we were speechless. It is so stunning. We spent all day walking the rim trails, both those marked as such and many that are unofficial but well-trodden and taking photos. John took so many that his battery ran out before sunset. For this reason, the sunset photos were taken on my camera so they are not so good (less pixels). Many people leave the park before sunset but we just couldn’t and
Mather Point
On the Rim Trail near Mather Point sat on the rim waiting and watching the changing colours of the rock as the sun went down. It seemed like a lot more than the five miles or so that we walked and it took all day with all the stops to just sit quietly and be humbled by the immensity of it all. The Grand Canyon is not the longest canyon in the world, neither is it the widest or the deepest, but its length, depth and width put together, coupled with the sensational strata of rock colour, make it the grandest. When one stands and looks down in to the canyon, one is looking at 2,000 million years of earth’s geological history. The Colorado River started to carve into the rock around 5 million years ago. The river was no bigger then than it is today, even although the canyon is about ten miles across at its widest. As it carved into each strata of rock, its tributaries did the same, widening the whole to its present size, so it is a series of canyons within canyons and this is what makes it so spectacular.
After the sun had set on our first day in the
Yavapai Point
Yavapai stack formation canyon we had to drive off and find somewhere to stay for the night. We left as we arrived by the south park entrance found somewhere not too far away (about 20 miles) enabling us to go back again the next day to hike the parts of the south rim that we hadn’t seen. It is easy to take a free shuttle bus to each viewpoint within a morning but we wanted to take it slowly and walk so we needed two days (think I must have lost some weight and John got a blister)! On the first day we only did from Maricopa Point to Pipe Creek View. The second day took in Yaki Point to Desert View (by the east park entrance).
There is a lot of wildlife in the canyon and we were lucky to see some eagles as well as other birds of prey, around Moran Point where people go to spot them as they fly up on the high thermals (Moran Point is over 7000 feet elevation). We were then especially lucky to see a young coyote, near Yaki Point; he seemed a bit bewildered to see us. We also saw lots of ground
Bright Angel Point
Bright Angel, near Grand Canyon Village. squirrels.
We finally tore ourselves away from the Grand Canyon by the eastern entrance to drive the 50 or so miles to Flagstaff. We were tired, hungry and had sore feet. On the way, however, we passed the canyon of the Little Colorado, so just had to stop and walk down to take a look. It was well worth the effort, despite the notices which said to beware of a 1,000 feet sheer vertical drop (no barriers) and another which cautioned people to look out for lizards and snakes. We finally got to Flagstaff, checked in for a few nights to enable us to have a “Doing Nothing Day” and both agreed that these two days were probably two of the best days of our lives; truly unforgettable.
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