Blogs from Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States, North America - page 41

We had a wonderful time traveling during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend with our daughter, Gretchen, visiting from Berlin, Germany and our granddaughter, Erin who lives in Chicago and was visiting us as well. We had a wonderful time and the weather was beautiful. We had some great experiences, especially the two girls who rode mules down into the canyon. From there we visited the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. We also had the opportunity to visit ruins of the pst inhabitant of the area and get some historical background. So here are some of the pictures.... read more

Alan’s photo workshop travels to the North Rim today. Since I have been to the North Rim before and have an article deadline looming on the horizon, I stay in Page to write. I miss driving the approach to the North Rim. It’s my favorite side of the Grand Canyon. After driving over Navajo Bridge and beyond the Vermillion Cliffs, the road climbs onto a forested plateau that rises high above the desert. The cool mountain air is a pleasant break from the hot, dry winds below. The turn-off to North Rim is near Jacob’s Lake. The road twists through meadows and evergreen forests. By now, the Aspen trees are gold and when the wind blows, they give a golden shiver. The Grand Canyon’s North Rim is the surprise at the end of the road. Trees ... read more

Stevie, Raven and I made a pit stop on our trip cross country at the ol' Grand Canyon. One night of sub-freezing temperatures there was enough for the unprepared (we consequently changed our itinerary to a more southern route.) The first evening we walked around the rim, where Raven Do could check out the canyon too. It was a nice flat route with amazing views over the canyon, the other side being at times 10 miles away! The next day we hiked down the "skeleton trail," or something like that. As we cheerily skipped down, the people we met along the way made it clear the way up would not be so "skippy." We passed the "wheezers," and ones who could only whisper a quick "hi" between gasps, those clutching their hearts, those left behind, those ... read more

After leaving Death Valley we went back to Southern Utah to visit another highly recommended corner - Zion National Pak. Zion is a Hebrew word that means "refuge". There were a couple of places in the park that we were very keen to visit, but they are only reachable on foot, so we braved the heat and set off on a long walk along a river bed to reach The Subway. You need to buy a permit from the rangers for this walk, as they only allow a small amount of people on the track every day (we guess to help preserve the natural state of the place). As you can see in the picture, The Subway is part of a canyon shaped into a tube by the forces of nature, really cool. The walk does ... read more

It can't be past 3:30 in the morning, yet I find myself responsive to someone's request to get out of bed. How can this be? I've never woken up this early! Why am I not dismissing them with an irritated grunt and burying my head in the pillow? Wait! This isn't even my pillow! Where the hell am I? And then, as consciousness slowly begins to set in, I realize where I am and what I'm doing. I'm in my friend Ben's cabin, and today is the day that we're going to hike to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with his friends Kenny and Sabrina from Taiwan and Lukas from the Czech Republic. I don my jacket and pack, scarf some noodles with Kenny and Ben, and then run to the Backcountry Office to ... read more