Blogs from Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States, North America - page 5

Departing the Grand Canyon we see and visit Desert View Watchtower, Marble Canyon, Navajo Steel Arch Bridge over Colorado River, Vermillion Cliffs , and we begin to learn about Bryce Canyon National Park.... read more

My words will never do nature justice, so I won't waste your time describing the falls. The pictures say it all (and even then it's still not the same). BUT, I will tell you about the most terrifying thing I believe I've ever done. The Havasupai area has a variety of falls. There's the first set you see, which are the new falls because a flood rearranged things a few years ago. There's Havasupai falls, my favorite because it's the easiest to swim around. There's also a cave you can climb to, but I already scraped up my knees at Mooney Falls so didn't venture up that rock wall. There's Beaver Falls, which I didn't even know about and heard about later, which is a challenging hike from Mooney Falls (will do that one the next ... read more

We have just come back from our sunset photo session of the Grand Canyon. The temperature remains where it has been, barely above zero, all day. The snow and rain has gone but it remains cloudy with occassional clear patches. All the photos in this blog entry were taken during the sunset, a fantastic time of day to be photographing. Enroute to the lookouts on the South Rim of the canyon we saw a large group of deer. And later on when we visited the Grand Canyon village we saw deer walking along the railway tracks and young ones grazing on the grass nearby. Tonight we had dinner at Sophie's Mexican Kitchen at the village of Tusayan just down the road from where we are staying. The food was amazing and the service was fast and ... read more

My toenails are cut and swiped free of any polish (they hate being naked by the way), calluses are built up and expensive socks are packed in backpack AND duffle bag. My feet, calves, thighs, and, hopefully, knees are ready for the trek down the canyon and then, a few days later, back up (I once walked Bright Angel trail with a friend. We only did 1/2 the trail, and I was ready to sell my soul to the devil just so I wouldn't have to climb back up. This one is the full deal, heaven help us all). I've been training since I came back from Ireland, which hasn't been easy. You see in Ireland, as a tourist, it was easy to get soft around the edges --- a whole lot of deep-fried food and ... read more

Today we are back into the old routine with a 08:00 start. We are going to the Grand Canyon. We take the coach to Williams; which is about a 45-minute drive, some of it along the famous “Route 66”. We arrive at Williams and go to a Cowboy shoot-out between the “Cataract Creek Gang and the Marshall, with a bit of audience participation. (This group of cowboys will show-up again later in the day!) The train journey from Williams to the Grand Canyon South Rim takes about 2-1/4 hours. The scenery through the window of the train is not too interesting. There is some entertainment on the train – Clarence Clearwater; a Native American Indian sings us some old Indian songs. We arrive at 11:45. The first sight of the Grand Canyon is truly awesome; it ... read more