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Andy at the Grand Canyon
A regular first stop for Rowe ToursHi all
With Ginnie's departure to Argentina, my good friend Andy came over from Bristol to spend a couple of weeks with me whilst Ginnie was away visiting family, so
Rowe Tours was back in business. We spent a great couple of weeks, doing a bit of sightseeing and Andy doing a lot of chilling out by the pool!
High on Andy's list this year was a visit to the Grand Canyon. We didn't make it last year when he came over as we had only just been with visitors and Andy didn't want to 'drag us back up there again!' But this year was different! Not only were we going up there, we were going to go down there too...down into the canyon for a little hike!
Now, don't get me wrong - we weren't going to attempt to get to the Colorado river at the bottom (about 16 miles round trip dropping over 4300 feet in altitude)! That is more than a days hike, and certainly beyond what I would call enjoyable! We decided to take a trek down the Bright Angel Trail and just see how far we felt like going... remember that going down
is easier! Indeed, these warnings posted by the National Park Service make a great deal of sense...!
The Bright Angel trail offers wonderful views all along the trail and makes it very easy to lose track of how far down you have hiked. Be aware of how far you have hiked, the steepness of the trail is very misleading on the way down. Anyway, long story short we motored down past the first rest area at 1.5 miles and onward to the second rest area at 3 miles. It took us about 90 mins to get down there...we had dropped down over 2000 feet (approaching half a mile) then of course we turned around and looked up! And remembered the posted warnings!! Actually we knew what we were doing - we were kitted out properly with layers and water and food etc, but we did underestimate the difficulty of the return trip! So at the 3 mile point, we found a spot in the shade and ate the lunch we brought (sharing a Ritz Cracker or two with the locals as the pic shows) and enjoyed the view, wishing there was a quick and easy way to get
Descending into the Canyon
The only time the Canyon looks like a mountain is when you're inside! down to the river. Once you're half way down, it's tempting to keep going, but not so much fun when you know you have to go back up!
So after about a 30 min rest (long enough for the calf muscles to start ceasing up!) we started back up, stopping every few minutes to enjoy the view...even though the view wasn't changing that much every few hundred yards! But it was our excuse and we were sticking to it! I'm getting out of breath now just thinking about it! Anyway, to be fair we did pretty well - we got back up in a little over 2 hours and matched the pace of pretty much everyone else who was on their way back up! It was a good thing to have done, and I'm glad to say that Andy felt the pain of the return trip as much as me! Needless to say a cold beer was enjoyed at the top!
The following day, yes we could move!, we stopped off en route back home at the Tonto Natural Bridge. A great place where you can clamber down and under a natural stone bridge that has been carved
Enjoy the view!
Put to shame by a couple of ladies who took this! On there way up from the river - they had been hiking up hill for 5 hrs with 2 more to go when they took this for us out through the millenia! A great place to kill a few hours... Try not to slip though! Even though I was kitted out in proper walking boots I managed to slide down a rock face about 15 feet, thinking I was going to land in the water at the bottom. Thankfully not, but a sore elbow and damaged pride were my momentos!
Later in Andy's trip, when Ginnie had got back from Argentina to dog sit!, we took off down to Tucson and Tombstone for a couple of days. We visited Saguaro National Park where the giants of the Sonaran desert are at their wildest. They can live for 200 years and don't start grwing 'arms' until they are more than 70, so some of these would have witnessed their fare share of wild west action I'm sure...
We also visited Old Tuscon Movie Studios, where a lot of the old westerns were made - Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, Arizona etc - and more recently such greats as Young Guns 2 and The Three Amigos!!! Good fun anyway for a few hours, just don't eat there!!
That night we headed to Tombstone and had a night out
The Plateau Trail
The tail you can see goes out to the edge of the plateau before dropping another few thousand feet in the wild west - jumping between 2 1880s saloons - Big Nose Kates and The Crystal Palace. Andy and I have had a few nights out over the years, but none in an environment quite like this! Good fun though, made more entertaining by the fact that the town was inundated with bikers for the night! And no not cyclists! Bikers! Complete with denim, leather, tatoos, Harleys and biker chicks! Needless to say we kept our eyes and mouths firmly closed. Not wanting to get beaten up in Tombstone by a group of bikers. If your going to get beaten up in Tombstone, you at least want it to be by a group of cowboys, who'll sling you through a window or out the doors onto the boardwalk! Where the sherriff will break it up firing into the ceiling and locking you up for the night to 'cool off'! No such luck!
Anyway - that's about it as a quick synopsis of our travels... I'm sure most of you have left me by now and just looked through the pictures... Ginnie assures me that she'll get to her Patagonia pics soon and post up a blog... By October
Looking back up
Where we stopped for lunch... I'm guessing!!!
Hope you like the pics - thanks for coming over Andy (and for paying for most of it!)
Cheers
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