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Published: April 2nd 2011
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The Grand Canyon
Never get tired of looking at it. We were up and at um' at a decent time of 9am. Not hard to do when you have a comfortable bed to yourself. Tim met a nice family at breakfast, a gentleman who was losing his eye-sight. He'd always wanted to go see a baseball team's spring-practice. He also wanted to see the Grand Canyon before he couldn't. So his son and an honorary adopted son drove him to both. I asked him what the canyon was like and he said he couldn't describe it--but that perhaps I could, since I'm a writer. We'll see.
Tim and I drove to the down old route 66, which turns into Rt. 89 into the Grand Canyon via the East entrance. You drive for miles and see only dots of green here and there, then you begin to see Joshua Cedar trees and small Pinyon Pines. I always thought of cedar trees as 'Christmas Trees.' Then I remembered the "Cedars of Lebanon,' and realized their scale-like, wax-coated leaves are well suited for dry desert conditions. As we climbed ever closer to the canyon, Ponderosa Pines towered above us on the sides of the road. Then at even higher elevations along the North
The Grand Canyon
One of the beginning look-outs Rim of the canyon Fir, Spruce, and Douglas Firs wave about in splendor.
Soon we reached the Canyon's East Entrance station. Shortly after entering we came to the Watchtower--not related to Jehovah Witness at all ;-) The 70 foot towers was built in 1932 and inside the walls are covered with Native American art. The look-out gave us our first view of the canyon. We looked down upon lower peaks, buttes, complete with some birds flying over them. It's breath taking.
As we drove away we could catch glimpses of the canyon on our right. There were several pull offs and we may have hit every one of them. We just couldn't resist. We stopped and walked to the edge of Navajo Point, Lipan Point, and Grandview Point. In the late 19th century and beginning 20th--it was a 12 hour, bone breaking, stage coach ride from Flagstaff to Grandview. Then those sad folks, after arriving at the canyons rim, had to then take a mule ride down to the Inn. But word of the canyons beauty had spread, and did it. A guy at Grandview first built a modest cabin, then later an Inn to house the adventurous sightseers.
The Grand Canyon
Vast and varied.... Tim took the single trail down the canyon, but didn't get all the way to the bottom. While up top, I witnessed some young folks who ventured outside of the guard rails. I wondered if they knew that the ground they were standing upon was just a precipice, where erosion had eaten into the hard rock and dirt underneath their footing.
Along these various stops you could catch parts of the Colorado River--just a green sliver in the sun. A couple of times we saw a narrow band of white, and knew those were rapids. From our height the river looks small, but it isn't.
Our last stop at the canyon was the North Rim Visitors Center. We walked to the three observation decks and drank in the canyon . It's a view I never got tired of. It's not like looking at your friend's videos or family pictures, where you nod politely, but are ready to quit looking. I could look at that view for hours. With each shift of light it changes. And with each observation deck my view expanded--seeing where I was going, and seeing where I'd been. I'd love to drink it
The Grand Canyon-The Watch Tower
Built by a woman! You can look out at the canyon from many different levels in at sunset or sunrise someday.
In the North Rim Visitor's Center I asked a ranger if he could tell me if any folks went over the side. He said on average about 5 to 10 each year--fully avoidable. He said it's usually someone fooling around for a picture and they lose their balance or they get close to an edge, off the trail, and it gives way. The entire canyon was made by the Colorado River and erosion. The river averages 50 feet deep and travels at a fast clip a--moving sand and boulders in its swift current. That sand and rock is like sandpaper to the walls of the canyon--it cuts deeper and deeper.
This canyon has been home to many people for 1000's of years. Spears from 12,000 years ago have been found. Spears that hunted animals now extinct, that we can only dream about. Then from 9,000 to 2,500 years ago small bands of hunters lived off the land and gathered wild foods. From 2,500 to 1,000 years ago, remounts of baskets, arrows, and pottery were found from an agricultural people. The Ancestral Puebloan peopled the canyon 800 - 1300 CE. They were great masons, grew
Grand Canyon
More eye-delight many variety of corn, beans, and squash. Their numbers decline after 1150. That makes way for the ancestors to Hualapai, Havasupai, Southern Paiute, and Navajo--who moved into the area from 1300-1500. In 1540 the Hopies guide Spanish explorers to the South Rim of the Canyon...then the word was out. Soon more and more Europeans came to see the canyon and settle the land around it. We can all thank God for President Teddy Roosevelt who proclaimed the Grand Canyon a National Monument in 1908.
So to the man who we met at breakfast who said I could probably put the canyon into words, I say - I cannot. It's like falling in love - it's too big and too beautiful to be limited by words.
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Kristi
non-member comment
Beautiful
Sounds beautiful!!!! So glad you are enjoying your trip and I love reading your blog!!!