Lost for words at the Grand Canyon

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We arrive in Flagstaff late and have to wait a while for our bags to be unloaded. We catch a taxi to a small motel which is just around the corner and go to bed. The next day is spent planning for our trip to the Grand Canyon.


I hired a Suburu, I'm not sure of the model. We drive out along route 64, a straight road lined with evergreen trees, snow patches and distant snow capped mountains. It feels like we are on an alpine root, high out here in Arizona. After an hour or so we descend onto grass planes with the odd farm building here and there. Solar panels on the roofs and a pickups truck in the yard. The space is immense. A big, open, beautiful space that makes you feel free it's so easy to breath, to think and to absorb and become calm.

We buy a pass for the Grand Canyon National Park at the visitors centre and drive a further seven miles to the first view point. Several other tourists are all ready there cooing and whooping at the magnificent view. Taking pictures of each other in front of the amazing scene. They chatter excitedly, this is not how we want to experience the place. We drive to the Canyon Village for some lunch then select a trail to walk that is furthest from the visitor centre and drive out to where it begins at the South end of the canyon.

We walk down the Hermits Trail. Ice covers the top of the path in the shadows of rocks and twisted trees line the trail. The sun is afternoon low in the light blue sky. The air is crisp and fresh. Most of the time whilst walking I look at the ground in front to measure and place the next step. The path is uneven and the ledge is perilously close. Every three or so steps I am compelled to stop and look around me. To the south is the end of the Grand Canyon yellow and rocky. Huge flat slabs lie against the slop. Trees are crouched closed to the ground their twisted grey bark is lined with deep grooves running top to bottom. There are cacti and scrubby bushes everywhere. To the North in the distance we can see the red, brown and grey walls of the North ridge. There is a still, quiet and powerful beauty to this place.

We reach our turning point where we have to return back to the top. We stand mouths open. I want to drink in the view, to make this place a part of me. I stand at the foot of the trail with this beautiful woman who I have travelled half way around the world with feeling like a very lucky man. The cliffs rise up and out above me and I am here, at this place, in the moment. A calm joy wells up in me. I want to keep this feeling. I could stand here forever.

We walk back out and out of the Canyon as the sun sets changing the light a thousand times across the multi coloured cliff faces. It's all too much. I want to photograph every view but when I look at the picture I have taken, captured in the little box it doesn't come close to accurately depicting this place. I hope that my photos will be enough to help me remember the feeling that this wonderful place instills in me when I look at them in the future. The sun sinks over the horizon and a fiery line of liquid orange and yellow light divides the black earth from dark blue sky. A few stars sparkle above us as we drive back to the hotel.

The hotel is basic and adequate. I am not surprised to find that the Wi-Fi doesn't work properly. We go to bed early excited about our hike the next morning. We wake up and go for breakfast. The 'Express' breakfast is a self service buffet with a choice of cereals, some fiberus and healthy, others are multi coloured and unnatural looking. There is also omelette, bacon, bagels and a white lumpy liquid I presume to be porridge. To drink there is a choice of fruit juices, tea or coffee. Paper plates, paper bowls, plastic cutlery and polystyrene cups are provided. All disposable, all heading for a landfill after one breakfast. It is disgusting and obscene in this area of such natural beauty to be so wasteful and harmful to the environment.

We drive to the North end of the canyon under a blue sky.

The Kaibab Trail starts off by zig zagging down a cliff face. Looking down you can see the top of the heads of hikers in front of you. The path is icy at the top changing to light yellow dirt as you get lower. The ground is uneven, the steps mashed and crumbled by thousands of feet and the hooves of mules. We are tight up against the cliff face that encloses us in a gentle arc for about six turns until it shoots off to the right, out around a jutting cliff face. We descend, always heading down into the Canyon. After thirty minutes walking along thin ledges we come to a sharp turn where you go back on yourself to continue. It sticks out and we climb across some boulders to sit on the end and take in the view. It is stunning, massive in scale and of memorising beauty. The painted cliffs are red, brown, orange, pink and a grey that is close to blue. Small bushes dot the floor of the Canyon and jagged cracks cut across it revealing the inners of the earth below. It is so big, open and deep. The space is almost overwhelming. We continue down further into the canyon and rest on another ledge. Once again I try to capture the view in photographs and thoughts. I suck in the cool air. The quiet calm fills me up as I gaze at this magical place we have come to. There is something about here that feels spiritual. It is uplifting. I have no doubt that it is also a dangerous place that demands respect but it feels good, honest and true. I do not really have the words.

After sitting for quite some time we turn back to climb up the trail again. It's hard work and we emerge at the top breathing heavily, with aching legs. We get in the car and drive away from one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the pleasure of being.

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Comments

[Steve]

Good times
Hi Mate, I was starting to worry that some of the experiences you'd been writting about of late were a little less than ideal. I was relieved to read this entry ( I think your blog to me is becoming what soaps are to others and I don't like it when my favorite two characters are left somewhere unable to sleep being messed around by big old airline companies ). Glad to hear you seem to be having the time of your life again - once again I feel almost jealous, but in a nice way...