To The Grand Canyon

From Escalante we made the long drive back thru Bryce and then on to Northern Arizona and the Grand Canyon where we spent a few days. The crowds weren't as bad as I expected, and the weather cooperated for the most part - ie. not too hot - although the fact that we were up and about pretty early in the day (out the door by 7:30) helped a lot on both counts, and we were able to avoid the late afternoon thunderstorms too. 

Driving around southern Utah is always a treat, with one amazing vista after another opening up as you round every bend in the road. This was a pretty typical scene just driving along the highway near Bryce - not in the park but just along one of the many scenic byways in the state.

This was Rita's first trip to the Grand Canyon. I had been here years ago (actually, a lot of years ago) when I was a kid during summer vacations with my parents. I also had the opportunity to fly thru the canyon (below the rim) when I was a young Naval Aviator back in the early 70's...back when that sort of thing was legal (sort of). It's still an impressive place.

We had no sooner checked into our accommodation when we looked out the back window and saw two big bull elk grazing just across the street. They were pretty acclimated to people, and kept returning to the same area in the afternoon to feed.

The canyon really is one impressive hole in the ground...5,000 ft. at this point down to the Colorado River below. There was a nice, level rim trail that paralleled the canyon drive for about 8 miles, and which you could access via a very nice shuttle bus system that was essentially a hop on, hop service for us. It helped that we caught the bus at 7:45 one morning - no problem with crowds at that hour, although I noticed as we were walking back to the starting point that the buses were pretty stuffed with tourists by about 9:30.

Rita hanging on for dear life at one of the overlooks.

And she about passed out watching these rangers doing a practice rescue during a training exercise that we happened upon as we made our way along the rim trail.

I wanted to do some hiking, so early one morning (5:45 at the trail head to beat the heat) I set off on the Bright Angel trail. Here's a look at the start of it from the top of the rim. Wasn't too bad, and I was carrying plenty of water, but I was a bit leery about overdoing it and starting back up the trail too late in the morning - there were lots of warnings posted at the trail head about it so it was much on my mind. As it was I only walked down to the 3 mile point where they had a rest cabin erected so you could replenish your water supply and generally take a break out of the sun, which really does get intense in a hurry as you descend. Although it was only in the 60's when I departed, the forecast temp that day down at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon was a sultry 104 ...so I was taking it real easy. Interestingly, most of the people I encountered on the trail going in both directions seemed to be foreign visitors and their families. I heard smatterings of German, French, Italian, Dutch and Japanese as I passed.

After an enjoyable few days we proceeded on to a couple of the lesser-known National Parks in this part of the country - Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde. Both are elements of a rather extensive complex of ancient  Pueblo Indian settlements that stretch from northwestern Colorado to southern Utah.

Along the way from the Grand Canyon to Canyon de Chelly we stopped off at the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Monument. Nice place to stretch our legs and have lunch.

Canyon de Chelly really was a terrific place. Guess there are still Indian families farming and ranching the valley floor below so access is restricted, but the views from the rim were extensive.

There were pueblo-type cave dwellings dotted all around the canyon. Near this spot there was a sign board describing an encounter between the Indians and a band of Spanish Conquistadores in the early 1500's. The Spaniards chased a group of about 115 Indian men, women & children down into one of these declivities, then stood near this spot on the rim and shot them. We Americans have a lot to answer for regarding our treatment of the Indians, but at least we can take some comfort in the fact that, compared to the Spanish, we were gentle and enlightened.

After a couple of days exploring Canyon de Chelly we headed up the road a bit to Mesa Verde. As soon as I figure out what Rita did with the photos I'll update the blog.