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Grand Canyon 2006

Our friends Richard and Lily announced they were coming to America almost a year in advance but since there was a good chance of us leaving Denver, we urged them not to come here. We are still here but wanted to see them and the closest they were going to get was the Grand Canyon. Since we barely saw it last time, we decided to take a long weekend so we could see the Canyon with them. At 1095km/680 miles away from home, we had a full day’s drive down on Friday January 14th, spent the day together on Saturday and drove home on Sunday. We even brought a cooked turkey with us! The family had already been traveling for a few weeks by the time we met them and Lan thought they would enjoy some home-cooked meals for a change.

We were a little late getting there as Lan had a job interview in Moab, Utah. Well, the job wasn’t in Moab. The job was in New York but we correctly figured that we would have mobile telephone reception there but lose it soon after as we drove south. We arrived in Moab 10 minutes before noon when the call was to start and she spent 70 mintues on the phone.

Monument Valley

On the way there on US163. A lovely surprise. Learn more.

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Monument Valley—on the way to the Grand Canyon.

This was quite a treat as I had forgotten that we were passing near, indeed through, Monument Valley. The colors were intense in the strong, late-afternoon sunlight.

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Actually, the term "valley" is misleading.

The formations are more like ships at sea; a few tall structures surrounded by a featureless plain. It is amazing to think that the top of the monuments used to be the level of the plain but the rest has washed away until reaching a harder layer.

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Dark and forboding. Just outside Kayente, Arizona.

This and following pictures were taken on the way home.

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That would be a police car ahead. We were traveling within the speed limit anyway, even less perhaps so we could admire the view, so he wasn't going to catch us. Of course, the police may have been there on their meal break to admire the view too.

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Up closer.
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Mexican Hat!

Interestingly, I interpreted the rock on the pedestal as a sombrero resting up-side-down but Lan saw it as a head with a hat on top of it. The white horizontal line stretching across the picture halfway down is a power cable sensitively positioned between the pullover area and the thing we are supposed to view.

Grand Canyon

You expect it to be spectacular and it is. Learn more.

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Moonrise from highway 64 approaching the Canyon.

More than any photo I've taken, I wish I could convey the exact colors we saw. The sky was glowing vibrant purple merging to pink. Just beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.

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At the GC with Lilly, Richard, Elizabeth and Sarah.

Sarah’s main interest moments before this was her coloring book.

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Elizabeth and Sarah on Mather Point lookout.

This picture captures the girls

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Falling off is apparently bad for your health.

Not to mention bad manners.

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Wow!
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It is a very long way down. Note the people on the other lookout.
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The bottom of the canyon in front of us is only halfway down.
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On Bright Angel trail.

The two girls were eager to go much further down the trail but none of the adults wanted to carry them back up the hill when they got tired of walking so we didn't descend very far. Lan and Sarah had a discussion about carrying and Sarah (just turned 6) offered to carry Lan! For a price. The sticking point was whether the $100 price was in US or Australian dollars.

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Attempting to walking all the way down to the river and back up in one day can also be very bad for your health.

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From Maricopa Point.
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Mohave Point?
Attractive foreground and background!
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The Orphan mine.

Mining for copper began around 1900, before the National Park was established in 1919. Ore was hauled up on a cable car system. However the mine was uneconomical and closed until a small but rich load of uranium was discovered leading to the mine’s heyday in the 1950s when the mine head visible here was built.

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The Colorado River.

Way down there. It doesn't look big enough to make a canyon this big, does it?

If I remember, the talk at the visitors’s center said there were six factors:

  • uplift of the land
  • a big river
  • a very long time
  • freezing and thawing
  • ? apparently I wasn't paying sufficient attention
  • ? still
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No fence!

The best that can be said is that you would only fall off once! I guess the Park Services wishes to minimize the impact on the formations but even some of the fenced areas were inadequetely protected for young children.

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Putting on a show—at Hopi Point.

Although you wouldn't guess from Sarah’s bare midriff, by this time in the afternoon, there was a strong breeze and being outside for more than a few minutes at a time was quie uncomfortable. As I commented to Richard, meeting the basic requirements of comfort and even survival sometimes prevent you from enjoying the very things you came so far to see.

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Mohave Point

The different layers of rock show a range of color from red like this to green-grey to black

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Pima Point. I think.

In he shadows, the canyon looked particularly alien, even threatening, to me.

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The view to the bottom from Hermits Rest.

Now it really was cold. The North Rim forming the horizon is apparently 300m/1000ft higher than where we were on the South Rim.

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Lan and Sarah by a Juniper pine.

The trees are beautiful in a twisted way, hanging on to life in tenuous positions.

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The correct way to roll your tongue!

Aren't they gorgeous?!

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A tree apparently growing on rock.

It wasn't clear to me how this tree was able to grow so large. Incidentally, this is the first of the photos taken the following day along Desert View Drive on the eastern side of the visitor center. We had left our friends and were headed back to Denver.

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Weird snow.

It was round like hail but very light giving the feel of polystyrene beads.

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Desert View lookout.

Our last stop in the Grand Canyon.

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The tower at Desert View.

Designed to be sympathetic with the environment and in keeping with the towers made by the local native-Americans before such practice was common. Perhaps because the architect was a woman. More. In fact, because of the sheer size of the canyon, the view from the top, 15m/50ft up is much the same as that from the lookout below.