The Grand Canyon

Now that's one big hole in the ground!

There is no comprehension of the enormity of the Grand Canyon without viewing it first hand.  You can read all the books, watch all the TV shows, look at my and others photos and still you have no conception without standing there looking at it.  Amazing - yes; awesome - yes; magnificent - definitely.

This was our first view and only a teeny tiny little bitty walk from our room.  The rim of the canyon was closer than my gate.  For those that are familiar with my house it was probably about from the diving board to Mom's front porch, if that.  

This beautiful land stretches for 277 river miles, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep.  Being so large it hosts several plant and animal communities from the desert next to the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon to montane forests at the North Rim and everything in between.

This might give you an idea of the scope of the canyon.  See the tiny little human on the right side in a red shirt???

Looking around I found a perfect spot to have a glass of wine while reading a good book. 

Quiet and peaceful, room for a lawn chair, the wine, the book and me.

However....this is the spot from afar...maybe I should rethink this.

I do wish I had found the Grand Canyon when I was young and healthy enough to hike the trails.  There were so many, not only here but at every location we visited, that begged to be investigated.  This particular one intrigued me.  I would love to be there in a pup tent watching the sunrise and sunsets...as long as I was tethered!!

See the trail just below dead center on that big ole gray flat rock?  I want to hike to the end and that's where I would pitch my tent.  

 My husband always teased me, when I would go down some of the back roads in Texas, that he could hear banjos playing the theme from Deliverance...in this case I could hear "The Circle of Life" and see Mufasa standing at the end of this little point.

 

The last shot is rare indeed...there is a reason I stay on the back side of the camera, but for my son - anything!

The next morning we got up early to enjoy the sunrise....

As an extra little side trip, the tour took us around the East Rim to Desert View.  A different view of the canyon as well as a watchtower.

One of the views....I can't remember the name of the mountain and can't find it on Google...so sorry.

The Indian Watchtower is a steel framed building (although the steel beams are hidden beneath the Kaibab Limestone) inspired by pre-historic strructures built in the 4 Corners area.  It was designed by Mary Colter.  Ms. Colter studied ruins in the area for a year before beginning the design of the tower.  Several structures in the Grand Canyon are her design or, as in the case of the El Tovar Hotel, her interior design.  

The interior murals are the work, for the most part, by Hopi artist Fred Kobatie.

The Hopi House in Grand Canyon Village is another of Mary Colter's designs. 

This was Ms. Colter's first major assignment at Grand Canyon.  It was designed to resemble ancient southwestern pueblos.

Some of the fauna and flora around the area.  They are reintroducing condors into the wild and I so hoped to see one of these magnificent birds with a wingspan of up to 10' wide.  Alas, I did not see one, but did see the red tailed hawk wayyyyyyy off over the canyon and of course the noisy raven...nevermore, buddy, nevermore.

 Lens was totally zoomed out - he was really waaaaay over there.

This "ebil skwurrul" (as Marti calls them) was sitting there in front of God and everybody making out with his girlfriend.  She got embarrassed when I pulled the camera out and ran off and hid, but he sat there proud as a peacock.

Free tidbit:  The famous mules that take you to the bottom of the canyon...there is a weight limit.  You and your gear can not weigh over two hundred pounds, and they do weigh you before you are allowed on the trail.  There was a couple of problems with this rule when President Teddy Roosevelt, well over 200 pounds, came and wanted to ride a mule to the bottom.  You don't tell the president "no", so they found the biggest and strongest mule they had and put it under him.  Another president (maybe Taft????) also presented the same problem but he only rode a short distance down the trail and then returned.  Bet the mule was happy about that!

The Harvey House founder, Fred Harvey, was instrumental in the development of the Grand Canyon as a major tourist destination.  He worked with both Mary Coulter and the Santa Fe Railroad as well as the National Park Service to give the tourists from back east a reason to stop at the canyon.  In 1901 the spur from Williams, Arizona was completed and the visitors grew in numbers.  Today it is a private railway, but still bringing tourists to view the canyon.

After a delightful couple of days walking around gaping, with my chin on my chest, in AWE, we loaded up and headed out for a new adventure.

 Good night from the Grand Canyon

This time the whispers to be heard will be in Navajo code - interesting story.  When I finish my new Catherine Coulter FBI mystery "Bomb Shell" I will be getting "Code Talker" by Chester Nez to read.