We started out on our journey at about 7:00am on Monday morning. I knew it was going to be quite a lengthy drive, about 4.5 hours so I wanted to get an early start. Luckily, we still hadn't adjusted to PST so it was really like 11:00am for us!!
We got there just before noon (had to make a couple of pit stops).
Got the car parked and headed to the Visitor Center. Forecast high was 59F. About 15C. Not bad, but not scorching either. It was kind of windy as well. DW asks "Do we need sunscreen?" NAH!
Once we got our bearings, we headed to the Rim Trail. I can't fully describe the feeling of seeing that first glimpse of the canyon. It's AMAZING!! I had dreamed of this moment for ages and it was finally here.
The pictures just don't do it justice
Still some snow on the ground in the canyon
The Rim Trail stretches 12 miles along the south rim. Awesome vistas the entire way. We walked most of it, nearly 10 miles. Quite a distance but it was relatively flat. The first few miles took a while to walk because I was stopping at every turn to take pictures.
Spectacular vistas at every turn!
Shadows starting to creep into the canyon.
As you can see from the pictures, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Hmmm maybe sunscreen wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Wow, I look so excited to be there. I brought the GPS to grab a few virtual caches while here. And oh, there's a cloud. I was mistaken.
We even had a wildlife encounter!
I think these are caribou. They couldn't have cared less that we were even there.
There were four all together. We also saw 4 or 5 deer back at the bus depot later in the afternoon, but I was too exhausted to dig out my camera to take a picture.
My attempt at a panoramic pic. Not bad, but not great.
Well, I guess there were a few clouds, but not enough to shade us. We both got terrible sunburns. My forehead was the worst. It was so bad it actually blistered. Then it peeled. Then it peeled again.
We did not think it was very warm at all. And the breeze was quite chilly. Maybe it's due to the elevation? I mean we are well over a mile closer to the sun than we're used to...
Well, I look a bit more pleased in this pic. DW was very nervous about me falling to my death, but I was careful.
Apparently (and surprisingly...) very few people fall into the canyon. Between 1990 and 2002, 13 people died from falling into the canyon.
Far more people die in the canyon from hiking and being unprepared.
There was a poster that I read that told the story of Boston Marathon finisher, Margaret Bradley, who died in the canyon. She and her companion set out on July 9, 2004 for a 27-mile run. They had only two water bottles, some fruit, and three protein bars.
While her companion made it out of the canyon, she was found dead, two days later. Sad.
We had a great afternoon at Grand Canyon. We headed back to Vegas around 6pm. I wish we had stayed around for the sunset, but I was a little bit nervous about driving all the way back to Vegas in the dark, and as I said, we still hadn't adjusted to PST, so it was already 10pm to us.
The drive back was only about 4 hours (no pit stops). The sky was pretty dark until we got about 50 miles from Vegas. Then we could see the 'glow'. Vegas is surrounded by mountains. When we just outside of the city, there was an incline that we had to drive up. Just as we came to the crest of the ridge, Vegas came into view and what a sight it was. Six hundred square miles of lights as far as the eye can see. Wish I had thought to take a picture.
Made it back to the hotel without taking a wrong turn. Crashed into bed. Hard.
So wish I had gotten to see that. Awesome!
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