Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim

There really are no words to describe the awe, the solemnity, the iconic classic views from the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. Again, like Arches and Yellowstone and Yosemite, this was my second visit to this park and I thought, surely, I will not be as stunned as I was the first time. I was not. I had seen it before. I wasn't as stunned by the beauty alone but I was just as overwhelmed by the beauty, the size, the power of that river, of water, of seeing a cut into the earth and viewing the layers of rock from different time periods in the history of our planet. It is very humbling.

Our plan for this visit was to go down to the bottom of the canyon (I was going to ride a mule and Martin was going to hike), stay at the Phantom Ranch (the lodge on the bank of the Colorado), (which included having a nice dinner) and head back out the next day. I'd been wanting to do that ever since I'd first heard about it years ago. We were both super excited. But … you know what they say about the best laid plans …. Less than a week before we were scheduled to go, we received a call from the Phantom Ranch saying the National Park Service was going to be resupplying several spots in the valley for future work projects the following week by helicopter and was requiring them to cancel all mule trips and Ranch reservations. We'd already tried to get a backpacking permit to camp down there, but it was a lottery we hadn't won and somehow the thoughts of hiking down (8000') and back out (8000') in one day seemed too ambitious for us. I know people do it … but other people die trying to do it (just sayin’). We hadn't been training for anything that extreme, so, feeling rather disappointed, we tried to consider other options with an open mind. Spoiler alert. Call it serendipity, bonne chance, karma, divine intervention or a combination of all of the above (with a healthy dose of research thrown in) and we had a chance to do a true bucket list experience, going to the Havasupai reservation, hiking down the Havasu Canyon to the Supai village following the Havasu Creek and sering the falls. But… more about that in the next blog, this blog is about our Grand Canyon, South Rim visit.

We only had a couple of days and mostly spent them biking, from some of the most iconic spots to some of the less traveled. One late afternoon we biked down to the lodge area, watched the sunset and had a bite before we headed back. Of course, it was dark by then ... very dark. And there were no street lights of any kind. (It is a national park after all.) We have lights on our bikes, but they didn't actually project very far in the inky blackness. I had to totally rely on Martin's internal GPS (which as I've mentioned before is excellent) to get back, as a number of potential scenarios flitted through my mind. What if we got lost? What if I literally ran into an elk or deer or any kind of animal?? What if I rode off the edge and fell into the Grand Canyon??? Let's just say, I was very relieved to get back and suggested (strongly) that if we knew we were going to be gone after dark in the future, we should drive. Of course Martin knew where he was the whole time so he probably thought I was overreacting ... It's possible. 😏

On to pics!

Nearing the canyon.

Note how flat the landscape is, but you can see the canyon. It is clearest in the mid frame on the right to middle. I know I've talked about this in previous blogs, but this is a good visual example. I still have some trouble wrapping my head around the fact that the surface looks pretty flat, a nondescript plateau but there are these deep canyons that cut into it, although one hardly even notices these “cuts”. And most mind warping for my little Vermont brain, is that when one is in these great canyons, it looks and feels like one is hiking in the mountains. 🤯 I mean, I understand scientifically how and why, it just upsets my innate sense of how things should be. But, of course, that's one of the reasons we're going on this grand exploration of our country. To check our innate senses of what seems right and what seems, dare I say, wrong??? To see the country in living color, in all of its beauty. No, it's not wrong, it is just different.

Pics from the Watchtower overlook, designed by Mary Coulter who was influenced by the ancient puebloan structures of Mesa Verde and Chaco Cultural site. It marks the easternmost point of developed viewpoints along the Grand Canyon. If conditions are right, one can see all the way to the Painted Desert NP.

Yikes! A fire to the northeast

The Watchtower with a smoke cloud on the horizon

Watchtower

Decor along the top

a close-up of the mighty Colorado The Colorado River is up to 30' wide as it descends through the canyon, sometimes smooth and sometimes with class 4 and 5 rapids.

Moving on to other views

buttes and shadows

sunset haze

Look carefully. That's a helicopter with a load of supplies dangling below. And below that, in the bottom right, Bright Angel trail which goes down to Phantom Ranch… Alas though, not for us …

but lots more gorgeous views

Another pic of Bright Angel trail descending the side of the canyon

flora and fauna

Asters

Thistle

I was fascinated by these grass/grain seed heads and at one point I knew their name, but I've forgotten so all i can do is enjoy the beauty.

Rabbitbrush

All along we've been seeing this plant/bush with yellow flowers called rabbitbrush and I kept trying to figure out the origins of the name. Did rabbits hide in it, did they like to eat it? Then I saw it gone to seed and came up with a new hypothesis, the seed heads look like rabbit tails! I'm still not sure which theory is true, but I like the bunny tails.

Apache plume

The squirrel in this pic was quite busy scolding all the people walking along the rim.

Elk

As we rode back to our campsite one time, we came upon an elk enjoying the new juniper growth.

She really had to stretch sometimes.

Oh, but it was delicious.

Then the “wee one” wanted to know what Mom was so interested in.

But, not being able to reach the branches, he had to settle for whatever fell to the ground

On one ride, we found the mules ❤️❤️❤️

El Tovar

One of the flagship lodge restaurants for the national parks. We'd gone to a few of the lodges for meals during our travels and had found a wide disparity in both the quality of the service and the food. I know many in the service industries are still trying to recover from COVID and it seems to have hit the national parks especially hard. But I just wasn't sure I was ready to take the chance of spending money on a nice meal, only to have it “not be a nice meal” …We took a chance and had a fabulous meal at El Tovar. So happy that we did!