Would you believe it! The couple who we met at the Buffalo Sage B&B (near Bryce Canyon), who also turned up at Kaibab Lodge (near Grand Canyon North Rim) were at breakfast at our motel in Flagstaff this morning! I told him to stop following us around and he was slightly taken aback until he realised I was joking! Sometimes British humour doesn't translate well!
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| Little Colorado Canyon |
This morning we drove from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon, South Rim, stopping off at an Native American run park where we walked to the edge of the Little Colorado Canyon. Bob and Mary had been here before, many years ago and said the railings were new! Thank goodness they were installed! The path led to a steep drop down into the canyon. Shame the sun was not quite in the right place for photographs because the plunge down to the river was quite something! Mary posed, hanging over the abyss! There were stalls of Native American art/artifacts and I bought a hematite necklace and a pair of earrings.
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| Mary, showing no fear! |
Bob and Mary must have been to Grand Canyon several times but not for a few years and they were staggered by the development that has taken place. We approached from the east and our first stop was Desert View. The whole area has been landscaped, with new paths, facilities and car parks. Despite it being towards the end of the season, it was busy. However, it is incredibly well done, well laid out and sympathetically built to blend into the environment - and despite the packed car park, the paths keep people separated and circulating. Anyway, we got our first view of the canyon from the south and photographs just can't convey the immensity of the scene, the variety of colours in the layers of rock and the general sense of amazement at the landscape. I probably needed a better camera to capture the depth of field, or something. The distances are huge and there appears to be a blue haze hanging over canyon. My resident scientist tells me it is the gases coming off all the pine trees that form fine particles in the atmosphere...
By the way, if you double click on the pictures you get a slide show in which the pictures are bigger and better!
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| Grand Canyon |
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| The Colorado River |
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| Just take a few more steps back! |
We had a picnic lunch further along the rim and then Bob dropped the three of us off at Pipe Creek Vista and we walked along the rim to Mather Point and the new visitor centre complex. The walk was not as dramatic as it sounds as a paved path takes you all the way, but there are plenty of places where the fool hardy can approach the edge and some people were having their photographs taken in poses that made you want to rush up and ask about their life insurance!
It was a good walk though, about a l.5 miles, with wonderful views of the canyon and plenty of interesting plants to look at.
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| Another canyon view |
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| and another! |
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| Cliffrose: purshia stansburiana |
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| Bark |
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| Looks like some sort of daisy? |
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| Delicate! |
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| Fern Bush: chamaebaliaria millefolium |
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| Bright Angel Canyon |
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| Bright Angel Canyon |
We met up with Bob at an excellent bookshop, grabbed a cup of real coffee (not the usual weak variety) and then drove back to Flagstaff, stopping to admire the light dusting of snow on the top of Humphrey's Peak, the highest mountain in Arizona (12,633 feet).
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| Humphrey's Peak |
In Flagstaff we found the Lowell Observatory but changed our plans about the evening programme when we realised that it involved standing outside for some time (and it gets really cold at night) and we refused to pay $9 each to be frozen! Instead we browsed the bookshop before retreating and Bob and Mary picked up a really good book on the chemistry of the elements for their eldest grandson, Caleb.
Back at the motel we went to Bob and Mary's room for a G&T and a rummage through the food box for nibbles before walking next door to Denny's for a quick meal.
PS We decided that if we return to Grand Canyon before we are too old (!) we'll take a mule ride and a ride in a small plane. Watch this space!
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