Grand Canyon National Park: South Rim

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we took a quick road trip up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park via the Historic Route 66.  Late fall is a wonderful time to visit this Park.  The Park receives 4 million visitors a year so in the summer high-season you can get stuck waiting more than an hour just to get past the entrance station.  We flew into the Park with no line at all.

We were able to make nearly last-minute reservations at the Maswik Lodge, an economy- priced motel inside the Grand Canyon, and pay a very low off-season rate of $78 a night.

Best of all, we were able to enjoy the view and the trails almost in solitude.

Seeing the the Grand Canyon for the very first time is an incredible experience.  You drive up a gently sloping mountain to reach the altitude of 7,000 feet in elevation.  As you reach the Park, a tall Ponderosa Pine forest greets you.  Everything seems completely in order for what you would expect Northern Arizona to look like at this high elevation.

You park your car at Mather Point, the first outlook point from the South Entrance of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

You walk out excitedly to the railing and the view takes your breath away.

There is no other experience on earth that can prepare you for seeing this enormous chasm in the middle of a forest.  The Grand Canyon is so much bigger than any photo can capture.  It is 277 miles long, 6,000 feet deep, and 15 miles wide.  It rightly earns its place as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

The morning started out with a bitter-cold wind and temperatures down in the low 20s.

I soon realized my light wind-breaker would not do the trick, even after I purchased a new pair of gloves from a gas station in Williams, Arizona.

The wind coming up the Grand Canyon on cold days is just bone-chilling, even for a gal raised on the Plains of South Dakota.  I put on four layers of light sweaters and topped off with my husband's overcoat and then I was suitably dressed for a late-fall day at the Grand Canyon.

Since we had left the kids at home with the grandparents, we decided to take a small hike on the famous Bright Angel Trail down into the Grand Canyon.  Signs on the Bright Angel Trail warn of all sorts of dangers that can occur to hikers unprepared for this sort of physical stunt.  The cool temperature was perfect for this sort of hike.  Summers are dangerous because the temperature can rise 30 degrees from the top of the rim down to the bottom of the Canyon, easily reaching 110 degrees on an August afternoon.

There are many rules to follow when attempting to hike on the Bright Angel Trail:

Practically anyone can walk down the ten minutes necessary to go through this tunnel and it makes a cool photo.

The walk down was so pleasant, it was tempting to try to reach the Indian Gardens. 

However, it is very deceptive to gauge how you feel when walking down this slope.  Getting back up is the hard part so we satisfied our curiousity with a zoom photo and wisely turned back to the Rim.  One of these days, after proper training and the necessary reservations at the Phantom Ranch located at the bottom of the Canyon, I hope to walk the entire distance of 10 miles.

These folks are going down farther than I dared.  The trail gets very steep and starts a series of switchbacks that looked brutal to climb back up.

I took lots of photo breaks while climbing back up to the rim.  Here I am demonstrating how to stand against the edge of the Canyon when mules pass.  The rock I am leaning against is Kaibab limestone

Back up at the Rim, we were still in the mood for hiking so we took off towards Hermit's Rest 7 miles away, knowing that after each mile or so, we would have the option of hopping on the free shuttle that services this area.  No private vehicles are allowed on this road, with the exception of cars with a disabled-person sign.

Come along!  There is so many interesting things to see both on the Rim and at the overlooks.  The biodiversity of this semi-arid, high elevation, wind-swept land is amazing.

These hardy trees are the Pinyon Pines that were an important food source to the native populations that have inhabited this region for at least 10,000 years.

I love Utah Junipers.  They grow a shaggy, waxy bark that helps them survive on very little water.  The twisted limbs and roots growing out of rocks reminds me of an old wise man.  The berries are used to flavor many foods and are the critical ingredient in gin.

Cactus and Banana Yucca also thrive here.

This was the only Yucca in bloom that I saw.  It seems to have died with the flower still standing.

Just a few steps away from the trail is this unbelievable view.

Most of the features inside of the Grand Canyon are named.  The flatter butte in the background is called the Wotan's Throne and the one with the point to the right is called Vishnu Temple.  Clarence Dutton, a geologist also interested in Eastern religion, wrote the first important book explaining the geology of the Grand Canyon back in 1882 and he named the features after temples in China and India.

Looking straight down to the depths of the Canyon always makes me a little nervous.

I wasn't expecting to see a mine right in a National Park.  The Orphan Mine was built in 1893 by Dan Hogan, a prospector who mined copper here.  That turned out to be a bust because the copper reserves were too small and too costly to transport out of the Canyon. 

However, from 1951 until as recently as 1988, this same mine was used to extract America's richest source of uranium.  The National Park Service has finally gained control over this mine and shut it down permanently.

The Colorado River finally becomes visible to us from Hopi Point.

It looks small and gentle from this distance, but this 1,450 mile waterway starting in the Rocky Mountains and ending in the Gulf of Mexico, is 300 feet wide in parts and up to 100 feet deep.  The river drops 2,200 feet in elevation going throught the 277 miles of the Grand Canyon.

The Canyon narrows here and that constriction of this powerful river creates these class-eight rapids, which the Grand Canyon is so famous for.  These rapids last for one mile making a white-water rafting trip through the Grand Canyon a trip to remember for a lifetime.

Finally, after a seven-mile hike full of exploration and wonder, we reach Hermits Rest.  We refresh with a cup of hot chocolate and wait for the free bus to carry us back down to Grand Canyon Village.

Just as we reach the Village, the famous Grand Canyon Railway is taking people back to Williams. 

The wildlife starts becoming more active at dusk and this mule deer doesn't seem to mind my presence.

We decide, last minute, to try to catch the bus going to Hopi Point to take in a very special sunset.  The bus is extremely crowded, but the atmosphere is festive and fun.  And we arrive with only a few minutes to spare to see this incredible sight.

It's difficult to catch this on camera, but the sun drops like a ball in a few minutes under a ridge of the Grand Canyon.  If you are in the Grand Canyon, I highly recommend getting to Hopi Point to witness this for yourself.

The Canyon's colors become richer in the setting sun.

 After such a perfect day, we are amazed to see this gorgeous full moon over the Canyon.

Our time in the Grand Canyon was all too short, but we had one of the best trips ever.