Grand Canyon – Day One, Part One

Hello! I am glad I got into Ruby’s garden yesterday, because today was hopeless… rain, sun, rain, sun… cold!
Thought I might torture you will the start of my million Grand Canyon photos!
Honestly… I tried to cull…

After two days of driving (Wendy driving that is!!) We arrived in the dark to our campsite, set up a tent and fell into our sleeping bags.
The next day we got up to the visitors centre & shops and made sure Wendy had her coffee (very important) before following the crowds to the edge

We were on the South Rim. And that first glimpse is gob-smacking! Its so hard to get your head around the sheer scale of it.

Reflecting the vast number of visitors, the Park is beautifully set up to accommodate the constant flow of traffic – both foot and vehicle. The track along the rim is easy – mostly paved and very accessible to one and all. Courtesy buses drive too and fro constantly.

Small detours for those more nimble footed to get closer to the edge

Plenty of sensible lookout points along the entire area

And lots of opportunities for the brave to escape the crowded spots to enjoy a moment of peace with the view (and a photo-op)

Despite the precarious looking perch, getting down there wasn’t tempting death at every step and the outcrop very stable.

The view kept subtly changing as we walked along

The interpretation signs along the path were fantastically done. Really good clear information without overloading you too much.

I especially loved the display of the different rocks along the path.

And my favourite –

Folded Vishnu Basement Rock

Lucky they were all firmly attached and too big for my backpack!

There were lots of cool trees about for me to admire (and maybe hug)

The view continued to mesmerise us and every chance we got we ducked into another lookout point to gaze over the folded & layered landscape

Little did we know that what we were looking down on to was where we were going to actually be on the following day!

We might be a little overly proud of our mammoth hike, but it was an amazing experience. The arrow points to the end of the plateau which was the furtherest point of our hike

And just in case you can’t see our trail –

An apt spot for a selfie…

Anyway – moving right along…

Then I had a complete tourist moment. Squirrels. I am deprived of squirrels in everyday life and I find them rather adorable!

 

Wendy assured me that if I patted one I wasn’t allowed back into the tent to sleep. (Snicker)

Ok – enough of the squirrels. (They amuse me)

We made it to the Bright Angel Trailhead where we could see where we planned to start our hike from the following day.

The switchbacks looked fairly daunting

So – thats probably enough for one post, even though we weren’t finished exploring the rim trail. We were eventually driven away by hunger before coming back to finish our days exploring. More on that another day!

Hope you have enjoyed a bit of a look at this most spectacular place!

Cheers