Awesome and inspiring! The day is finally here for one of the main stops of the trip. I have been waiting for this day for a long time. Growing up, I was always interested in natural sciences. Geology has always fascinated me and the Grand Canyon is all about geology. Well, maybe not all... it is also about art. Colorful, dry, desolate, hot, empty, huge, insignificant, dusty, brown, blue, and green are all adjectives that describe the canyon. Though some may seem polar opposites, my experience at the canyon could use any or all of these!
As always, we started early and since we had some time to kill before our tour, we went to the National Geographic IMAX showing a Grand Canyon film. I was unimpressed, even though the flying portion was exciting. We made our way over to the Jeep Tour. This is a 2 1/2 hour tour around the Grand Canyon.
The beginning of the tour went on a dirt road into the 'woods' around the canyon. This was a surprising thing for me. I always assumed that the land around the Grand Canyon was simply flat, open desert. To my surprise, the land surrounding is a coniferous forest, complete with some extremely old Ponderosa Pines. The land supports numerous plants and animals, including elk, mule deer and, of course, mountain lions. This is not to say that there is a lot of water available, but there is enough to support a large ecosystem. The dusty trail we were on wound through towards the original entrance of the Grand Canyon, the Stagecoach trail. This dirt road from Flagstaff is still open for use, but is not frequented often. We did not get to see much wildlife since the tour was in the beginning of the hot afternoon sun, but Bingo did see an elk! That was exciting!
The tour was just the four of us, so when we got close to the canyon, the guide took us to see the canyon at Grandview Point. Words are difficult to put together to describe the Grand Canyon. I was prepared for the sights, but it was still beyond what I had imagined. Our guide pointed out several cool thing, an old copper mine, some fossils, but nothing outdid the view itself. Colors like blue sky and green vegetation stand out against the brown and red backdrop of the canyon's rocks. As we were told, pictures do not do the canyon justice (though I DID try...just look at the pictures!).
The tour ended by taking us through the Grand Canyon Village (i.e. tourist portion) which the park service requires all tour operators to go through. Then, back to the start of the tour. We had lunch and went back to view different portions of the canyon. Several small hikes and view points took the rest of the afternoon. Then, Bingo decides that she wants to see more wildlife, so we drove back to the Stagecoach trail (not that this surprises anyone, it IS a dirt road). We go and sit by a water hole during about 1/2 hour of twilight. We don't see anything beyond a few birds, and since the light is declining, we head out. We continue back down the road back to where the tour started, only 15 miles. That 15 miles, though is all dirt road in the middle of elk country, a nice note is that we did see a lot of elk on the way! The concern of elk made this longer than a 30 minute trip... We emerge from the 'woods' as darkness hits, unscathed. It was an interesting ride.
The drive back to camp was uneventful from there. We expect another fun day tomorrow!
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