The Grand Canyon

As we left the campground this morning, our plan was to go to Sedona.   As we were driving, we were talking about the weather and the potential of heavy rain.  Carol said he had heard on the radio that the best chance for rain would be late this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow.  When we were planning this trip, seeing the Grand Canyon was the one thing Carol wanted to see.   Right then we made the decision to turn north toward the Grand Canyon and leave Sedona for tomorrow (if we don't get rained out).

The famous Route 66 travels part of Route 89A through Flagstaff.  Most of the motels incorporated the numbers "66" in their name.  When we get to Albuquerque, we hope to do more Route 66 stuff.

The clouds were already moving into the mountains.  We hoped we would get our look of the Grand Canyon before the rains hit.

We found parking at the Visitor's Center.  So much has changed since the last time we were here.  Shuttle buses are everywhere.  We planned to leave our car in the parking lot and take shuttles.  The first overlook was Point Mather.  At this point we got our first glimpse of the canyon and the North Kaibab Trail that we hiked down in 1988.  The trail is 5.6 miles to the bottom and the small white roofed building is the only restroom on the trail.  It took us five and a half hours to hike down.

This is Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon.   No river shot here because the Ranch sits back into the canyon.  Roofs of the cabins can be seen.

The cloud-filled sky made the canyon look pale and blue but still pretty.

We ate lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge restaurant.  Carol had chili with buffalo and beef and I had tacos.  Both were very good and we were seated with a view of the canyon.  After lunch we saw this view of the canyon and found a lady willing to snap a shot.

Carol and I discovered that we are addicted to taking pictures of The Grand Canyon.  When I got ready to download my pictures, I discovered that I had taken over 100 pictures (don't worry I didn't post that many) which doesn't include the ones Carol took with our phone and I-Pad.  The view changes almost by the minute depending on the location of the clouds and occasional sun peeking out

Here is a small sliver of blue sky.

This is the tunnel on the Bright Angel Trail.  When a climber reaches this point, your long hike is almost over.

More of the upper part of the Bright Angel Trail.  It looks deceivingly easy but, believe me, if you are going up, after 10 miles of walking up, this is hard.

This picture shows about three or four miles of the Bright Angel Trail.  This trail is 10.3 miles of almost constant walking up and using switchbacks to make the ascent.  This overlook brought back so many memories for Carol and I of when we hiked it.  We are so glad that we did it when we did.  We were 41 and 43 and in much better shape than today.  There is no way we would attempt to hike this trail today.  It took us 12 hours to hike from Phantom Ranch to the top.

As we were headed toward Desert View (the east entrance to the park), we saw this mommy elk and her little one.  You have to look closely but you can see the baby's' head eating beside mom.

You can see baby's legs and head.

Finally, baby can be seen.

These last pictures were taken from overlooks as we were leaving the canyon.  We just couldn't stop taking pictures!

This was the last stop for pictures and we are so glad we stopped because you get a good view of the Colorado River.  Most of the time you cannot see the river.  The white water shown in the beginning of this river shot is Hance Rapids.  According to what we read, there is a drop in the river almost three stories high.  This rapids is one of the highlights of those taking rafts down the river.  From this height, it looks so innocent.

We finally stopped taking pictures and left The Grand Canyon.  This will be the highlight of our trip.  The canyon is a must-see for everyone.    This was taken about 4:00 and the clouds are settling lower over the mountains.  The forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain tonight.  I am so glad we made the decision to visit the Grand Canyon today.  If the rain comes, the views of the canyon we got wouldn't happen.