Can you imagine being the very first person here, coming through the woods and suddenly, you are standing on the edge of a precipice, overlooking an other-worldly canyon that goes on forever—the Grand Canyon still has that power.
We are only here for 4 days and heard the weather report that snow was going to be blasting in for the last 2 days so find those boots and get hiking. Instead of climbing up mountains like in Zion, we have to climb down the canyons and save enough energy to get back up. Climbing down actually is harder in some ways as you are constantly using your knees for braking so we added hiking poles to help with this.
We had 2 fantastic day hikes of 3-4 miles each planned—Bright Angel and the Kaibab Trails. My camera does not capture the vistas around every turn—they pull you in and keep you inspired to go further. Bob is really into hiking now and we are considering coming back in the future and doing the 10 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and staying overnight at Phantom Ranch.
As the weather started turning, we took the shuttle bus when it was snowing, but got out and walked parts of the 12 mile Rim Trail along the top of the canyon when it cleared. Hopi Point is a spectacular place to see sunset and we were there but so was the bad weather so no picture. We saved the inside activities like the visitor centers, ranger talks and galleries for the inclimate weather and had an excuse to have a sumptuous lunch with wine at the famous El Tovar Lodge.
Nothing clears a national park like snow and we were practically alone walking the rim when the snow cleared and the sun shone on the majestic rocks in the top right picture. We realized that today is Earth Day and the Grand Canyon is a perfect place to celebrate its beauty and grandeur.
We are only here for 4 days and heard the weather report that snow was going to be blasting in for the last 2 days so find those boots and get hiking. Instead of climbing up mountains like in Zion, we have to climb down the canyons and save enough energy to get back up. Climbing down actually is harder in some ways as you are constantly using your knees for braking so we added hiking poles to help with this.
We had 2 fantastic day hikes of 3-4 miles each planned—Bright Angel and the Kaibab Trails. My camera does not capture the vistas around every turn—they pull you in and keep you inspired to go further. Bob is really into hiking now and we are considering coming back in the future and doing the 10 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and staying overnight at Phantom Ranch.
As the weather started turning, we took the shuttle bus when it was snowing, but got out and walked parts of the 12 mile Rim Trail along the top of the canyon when it cleared. Hopi Point is a spectacular place to see sunset and we were there but so was the bad weather so no picture. We saved the inside activities like the visitor centers, ranger talks and galleries for the inclimate weather and had an excuse to have a sumptuous lunch with wine at the famous El Tovar Lodge.
Nothing clears a national park like snow and we were practically alone walking the rim when the snow cleared and the sun shone on the majestic rocks in the top right picture. We realized that today is Earth Day and the Grand Canyon is a perfect place to celebrate its beauty and grandeur.
