Well here it is, the big enchilada, The Grand Canyon. There is not much else to say about the Grand Canyon that has not already been said. After all, The Grand Canyon is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Except perhaps that most people don’t experience The Grand Canyon drinking wine out of a box in a RV park with two cats like I did.
The size of the Grand Canyon is almost beyond comprehension. To fathom the enormous volume and vast expansive depth of the canyon one has to see the vistas with their own eyes. The canyon is one mile deep, 18 miles wide at its broadest, and 277 miles long. The landscape is stunning and left me breathless. Or maybe the biking at 7000 feet above sea level was what left me breathless. I had to remember to put down the camera, and live in the moment, soaking in the panoramic views.
To fully appreciate the canyon, one must hike down to the canyon floor. Most folks don’t get much further than the visitor center and the first canyon viewpoint. The main visitor center reminded me of Clearwater Beach Florida, with people driving around slowly in parking lots looking for parking spaces that don’t exist. I felt as if I was the only person there speaking English. People from around the world were here to see the Grand Canyon. In the campground I helped a family from Germany set up their RV. They rented a RV and this was their first night in their coach. Their English was good, much better than my German. My mastery of the German language came from my cycling trips to Austria and Switzerland, and consisted of only two sentences. The first sentence was “Groses Bier bitte”, or large beer please. The second was “Eine weitere Bitte”, one more please. Those sentences were the only two I needed to get through both biking tours.
Near the west end of the park I saw trail mules in their corral. People who are too lazy to hike down into the canyons ride the mules instead. The mules all looked pretty chilled out to me. Carrying Joe and Jenny Tourist down into and back out of the canyon requires a laid back animal. My excuse for not hiking down into the Grand Canyon was that I don’t like to leave the cats unattended in the RV for more than a few hours. I am now wondering what the cost of the mule trip would have been.
I remember my mother reading a book to me called Brighty of the Grand Canyon, the story of a real life burro who lived in the Grand Canyon. My parents took my family to the north rim of the Grand Canyon when I was 12 years old. I remember being in awe of the Grand Canyon back then just as I am now. I am wondering if my mother is now looking down on me from heaven and smiling as I experience the Grand Canyon again 48 years later.
For those of you who are curious, here is link describing the Grand Canyon and the other six natural wonders of the world.
That photo has so much clarity! Very glad you are there. Take the time to see as much of the rim as possible. Views are always changing with light and weather. Wish you could hike it! Enjoy!
Debbie, pretty amazing that photo was taken with a cell phone, I am hardly using my Nikon camera. I am in Moab UT now, Grand Canyon was way too crowded for me, I had wanted to go the north rim since its less crowded, but the north rim does not open until the middle of May.
Rob …. I’m very proud of you for not planning on doing a “Clark Griswold head-shake” at the “Big-Ditch”.
Thanks for the reminder on what I have missed visiting in our always great country. I often wonder to myself why people, who do not very much traveling experience, are going to other countries in the world, when there is so much to see in our beautiful nation. I am normally only thinking of the original 48-states and when one throws in the other two states, then one truely has come pretty close to a state of Nirvana. Yes, I am being rather small-minded, as there is an enormous amount of wonderful places in the rest of the world, but I only speak one language.
Just be very careful if you attempt the descend to the bottom land of the canyon.
Hope you post plenty of pictures.
Frank, you are correct, this is a very large and beautiful country. Having the time to be able to drive it is wonderful, I feel very fortunate. You really get to see the country when you drive across it. The drive from the Grand Canyon through southeast UT to Moab UT where I am now was incredible.
Nice description of the canyon. Safe travels.