Retirement Travels: Grand Canyon

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Grand Canyon

Monday, Feb 4

The temperature every night since we arrived in New Mexico has been below freezing, as low as 13 and this morning around 27. Every night we remove the water hose so it doesn't freeze solid, which makes putting it in the storage compartment a little difficult. The cold temperatures also means that the propane furnace runs most of the night - there's not much insulation in a motor home.

We left OK RV Park heading West. We've been on a steady Westward course since leaving Asheville. When we leave here (Grand Canyon), we'll finally be heading South.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon early enough to spend a couple hours walking the trails overlooking the canyon. It is truly spectacular, but it's so massive it's hard to take it in. We've compared it to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Western Colorado, which we visited a couple years ago. In many ways, the Black Canyon was more impressive because it was so narrow and so deep. However, the Grand Canyon is indeed "Grand". And picturesque.

The ladies show off their new socks, which they purchased yesterday - and found out today are made in Vermont.

For Evan and Anna: The Grand Canyon tells a story of geologic processes played out over unimaginable time spans. It is a unique combination of size, color, and dazzling erosional forms: 277 river miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep. The rugged landscape hosts a fascinating variety of plant and animal communities, from the desert next to the Colorado River deep in the canyon to montane forest atop it North Rim.

Humans have played parts in the story of thousands of years. Broken spear points, enigmatic split-twig figurines, decorated pots, abandoned mines, and historic hotels suggest some who have called the canyon home.

We are on the South Rim of the canyon, which is about 1,000 feet lower than the North Rim. The
The South Rim and North Rim are just 10 miles apart as a raven flies, but 215 miles by road. The South Rim elevation is 7,000 feet with temperatures in the 50s - 80s in summer and the 20s - 50s in winter. The North Rim, 1,000 feet higher, is about 10 degrees cooler than the South Rim.

Tuesday, Feb 5

I suffer from the same inadequacies as many other much better writers when it comes to describing the Grand Canyon. In our 2 days here, I've read many attempts to describe it and they all seem inadequate. About the best I've seen is "You have to see it to believe it!' It is overwhelming. It is so vast that it is difficult to get perspective when looking at it. It seems that the best pictures have a tree in the foreground in an attempt to provide perspective.

Today, we took Hermit's Rest Road West of the main series of complexes (the main complex consists of hundreds of staff residences, hotel rooms and camping facilities - over 1,700 places to stay). This road is only open to private vehicles in the winter. In the summer, only tour buses are allowed because it is so popular - and beautiful. We stopped at about every overlook and walked some short trails. I think we took about 150 pictures - but none are adequate.

Late in the afternoon we went to an IMAX theater and thoroughly enjoyed a movie about the Grand Canyon.

Imagine what the first explorer riding in on horseback said when he first saw the canyon. As he rides across the flat desert, all of a sudden he comes upon the sheer cliffs overlooking the canyon. The first thing out of his mouth is a command to the horse. Whoa!!

This is the best time of year to visit the park. The crowds are sparse and all the facilities are open. I read that as many as 23,000 people a day come here in the summer. I can't imagine that it's much fun with so many people here.

Our evenings are filled with Downton Abbey. We have the first two seasons on DVD and we've ordered the third to meet us in Tucson.