An early start to get to the rim of the Canyon by 9.00am.
Our first encounter was with Ranger Sebastian who gave us a quick overview.
Firstly, we drove west along the South Rim from the central tourist area for an hour stopping off at many viewpoints to take in the vista.
Of course, none of our photos are going to do it any justice.
The weather was overcast with a high of 12c but windy, so it was chilly.
Suggest you might need to turn the volume up on your tube feed for this video.
In 2010 we embarked on a 7 day rafting trip on the Colorado River that went exclusively through the Grand Canyon.
The trip took place in August which is one of the hottest months in Arizona. The temperature where we were was 40c…..but….. it was freezing cold.
Why you ask would it be cold? The reason is that the Colorado River is dammed at the top end of the canyon at a place called Lake Mead.
When the water comes out of the dam into the canyon it comes out from the bottom of the lake and hence it was like ice. We experienced some of the wildest rapids. It was like being on a roller coaster with no safety harness except for a rope you had to cling onto as your life depended upon it. It was brilliant. It was also like 7 days of having a bucket of sand poured down your swimmers, put on the cold washing machine cycle and constantly spun around and then repeated every time the sand ran out. The only time we felt warm was when we stood in the river to pee as we were not allowed to pee on land. You always knew when someone was peeing as they had the warmest smiles on their faces. Number 2’s were done in a porta potty and loaded onto the raft each day and you got to enjoy the waft until the very end.
This is the start of the Bright Angel walk that takes you from the South Rim of the canyon down to the bottom where you cross over a bridge and then climb up to the North Rim. It takes two days and there is only one place called Phantom Lodge where you can bed down for the night. Fras is thinking of maybe walking down to Phantom Lodge and then return back up the South Rim next year with the hiking club from Venture Out which is where we stayed in Phoenix.
We discovered that there was a railway that comes to the canyon which would be a great way to experience a trip here. The station it arrives at is right at the South Rim and the rolling stock looks very quaint and also very American in design…….not the prettiest……a bit like their cars.
A fun fact about the Grand Canyon:
The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet plummets to a depth of 17,567 feet, making it more than 2 miles deeper than the Grand Canyon’s 6,093 feet. The Tibetan canyon is also about 30 miles longer than the Grand Canyon.
It was only a short drive from the Grand Canyon to Page where we will rest our weary heads tonight. The town of Page is still in Arizona.
We are keeping a close eye on the weather as there is a winter system moving in along the north of the canyon and is meant to dump quite a bit of snow. Our plans tomorrow are to go to Bryce Canyon, which is in that direction, but we will make that call in the morning. Just because we have new beaut snow tyres on the car doesn’t necessarily mean snow travel is OK as there are lots of other factors to consider. We might have to backtrack to Flagstaff and head north via Las Vegas – that isn’t such a bad alternative!!!
Rowkin Rovings Blog 