Day 5, Saturday, May 3, 2008 Grand Canyon

We walked west a ways along the path from Mather Point to Yavapai Point. The view changed somewhat as we rounded the curve, though you could still see some of the same areas.

Here's a picture of the Canyon floor.


Can you see the grass green area just a little to the right of center, at the end of inner canyon coming down from the top of the picture? Here it is a little closer.



Phantom Ranch is in that valley. It's the only place on the Canyon floor where you can spend the night in a cabin. It's on the far side of the Colorado River, and is usually reached by mule from the North Rim. You can hike to it, too, if you're in good enough shape. Can you see the buildings? Here's a full zoom shot.



You can actually pick out a few things in this view. There are numerous places along the path where you can step right to the edge of the Canyon and get a fabulous view. I got braver as the day wore on, but all I was willing to do at this point was sit on the edge--no standing on the edge for me at this point.



The predominant plant in this area is cedar. It more of a bush here than a tree, although a few of them do get some size to them. One of the striking things about the landscape is the number of the cedars that are dead. I didn't do a scientific survey, but it looked like about 1 in 100 is dead. That makes for some interesting views, sometimes.



Yavapai Point was a little less than a mile down the path. Kiersten got tired of walking pretty quickly, so she caught a ride. She had her Ty kitten with her, and we were concerned that Purry not accidentally get dropped over the side, so Purry spent time in lots of pockets throughout the day.



This is the view as we were approaching Yavapai.


I like the way the rock appears so different from one layer to the next in this shot. Here's one of the views from the Point.


There's an information center at Yavapai Point that gives you some great information about the Canyon. This is a graphic that explains the different layers of rock that you see on the North Rim.



And here's the one for the South Rim.



I'd seen lots of pictures of the Grand Canyon before I saw it for myself. One of the biggest surprises for me was how the surrounding landscape offers no hint whatsoever that the Canyon is there. It's basically just semi-arid high ground, with a few hills. The Grand Canyon is just suddenly THERE.

This is a picture of the ground leading up to the Canyon.



And here's the view toward the Canyon from the same spot.



Amazing.

Well, there's lots more to post, but we've been pretty busy the last two days in Vegas, and I'm exhausted. I'll get more up tomorrow while we're driving.