Big Hole in the Ground: Part II

So after going to bed with another chance of rain in the forecast, we awoke in Flagstaff to another beautiful day and no rain until night. We decided to take full advantage of the weather and headed back north to the Grand Canyon for another day, but this time on the South Rim.

To put it simply, it was another spectacular day in one of the most stunning places in the country, if not the world. We got to the park at about 11:30, and it was already more crowded than the North Rim was for the entire day. (We did read that only 10% of Grand Canyon visitors go to the North Rim, so it's pretty special we discovered both in two days.

Today we saw more of the typical Grand Canyon sights, the stuff people imagine when you mention the place to them. Long sight lines, expansive views, and plenty of breathtaking looks into the canyon. After riding mules through the North Kaibab Trail yesterday, we decided to try our luck on foot on the South Kaibab Trail. The two are connected by a suspension bridge over the Colorado River, but it's easily a 4 hour hike down to the bridge, so we didn't do it due to time restrictions.

Instead, we settled for Cedar Ridge, a 1.5 mile hike into the canyon that descends just over 1,000 feet. We unpacked our snacks and rested on the edge of a rock outcrop that overlooked a vast area of the canyon and had about a 40 foot drop to the rocks below. I took some pictures from far away so you all can see the place I'm talking about. Sitting on the ledge, eating our food, we were simply amazed by where we were. Hiking back up was much tougher than going down, obviously, but we powered through it and did it in only an hour (our hike down took an hour as well, so we made good time going up).

Being in the canyon the past two days, I had to continuously remind myself where I was. Susan and I agreed it didn't seem quite real that we were hiking around the Grand Canyon, in the middle of Arizona. Looking around us on the trail or at rest points, nothing looks quite real. We kept saying it looked like backdrops out of movies. The sky is the bluest I've ever seen, and the air cool and refreshing.

One of the other things which surprised me about the Canyon was just how much plant life there is there. I'm not sure about all of you, but when I think of the Grand Canyon, I imagine a desert leading up to huge cliffs and a mile of sheer rockface to the bottom. Boy, was I wrong. The North Rim is covered in trees, including a lot of evergreens. The South Rim trees were smaller, but there were still plenty of them and a lot of smaller shrubs covering the top and the cliff sides.

In addition, I prepared myself for a tough, hot, arid climate. I expected 90+ both days.

Wrong again.

Both days the thermometer only read about 75 at mid day, and there was a rather constant, cool breeze blowing through the canyon which helped keep us cool and dry during our hikes. In other words, it was almost perfect.

Hiking in the canyon today, Susan and I reflected on our experience of riding the mules down the North Rim and back. We enjoyed it a lot, and after doing the hike on foot today we appreciated how hard the mules work going up and down those steep cliffs. My mount, Big Mac, was pretty good. He didn't give me too much trouble and only stopped to try and eat a couple times. A quick pull on the reigns and we kept moving. On the way back up from the bottom, he impressed me, moving quicker than he had on the way down.

Susan's ride on the other hand, Woodrow, was a bit of a pain and Susan had some difficulty getting him to listen to her. Woodrow constantly liked to walk near the edge of the trails, either putting Susan right on the edge of a cliff overlooking everything or right up against the rocks. He also loved to eat, stopping several times and even sneaking in a few bites while still walking. His favorite placed to snack seemed to be on the cliff side, bending over so Susan was forced to lean forward and get a real good view of what laid below her at the bottom of the cliff. Thankfully, on the way up he was much better, but he moved as slow as molasses. Woodrow just kind of took his time, holding up about half of us since we were in line behind them and the guide pulled up to wait for us several times.

Today, it was a lot funnier looking back on it, and as we walked back up 1,000 feet of canyon we said, "man, I wish I can a mule here to ride us back up to the top."

Tonight we are in Gallup, New Mexico. Tomorrow we might head to Santa Fe for the day and explore the city a little bit. On the way here tonight, we watched an incredible lightening storm for about 80 miles. Clouds were on both sides of the highway and the lightening bolts seemed thick, sticking the same place multiple times in each flash. At times, it seemed like the whole sky became illuminated with the lightening strikes. It was just awesome to watch, topping the storm we saw while driving in Colorado easy.

Sorry for the extended post, but had a lot to say about the Grand Canyon experience. Lot of photos from the past two days, I'll sort through them and try to post soon.