Road Trip, Day 4

After resting-up in Flagstaff, AZ for the night, Paige and I headed north to the Grand Canyon. After our failed experiment at hiking in Sedona, AZ, Paige and I had decided to abandon our intention to hike down the Grand Canyon a/k/a GC, or even camp there for two nights. Thus, our visit would be limited to just the day and around the South Rim.

Paige and I got to the Grand Canyon around 11:30 AM. It was a glorious day and a glorious sight. For all those who have made the trip, you know what I am saying. Pictures will never do the Grand Canyon justice. It is huge. Huge. Huge. Huge. Think about how big you think the GC is in your mind, and then multiply it times 100, and then double it. It is that big (if not bigger).

I had made a visit to the GC back in 2002 with my good friend, Ryan Nowak, however this was Paige's first visit. I was a little concerned that I may have oversold the GC before arrival, but when Paige made eye contact with it for the first time, and the first words out of her mouth were, "OH MY!" (i.e. Brad Wells), then I knew she was impressed. I was impressed too. It was even bigger than I had first remembered it being. Paige and I took tons of pictures, as seen below, but none of them will do the site justice. I highly recommend everyone to see it. If you were planning on it two summers from now, do it this summer. It is just amazing. It is the most beautiful natural sight I have ever witnessed in the 25+ years I have spent on planet Earth.

The Grand Canyon has a very well-done Visitor Center, that I believe just opened. You actually cannot drive to it, because it is designed to be a depot station for a light rail that is still in development. I am big proponent of the light rail, because there are a lot of cars in and around the park visiting, and any way they can alleviate car exhaust from the surrounding atmosphere, the better. Visibility is a big concern for such a sight, and although it is not noticeably poor, you can catch strains of haze in the air that I am sure is a result of automobiles and trucks. They already have buses running on natural gas that take visitors from scenic spot to scenic spot. But I think the light rail will help out a lot. It will also bring more people to see the GC, without as much harm to the environment.

The way the Park entrance works, is that when you come in from the South, you reach the Grand Canyon kind of at a "T". You can go west about 5 miles to see some scenic viewpoints on foot or to the Grand Canyon Village - where the marketplace and post office is located, as well as permanent lodging and camp sites. You can also go east all the way out to the eastern entrance. Paige and I asked one of the Guides at the Visitor Center, who suggested we hit-up the eastern viewpoints. Most of these pictures are from those sites, including the eastern-most scenic site, Desert View. There is also a really cool Watchtower designed back in the 1920s as the eastern gift shop.

On our way out of the park, disaster struck. It was then that my "Check Engine Light" came on, and would not shut-off. The GC was much cooler than Sedona, AZ, but still pretty hot, so we thought it had something to do with the radiator. After writing some post cards, and discussing it over, we decided to cross our fingers, hold our breath, and try to push on through to Las Vegas, which was about 6 hours away...