Yesterday
was exhausting; luckily today we only have to travel half the
distance; we're going to the Grand Canyon, and it's only about 80
miles away. We decide that we won't leave until about 9.30 am, and
we'll have breakfast along the way; that will give me time to write
yesterday's blog!
Once out
of Flagstaff, we travel for mile after mile of Ponderosa forest,
which gradually changes into desert scrubland. We see very few cars
on the first half of our journey, and no towns or houses or even
petrol stations.
“Well,
at this rate, I don't know about breakfast,” I
say to Reg. “We might have to wait until we get to the
Grand Canyon.”
Our
guide book tells us that food is very expensive in the Grand Canyon
area. Just as we've given up hope, when we're about 25 miles away
from the Grand Canyon, we come to a road junction (the first one in
our whole journey). Right in front of us is a hotel with a
restaurant open to the public.
We
order eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast, and it's one of the best
breakfasts we've had in America! And reasonably priced. This will
last us until our evening meal back in Flagstaff.
It's
$25 to take a vehicle into the Grand Canyon National Park; as with
other National Parks we've visited, you might as well take your
vehicle in, as to walk in is $12 per person. We park up and make for
the bike rentals – we want to cycle around some of the South Rim of
the Grand Canyon. Reg reckons it will be a total of about 22 miles
there and back, (you have to come back the same way). It's really
hot (though not as hot as Las Vegas!) but there's a slight breeze
which is nice.
We
actually have to cycle for about half an hour before we reach the
first viewpoint on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Nothing can
prepare you for your first breathtaking glimpse of this magnificent
abyss, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. I remember
describing the “Great Wall of China” in my blog 2 years
ago as “beyond amazing”, and this awe-inspiring chasm has
to compare with that in the reaction it evokes. The “Rough Guide
to the USA” has this to say:
“The
Grand Canyon of the Colorado remains beyond the grasp of the human
imagination. No photograph, no set of statistics, can prepare you for
such vastness. At more than 1 mile deep, it's an inconceivable
abyss; varying between 4 and 18 miles wide, and 277 miles long, it's
an endless expanse of bewildering shapes and colours, glaring desert
brightness and impenetrable shadow, stark promontories and soaring,
never-to-be-climbed sandstone pinnacles.”
I
think this is a pretty good resumé.
As much as the vastness of the chasm, it's the shapes and in
particular the wonderful different colours of the rock strata which
are so stunning – reds, yellows, pinks and purples merging into,
and contrasting with, each other.
As
Reg and I cycle along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, we stop at
various view points along the way, each viewpoint giving us a
different perspective on the abyss. We notice people walking on the
trails far below us; they look like ants. We talk to a couple of
cyclists at one viewpoint; they must be in their 20's. He comes
from Canada, she comes from Scotland, and they live in Jamaica. We've
met so many interesting people on our tour of the USA. Today, we
keep meeting up with people who are going from one viewpoint to the
next by shuttle bus; alighting from the bus, spending however long
they want to at the viewpoint, and then reboarding another bus to the
next viewpoint.
We
understand why people elect to fly over the Grand Canyon, as that is
the only way you would be able to see the whole of this natural
chasm. However, we really enjoy our close-up view of the parts of it
that we are able to see. As always, we only have limited time to see
as much as we can.
When
we've cycled as far as we planned to, we decide to turn back, as for
one thing we are getting short of water, despite thinking we had
brought plenty with us. There is nowhere to buy water along the way.
When we're nearly back at the visitors' centre, from where we hired
the bikes, we spot a café and
stop for much-needed refreshment.
We
really enjoyed our cycle around (some of) the South Rim of the Grand
Canyon; it was an added bonus to be back on bikes again – something
we have only been able to do sporadically while in America. We're
both really tired, and I fall asleep on the way back to Flagstaff,
while Reg once more drives through the desert scrub and then the
Pondorosa forest, travelling for several miles without seeing another
vehicle. Back at the motel, we pop across the road to our local
restaurant, before packing up once more; we're catching the train at
4.30 am tomorrow, and should arrive in Albuquerque, New Mexico, about
11.30 am Arizona time, 10.30 am New Mexico time. We'll then be 7
hours behind UK time.
For
those who are interested, here's a few extra facts about the Grand
Canyon, courtesy of Wikipedia:
- The Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years through erosion by water, ice and wind
- In particular, flash floods from the Colorado river, which runs through the floor of the Canyon, have caused dramatic changes in the chasm over a relatively short period of geological time
- The Grand Canyon has been home to Native Americans for thousands of years. The first European to come here was a Spaniard, in 1540.
- There are over 5 million visitors a year to the Grand Canyon
- You can hike down to the base of the Grand Canyon, or go by mule; or you can white-water raft in the Colorado river. There is a camp where you can stay at the bottom of the Grand Canyon; all the supplies to this camp are brought down by mules.
- There have been about 600 deaths in the Grand Canyon since the 1870's;
- 53 from falls
- 65 from environmental causes eg heat-stroke, heart attack, dehydration and hypothermia
- 7 caught in flash floods
- 242 in aeroplane or helicopter crashes (of which 128 were killed when 2 aeroplanes from Los Angeles international airport crashed over the Grand Canyon in 1956)
- 25 in freak errors and accidents including lightning strikes and rock falls
- 23 murders
The
Grand Canyon – powerful, majestic, untamed – one of the
highlights of our trip.
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