The South Rim and Hermit Road

Remnants of forest fire near the North Rim.
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Leaving the North Rim we faced a 215 mile drive to the other side. (It's only 14 miles as the raven flies.) We backtracked past charred trees of a forest fire and past the Vermilion Cliffs until we reached Cameron on Highway 89. Then we turned west on Highway 64 toward the South Rim of the canyon. Once inside the park, this road is called the Desert View.  One of the main sights along this road is the Watchtower, built by Mary Colter for the Fred Harvey company. Mary Colter built many structures inside the park for Fred Harvey and the railroad. All of the buildings are meant to depict specific elements of the landscape and the inhabitants. The watchtower mimics one built by the Anasazi (ancient Pueblo peoples). Try the following links to read more about the watchtower and Mary Colter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Colter

Vermilion Cliffs in the distance.
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http://www.scienceviews.com/parks/watchtower.html

Never trust your first impression of a physical activity.

This was a long day and a long drive. We got to our hotel and fell into bed. The next day, Tuesday, June 5, we hit the Hermit Road. They have a wonderful system of free shuttle buses in the park. Three lines that interconnect, allow you to travel nearly everywhere you need to go and more importantly, get you to places you cannot reach by car. The Hermit Road goes west from Grand Canyon Village 8 miles along the rim to Hermit's Rest. There are several stops along the way, each one giving you a different view of the canyon. Sometimes when you KNOW you are looking at the same rock formation, it looks completely different from Pima Point than it did from Hopi Point.

We began to see hints of erosion and what was ahead.
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There is also a walking trail called the Rim Trail that runs right along the cliff. Mostly, a safe distance from the edge but I did notice in a few spots that it got a little tight. Anyway, we decided that since the distance from the Trailview spot to the next spot was very short and the trail looked reasonable. Never trust your first impression of a physical activity. We are happily sauntering along the edge of the canyon when we come to a wire fence closing off the paved path. We must detour to the left - way to the left, then parallel with the canyon again. This venture doubled the distance we had to walk and taught us to take the shuttle for the rest of the trip.

From the tower. Can you see the raven in the photo?
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You will notice that many of the attached photos have no captions. As Ralph said, "What can you say?" So often we just stood on the edge of the canyon or leaned on the guard rail and tried to take in the sight. It's impossible as it is impossible to get the perfect picture. I hope some of these convey the beauty and wonder of this amazing place.

That night we went across the road to the Grand Hotel restaurant. Aside from having a terrific steak, cooked to perfection.  (It's always appreciated more when you're traveling, isn't it?) But the highlight of the evening was the young Hopi boys who took the floor and performed some of their native dances. These kids were about Dallas' age and looked so smart and self-assured in their colorful native dress.