Arizona, Grand Canyon: Big Gap in the American West

Despite having bad weather at the start of our Grand Canyon visit, it cleared up somewhat and we managed to get some good views across the canyon
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No road trip across the southwest United States would be complete without a visit to the massive Grand Canyon. It was a highlight during our 2007 travels around the world and was one of the most impressive sights we saw in the three months that we travelled around the US. The national park was located 80 miles from Flagstaff, where we had stayed the previous two evenings, and the journey in our rental SUV was really picturesque, taking us through forested areas with lots of pine trees. However, the weather was not that nice.

During our drive around the Grand Canyon, we spotted a coyote off the side of the road, waiting for more tourists to illegally throw food out to it; we didn't, but some Italians did, clearly not understanding the signs posted everywhere that clearly stated that it was a federal offence to feed any wildlife
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It was rainy and dreary with many dark clouds in the sky. As soon as we arrived at Grand Canyon National Park, we headed to the first stop we wanted to make along the canyon's edge, Mather Point. Right as we parked the car, the heavens opened up - probably because we didn't choose to join in at the Christian rock band sing-along that morning in Flagstaff - and chucked the rain down on us. We hadn't yet made it out of our rental SUV, so we decided to keep the windows up and read our books, for three hours, until the sun came out. We didn't just read during that time, we also had lunch. A few two-day-old tuna mayonnaise sandwiches were on the menu; at least, that was what was in our cooler, due to fester if we didn't consume them that day. No doubt, we had some mixed fruit as well, since there were also several small, plastic to-go containers of fruit in our cooler.

The canyon, with such a dazzling variety of rock layers, was Mother Nature's multicoloured easel

It was fun driving around the Grand Canyon and seeing all of the spectacular views
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The sun crept out very slowly during the time that we were reading. In fact, the first time it came out where it was possible to actually see across the width of Grand Canyon, there were still many looming, evil clouds off in the distance, heading our way. We took some photos at the first stop and when we were walking back to our SUV, the rain started pelting down again. Taking advantage of the bad weather, we quickly ducked into the car and opened our books again. When the rain stopped, we took off and headed to the next viewpoint along the canyon's edge.

When we walked around the Tusayan ruins, we saw this large lizard relaxing on a dead piece of wood
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A couple of Dutch guys we met at one of the following stops were very strange and suspicious. They commented heavily on our rental SUV, saying it was very nice and asking how much we paid to rent it. They were also staring at all of our things sticking up in the back of the vehicle. With our tent, backpacks, coolers and other gear, it was hard to hide the fact that we were on a long road trip. After we parted ways with the two guys, we were convinced that they were out to rob us, and we were sure that at one of the next overlooks, we would return to our SUV to find the windows broken out, with all of our things missing, or worse, we would return and not even find our SUV in the parking lot!

Looking out across the Grand Canyon, we could see for many miles
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We learned some interesting facts during our trip to Grand Canyon. The oldest rocks at the base of the canyon dated back almost two billion years - 1,840,000,000 according to geologists - which was a little less than half of the age of planet Earth, estimated at just over 4.5 billion years. According to those same geologists, canyon carving occurred over the last 5-6 million years, relatively recently, considering the age of Earth and the rocks in the bottom layer of the canyon.

Without the Colorado River, the canyon would never have been carved, something that would not have been made possible without the uplift of the Colorado Plateau beginning about 70 million years ago. Heat and pressure generated by two colliding tectonic plates induced mountain building in Colorado, and the river running from the mountains there carried sand and gravel, cutting down through the layers of rock.

Kyle thought it was great to be able to visit the South Rim in the eastern half of the Grand Canyon, since all he had seen was the western part of the canyon
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As the Colorado River carved out the beginnings of Grand Canyon, it grew wider and wider over time, as a result of rock layers collapsing around the river and its tributaries, combined with further erosion from side streams. Softer, weaker layers of rock eroded faster, undermining the harder, stronger layers above them; without adequate support, the cliffs collapsed. The relentless river carried the eroded material towards the Gulf of California, depositing much of it along the way in southeastern California and southwestern Arizona.

Dan thought it was great to be able to visit the South Rim in the eastern half of the Grand Canyon, since all he had seen was the western part of the canyon
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Along the south rim of Grand Canyon, the section that we visited, the width of the canyon ranged between 8 and 16 miles. The entire canyon was 277 miles long, so we were only able to go to a small portion of the enormous geological wonder; however, the part that we explored amazed us with every new overlook that we saw. The massiveness and expansiveness of the canyon made it the most awesome natural creation either of us had ever seen in our lives. As the weather improved during our drive along the south rim, the canyon, with such a dazzling variety of rock layers, was Mother Nature's multicoloured easel. The picture painted before us became more and more pleasing to the eye with every new ray of sunshine that peeked its way out of the clouds.

After we left the Grand Canyon, we made another stop at a smaller canyon; we had to walk 15 minutes to get there and this is what the landscape looked like
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At one of our stops along the rim of the canyon, we saw a wild coyote slowly meandering across the road, waiting for a human to throw some food out to it, which was highly illegal. There was a car full of Italian tourists that clearly didn't read the blatant warning sign at the entrance to EVERY overlook, which said that it was a federal offence to feed wildlife, and failure to comply with that meant facing fines and/or imprisonment. Of course, when we later "accidentally" dropped a peanut butter and cheese cracker ten feet away from us, landing conveniently in front of a large raven, at one of the other US national parks that we visited, we looked at each other and said "perdonna mi", thinking that we had strangely become Italian for the moment, and thus able to break the law as easily as the ones in Grand Canyon did.

The canyon created by Little Colorado River feeds into the Grand Canyon; we passed this canyon after spending a few hours at the Grand Canyon
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That night, after traversing the south rim of the eastern section of Grand Canyon, we aimed to drive to Kayenta, which would be a good stopping place before heading to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park the following morning, only 27 miles from there. On the way to our final stop that night, we took a comfort break in a really poor town called Tuba City and had dinner at a Sonic. The quality of the food was not very high there, which was expected since the town was in the middle of nowhere in a really run-down area, but we ate it anyway, as if you aren't surprised.

With the sky as gloomy as it was when we first arrived at the canyon, it gave the area a very mysterious and ethereal presence
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When we made it to Kayenta, inside the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, we discovered a much nicer place than Tuba City, but it was a really, really small town. There were only a couple of hotels to choose from, and one guesthouse. Please read our next travel journal entry to learn how we tried to find a place to stay there and you'll discover we had an unacknowledged car crash at one hotel, us looking into a very smelly guesthouse, and us wheeling and dealing for a good room rate at a final place.