National Park Overload, Part IV

One day maybe I'll visit under sunshine.
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The South Rim is my most recent National Park. This means it was the last of my overload. When my parents arrived in Utah, I had communicated some concern that I was canyon-ed out, but enjoyed the singularity of Zion and Bryce so much, that it seemed my quota had not been reached. While at Bryce Canyon, I read that the North Rim remains closed through the winter, whereas the South Rim is open just about all year. I had been excited to explore the North Rim, having explored the South just about six months before. The North, I heard, was not only more interesting, but far less visited due to its remoteness. So the South Rim would be the first time on the trip visiting a National Park for the second tim. Follow? good. Needless to say, I was disappointed. But I sucked it up.

Pretty! Crooked, but it was windy!
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We said our goodbyes at Bryce and I drove to Arizona. My only previous experience was Williams, where I had stayed with a few friends for a quick Grand Canyon jaunt the summer previous. And although the cuisine leaves you wanting (except at Pancho McGillicutty's, scrumptuous!), bring the kids! Every night during high season some of the locals dress up in Old West gear and stage a cute shootout that's fun for all ages! This time my home base was Flagstaff, a city I knew very little about but had a feeling it would please me. I do a lot of that on this trip: following my gut from a few sentences in a guidebook or the draw of a particular restaurant, in some cases only the name will determine whether I go somewhere (which really means there's a fifty-fifty chance of satisfaction). So I was feeling pretty confident about my instincts when I arrived in Flagstaff.

The canyon brings out the most patient version of ourselves; it demands it.

Storm comin' in.
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I took the typical lazy morning and crossed my fingers for good weather up at the canyon (the next day was supposed to be gorgeous, contrasting with the forecast for cloudy skies later with a 60% chance of showers in the afternoon). But as I set off along scenic highway 180, the sky was clear and the air was calm, so I thought nature was on my side.

My first visit to the Grand Canyon, and it is grand, in every sense of the word, left adventure to be desired, because my companions were there to see it. When my gaze was introduced to the chasm, I needed to understand it. I'm no geologist, although perhaps some of you wonder why not (and the simple reason is that I never thought about rocks as more than sources of discomfort hiking until after college), but the study intrigues me. And so my poor friends, from the moment we watched the IMAX film, dealt with my constant suggestions that we tour this or that way.

See what I mean about a wide lens?
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I immediately wanted to take a helicopter tour, however expensive, because the film used a lot of that footage and it was so beautiful I cried. Then, I wanted to take an educational tour: Canyon Dave is an agency that offers a geology tour, but we were too spontaneous in our plans to book one (not that any of my friends shared the inclination). Then I wanted to hire mules, or hike down, and again and again, it just wasn't meant to be. We drove to the canyon, and spent an afternoon at the vistas. I took about two hundred and fifty photos. Then I tried to take it in. I couldn't. At our favorite vista, where you can see the most of the Colorado River, I sat on a rock and just looked. And I didn't ever feel as though I internalized it. Since then I have seen many natural wonders (as I had seen many before), and I haven't felt the urge to absorb quite like this.

One of my favorite lookouts- there's a little trail you can hike along the ridge a ways here.
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That said, this time I drove myself, and watched as the blue sky I departed beneath fill with clouds. When I reached the Park, proud to choose one of the lanes for visitors with prepaid passes (gotta get the interagency pass!), I was excited to either choose a good lookout or do the scenic drive. What I was not expecting, was the small town inside the park, with casually euphemistic names for the school and the clinics and the byways, that make navigation tricky. This must fulfill a need, to scatter the confused tourists who think that Mather Point is anywhere near other points, for example, or those who want to peek at the Lodges before viewing the attraction. The layout of course is designed to pull the majority of visitors from the Disney effect of all following the same route, however once you are lost at the Grand Canyon, signs are so unhelpful (my favorite instructed me that one direction was towards the exit, while the other took me to the Lodge loop. Hmm. Of course a brighter person would immediately choose the exit direction because upon checking the map they would see that the Lodges are not a thruway, but I thought of neither strategy, and so the remainder of the beautiful clear skies was spent slowly reorienting towards the scenic road.

I like this one. Kinda makes me dizzy.
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Once I saw it, this awesome expanse, too big for any economical wide lens, too varied to capture all the layers of shadow and sedimentary hues in one glimpse or shot, there's a pull, to get out of the car and explore, to gradually take it all in. This is, of course, impossible. The canyon brings out the most patient version of ourselves; it demands it. Bill Bryson wrote that its expanse will quiet any child. It has that effect on us.

This time, I allowed myself to marvel. In the year since I went with friends, I have seen natural wonders aplenty, and in the week previous, I had seen so much beauty, so many canyons, that this time the Grand Canyon stood there as yet another reason this country holds arguably the most diverse array of inspiring territory in the world. (Please hold your tongues for when I go off and see ____land and change my mind.) But this time it fit.

And then it started to rain.
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And that is an experience I will cherish, because I may not have done the adventuring thing, but I have explored so many miles that this gaping hole in the earth was accomplished in an afternoon. I would love to return and reserve a spot on Canyon Dave's geology tour, of course. And I would love to take the complete panorama from scenic point to scenic point (or charter a helicopter when I'm rich). But for that Saturday, I knew that I could not, and so after a while I put my camera down, walked out to a ledge, and stood, and breathed, and admired, and then drove away.