hanging with the daddy

mooney falls
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so we picked the my dad up in vegas and headed off to the first of many canyons, and it was the big one.  very long, very deep, pretty hot and quite impressive.  although maybe it was a bit too big, all a bit overwhelming.  we could see more than a 100 miles in most directions.

first stop was havasu falls.  we  hiked into a side canyon off the grand canyon, camped in the bottom and hiked back out the next day.  this was the first night my dad had spent in a tent since he was 17! and he coped very well.  he even got some sleep.  havasu fallas and mooney falls are beautiful - turquoise water cascading over bright red rock and some crazy mineral formations on the side.  me and alex boy went for a very cold swim, dad was less brave and stuck to being official photographer.  the hike in and out was totally worth it (hey, gotta get down with the americanisms whilst we are here), although we all discovered we are not big fans of walking uphill, in sand with heavy packs. once back on top we had some well earned burgers and went to bed.  you see we had to fortify ourselves for the next mornings sporting event - a cheeky round of disc golf.  dad was a dark horse and coped with the strong wind conditions very well, but as expected alex boy came out on top.

climbing back up after an invigorating swimn
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then it was off to the grand canyon proper for a bit of hiking and a bit of old person style driving between look out points.  by the end of the stay we had seen it from every possible angle. we hiked to the rim of the inner canyon and back out twice, different paths on different days of course. we also walked along the rim for ten miles, marvelling at all the people that though we were crazy for walking when there was a shuttle bus available.  and none of us fell prey to dehydration or dropped over the edge. dad has bought a book called "death in the grand canyon" that details the many ways the canyon can kill you so we were very aware that just setting foot inside the park was risking our lives.

from the top of havasu falls
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by the end of five days we had seen enough gaping cracks and towering cliffs and set off for an all together different type of canyon........