Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

2009-05-08

Ian drove us out on highway 9 and then took highway 89 south. We passed through several small towns and then passed into Arizonia, our eleventh state. We passed over the Glendale Canyon Damn and decided to stop to get some photos. Lake Powell behind it was an amazing shade of blue behind the damn. Lori spotted a Courtyard Marriot as we drove through Page, Arizona, so we decided to stop to see where the nearest Marriot to the Grand Canyon was. It turned out the next Marriot was past the Grand Canyon and this one had the discounted rate, so we decided to have a short day driving and stop there for the night. It took a little while to check in as we needed to get a form from John, our brother-in-law, and we did not have a mobile phone signal. We eventually got it sorted out and checked in. Lori caught up with her mom and dad on the phone and Ian went for a dip at the pool. Soon we went in search of dinner and Lori convinced Ian to go to Taco Bell. Lori filled up on tacos, while Ian (after confusing the person at the register with his no cheese order) got a burrito, taco and tasty potatoes. After dinner, we picked up some supplies at Safeway. That night we enjoyed a cozy bed, ice cream and watched some TV.

Grand Canyon tells the story of geologic processes over an unimaginable time span made up of 277 river miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide, and a mile (1.6 km) deep.

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2009-05-09

We took our time getting ready in the morning and left around 10 am for the Grand Canyon. We continued on highway 89 to Cameron, Arizona where were turned onto highway 64 and soon were entering into the Grand Canyon National Park.  The Grand Canyon was first though as just an obstacle by initial explorers, but by the 19th century it was attracting the attention of miners. Native American resistance and the lack of water lead to slow progress, but by 1893 the canyon had turned into one of the country’s most celebrated destinations. In 1908, Grand Canyon National Monument was declared by President Theodore Roosevelt and in 1919 the National Park was established by Congress.  Grand Canyon tells the story of geologic processes over an unimaginable time span made up of 277 river miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide, and a mile (1.6 km) deep. The Grand Canyon started forming almost 2 billion years ago when a plate carrying island arches and the plate that became North America collided. Heat and pressure from this process changed those existing rock layers into dark metamorphorphic rock. The basement of the canyon molten rock was then squeezed through the cracks and a hardened light band of granite formed. Nearly two –thirds of the canyon’s wall was formed by sedimentary rocks that were formed near sea level at the end of that continent. After 70 million years ago the Rocky Mountains began to form and pushed up the North American Plate as it overrode the Pacific Plate. By five or six million years ago the Colorado River flowed across the Colorado Plateau on its way from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California A steep gradient and heavy sediment loads created a powerful tool for erosion. The first stop as we entered the park was Desert View, which had some nice view points over the canyon, stores and a tower structure that was built out of natural materials in the 1920s by Mary Colter. From this view point we could see the Colorado River and also the amazing erosion that it had created in the Grand Canyon. We took many photos and enjoyed using the hats that Uncle Jimmy had given us in San Antonio. He had honeymooned here many years ago. We were both starting to get hungry, but we went to a few other view points, Navajo, Lipan, Moran, before we stopped at BuggeIn to make our usual sandwiches. We finished off the last of the coleslaw Mom had made us in Houston and tried to stay cool in the shade. After lunch, we stopped at Grandview Point, where a hotel called Grandview used to exist. We were planning on making South Kaibab and Yaki Point our next stop, but only shuttle buses were able to enter, so we continued onto Mather Point. It was very busy here and the construction in the area made parking interesting. We eventually found a place to park on the road. The construction started in April and should finish this fall. When it is completed, there will be more parking and easier access to the visitors centre. We walked along the rim for awhile and then went to the visitor’s center. We walked around the center, got a few souvenirs and then took the green line shuttle back to South Kaibab and Yaki Point. While we thought that the shuttle was a great idea, they were not as convenient as the ones in Zion National Park as they only ran every 15 minutes. We got off at the South Kaibab trailhead point and were able to get a great view down to Phantom Ranch. We hiked a little way down the path, but due to the steep gradient, we decided not to go to far down. As we were waiting a group of hikers were making their way up from the ranch. We had looked into doing the hike before our trip, but after seeing it, we were glad that given our current shape we were not doing the hike. It looked much more challenging then the Inca trail in terms of grade and we would have been at altitude again. We would like to return some day to do it though as it would be a great experience. The other nice point about this view point and the Yaki Point which we did next was that they were much quieter then Mather Point as we had to take a shuttle to get to it. It made the Grand Canyon have less of a tourist attraction feel and more of the National Park feeling that we had had at the other parks to date. It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we got back to the visitor’s center, so we decided that we would head to William, Arizona, which was a little over an hour away. Lori called ahead to the Circle Pines KOA and made a reservation for the night. We stopped at a Safeway to pick up some supplies for dinner and then went to the campsite. We put up the tent with a little bit of difficulty, as it did not seem to balance out on the sides. We eventually got it up and were soon cooking our thin steaks and vegetables for dinner. Unfortunately, we still had not mastered cooking on the gas stove as the second burner really only served for keeping things warm and not cooking. We got there in the end though. After cleaning up and settling in for the night, Lori started working on a few admin things and Ian would soon fast asleep and it was only 9 pm. Lori did not have the heart to wake him up, so she finished things up and was soon asleep herself.

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