There wasn't going to be a lot of driving today - 80 miles up to the Grand Canyon, and then 130 from the Grand Canyou around to Page, AZ
(the Satellite view makes it look nice and desert/dry)
Wait - is that Wendy's car with Arizona license plates??
The road up to the Canyon is pretty beautiful:
I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to handle the day - a bike ride around the South Rim in the morning, then a hike or two after lunch? It seemed like a plan. Well, it turns out that I need a bit more "internal handholding", if that makes sense - I guess I really like getting the "lay of the land". I have enough personal history with Yosemite that I could tackle it straight out of the box on this trip; the Grand Canyon is another story. I did visit it 42 years ago on my cross-country trip after Freshman year at Penn - 11,000 miles in 3 weeks - but I basically got out of my car, looked over the South Rim, said "Wow", and then got in my car and drove to Las Vegas (lost $75 and slept in the desert).
After the Visitor Center, I walked to Mather Point and, YES - it is GRAND:
When I take "long-view" photos in museums, I like having people in the picture - they supply a sense of scale to the art. That is why I like having people in the Grand Canyon pictures - the scale is HUGE!!
I could see that a nice bike ride (for my naive eyes) was from "You Are Here" west to the Hermit's Rest/Hermit Trailhead
and I wanted to mail postcards - the only Post Office is over in "Market Place" - so I hopped on the bike and rode there.
It seemed like a long ride, so I went back to the car and drove from "You Are Here" west to the Historic Village. The ride down to Market Place and back, and the Rim ride, were not flat like Yosemite, so I had to learn how to shift gears on Deede's bike. Don't worry, I figured it all out, and it was a Great Ride!
Oh Wow - I just did Google Maps Bike Mode Satellite View:
hey, not bad - I did a 14 mile bike trip! (plus the earlier trip to Market Place)
The bike loved being at the Grand Canyon:
and I loved being on the Rim:
and yes, that's a river way way down there!
When we drove up from L.A., Deede commented that she loved seeing the yellow-and-black "truck going downhill" signs, because that meant they had a nice coast ahead of them. I wonder if she ever saw a "bike going downhill" sign?
And with so much space to see, it is inevitable to get a rainstorm in the Canyon:
"Grandview Point" gave me just that - a Grand View:
and Moran Point provided its own dramatics:
which of course demands comparison with Thomas Moran's own work.
Grand Canyon, 1912
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, 1904
There are beautiful views at the Desert View Visitor Center (the southeast entrance to the Park):
but the day wasn't over until the extraordinary beauty of the "cliffs on fire" in the setting sun going up Hwy 89, about an hour after leaving the Park
and I did find the music list for today
Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething (2003)
Jamie Cullum - Catching Tales (2005)
Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans (2014)
it ends with one of the best songs I have ever heard: Grand Canyon
this is just the first verse - you can look up the rest on your own:
We went to Grand Canyon
and we stood at the expanse
and we watched the rocks change colors
and we watched the shadows dance
We probably didn’t say anything til the sunset turned to night
We let the spirits do the talking with cascades of faded light
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