Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon in the fog

We woke up to rain, first just some sprinklers and then a full blown shower. What better stop than the Visitor Center where we saw an excellent park movie with some of the history of the area and an 8 minute video explaining the geology of the canyon and how it was formed. The rain stopped for a moment and I got a photo from Mather point of the canyon – all in a cloud.

Sun comes out

Mary decided to head back to the trailer where we ate lunch. I decided to chance the weather and went to Yavapai Point and Geology Museum. While I was in the museum, the rain stopped, so I headed down the Trail of Time along the rim. Here each step amounted to a million years of Geological Time and they displayed the Canyon rocks from that era. There were still clouds in the canyon, but the sun started peeping out making for some great scenery. There were only a few people on the trail as I continued on the Verkamp’s Visitor Center, which explained the human history of this area, especially the early entrepreneurs who started tourism here. This was followed by Lookout Studio, another unique building made of stone, then Kolb Studio. 

View from Lookout Studio (notice the rain pool)

The sun and clouds continued to play in the canyon as I walked the rim. Passing Bright Angel Trailhead you could see the Indian Gardens down several thousand feet in the Canyon, where the Indians lived and tended their crops. I continued on to Maricopa Point. From there I took the shuttle another six miles out to Pima Point to get view of the western canyon. From here, you could see the Colorado River flowing through the Canyon. The sun continued to shine and it became quite a normal sunny day. Tonight, it is supposed to get down to 40 degrees, so I hope our furnace will work well. 

Pima Point West