In the last few days, I have been noticing that a few of my Facebook friends have taken trips to the Grand Canyon. Having gone there the two previous summers, it made me miss the trips out west that my son and I took together, and made the desire to go back that much stronger.
Now, many people likely have not yet been to the Grand Canyon, and these people might rightly roll their eyes at me seeming to feel a little bit jealous of people taking trips out to the Grand Canyon. After all, my son and I took two separate trips out there, the first to the more popular and known South Rim two summers ago, and then last year, visiting the much less traveled North Rim. However, all I can say is that the grandeur of the Grand Canyon is indeed one of those things that likely exceeds all of the billing, and it makes you feel appreciative to have seen such a place, but also makes the desire to explore it further all the stronger, to boot. My son was a bit too young, and seemed a bit too cocky and sure of himself, for me to feel comfortable taking a serious hike down to the bottom, for example. But seeing some of the incredible sites and the tremendous beauty of what is down there has made me feel that truly exploring it thoroughly requires several days, and a serious hike up and down these cliffs.
Still, I do not want to seem ungrateful, because believe me, I feel blessed to have at least seen this amazing site, and to have shared these experiences with my son! It is hard to believe that the first trip out there was already two full years ago, and that the last trip out there was already fully a ago!
Perhaps I am also sharing this because, on some level, visiting articles about the Grand Canyon allows me to relive these amazing experiences. Some of the happiest recent memories that both my son and I have were of the two trips out west in the summer of 2015 and again in the summer of 2016. Looking at some of these articles both allows me to remember our own experiences more clearly and vividly, but also fosters the desire for a return trip at some point, one that might be made all the more thorough because of it.
One way or another, though, all of these recent online pictures of the Grand Canyon got me reminiscing about that place, and so I went searching for more information on it, which is of course one of the ways that I usually respond to such things. And here are some articles that seem especially helpful and relevant to anyone who might be planning to make just such a trip to the Grand Canyon themselves in the near future.
Included are articles about what at least some people feel is the best view of the Grand Canyon, and I was pleased to know that I was actually at one of those places. One of them is known as the Havasupai Cliffs, and features five waterfalls, and where people can dive off cliffs into welcoming waters. Or, near the Grand Canyon, perhaps you would like to explore the incredible looking Antelop Canyon, which pictures reveal is strikingly beautiful, and would be worth it, but which require expert level hiking and climbing to get to, to my understanding. Personally, I would also recommend visiting the area that is sometimes referred to as "Grand Canyon East, which includes the beautiful Vermillion Cliffs, which are cliffs exactly like those that you see at the Grand Canyon, with clear layers and varying colors. We were just passing through, but I was struck with the tremendous beauty of the place, and found myself wanting to visit it far more extensively. Nearby is where we crossed over the Colorado River and the Marble Canyon area. And once we got to Page, Arizona, my son and I were blessed to see the beautiful Horseshoe Bend, which was simply incredible!
If I were to do it again, and had more time to work with, those are some of the things that I would really make a point of visiting again in the area. So, if you are on the verge of visiting it, perhaps these articles and the video which I posted below might whet your appetite, or allow you to plan something particularly special for your visit:
This is, hands down, the best view of the Grand Canyon by Anna Hider, 15 September, 2015:
Travelers Are Hiking Miles to Get to the Grand Canyon's Incredible Hidden Waterfalls by Talia Avakian March 13, 2017:
Antelope Canyon Ultras:
OFF THE BEATEN CANYON: EXPLORING GRAND CANYON’S HIDDEN GEMS By Peter February 24, 2015:
OFF THE BEATEN CANYON: EXPLORING GRAND CANYON’S HIDDEN GEMS By Peter February 24, 2015:
It seemed fitting to republish the two old blog entries from our visit to the Grand Canyon, including the pictures, and the original content, which I have kept here unaltered. Those were my first true impressions, back when these visits were brand new and still obviously fresh on my mind. They both still feel fresh, yet again, I have to remind myself that slightly more than a year has passed since the most recent trip there, and two years have passed since that first trip, when we drove from Flagstaff. So here, without further ado, are the old blog entries, complete with pictures:
The Grand Canyon - Day Three - Originally published on September 1, 2015:
This was it! The main reason that we went to Arizona to begin with! One of the truly biggest and most inspiring natural wonders in the world!
I had always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, but had begun to wonder when, or even if, it was going to ever happen.
Now, it was happening!
It was really getting exciting now!
I do not want to get into just how this particular trip came about. At first, I was supposed to spend my vacation time in Poland with my girlfriend. But when we could not find anyone to watch the diabetic dog, that trip fell through (for me, not for her). Strike one. Then, I began to flirt with the idea of going somewhere entirely new, and St. Petersberg seemed a great option. I had a friend who was a Russophile, and he seemed interested. But he also did not have a job, and could not do it. Strike two. I began to look at domestic trips, and it seemed like maybe it would be a good idea to capitalize on my son's still strong interest in geology, particularly in rocks and minerals. So, a trip out west began to be the leading candidate. A trip that combined two of the biggest natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park, began to look more realistic. But such a trip would require a lot of time and money, and when I found out that the days that I was looking for were not open, and that, on top of it, my vacation time expired a week earlier than expected (it goes by anniversary date, which happens to fall in August), I really hesitated in using all of that vacation time almost immediately after obtaining it.
Strike three.
Crap, thought I.
So, it would have to be one or the other, not both.
The trip to Yellowstone as I imagined it would look like this: take a flight out to Denver, visit Pike's Peak, drive along Rocky Mountain National Park, and then make our way to Yellowstone National Park, stopping at the Grand Tetons along the way. It would be at least a week, but that, too, took up probably more vacation time then I felt comfortable with right now. Also, the drive from Denver to Yellowstone was a full day there, and a full day back. Assuming the first day was no good because of the flight out there, and the last day was no good because of the flight back, four days would be wasted, just like that. That was too much.
So, the Grand Canyon seemed like the best option remaining, and this was hardly a consolation prize. I always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, and this would be great for my son!
Plus, a trip out to Arizona would allow us to see the southwestern desert, a first for both of us. Add to that the possibility of traveling to the Mexican border (see the blog entry a few days ago on our trip out to Nogales), and the mountains of Flagstaff, and it was looking like one hell of a trip! On top of it, as I was doing research on the trip, I discovered that we could visit the Petrified Forest, and when my son heard about these fossilized trees that had turned to crystalized stones over the course of millions of years, he definitely wanted to go.
But it all centered around the Grand Canyon, first and foremost. And now, it was here!
What can I (or anybody, really) say about the Grand Canyon in words that do justice to what you are looking at?
Really, you cannot. It is beyond words.
The Grand Canyon is more, far more, than simply some "big, damn hole in the ground," as one fellow hotel goer in Flagstaff tried to put it.
Regard the colors, and the enormity of it. Contemplate how these layers of rocks are essentially the closest thing to a recorded natural history of the planet that we have, as you are looking on billions of years of geological history.
In our modern society, we often regard the inevitable lines on our face indicating age with some measure of horror. But here, the lines of age etched into stone are beautiful, inspiring, and allow us to gain better perspective on our own smallness, and the tiny fragment of time that our lives actually occupy. Like when we regard the countless stars and galaxies in the sky, and recognize just how small we are, you come to this place and recognize that you are only one among millions of visitors per year, and you cannot help but wonder how many visitors this place has had, and will have. Lives briefly pass through here, but this place, by contrast, feels eternal. It is not, but it is one of the places here on Earth that feels eternal.
This is beyond words, indeed.
So, let the pictures do the talking. And I promise that the pictures from the better camera will go up on this blog page sometime in the near future. It will happen.
But for now, here are some of the many, many pictures taken from the old cell phone:
I mentioned that words cannot do justice to a site such as the Grand Canyon.
True enough. But that said, one man in particular was instrumental in allowing this, and many other sites, to be preserved for future generations (that means us!).
Of course, I am speaking of none other than Theodore Roosevelt.
So, here are some quote from the man himself that seemed appropriate:
"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred."
"I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us."
"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."
Summary of the 2016 Western Trip - Part Seven - Grand Canyon North Rim & the Horseshoe Bend - originally published on September 15, 2016:
Okay, so, I took a bit of time to focus on other kinds of blog entries over the last three days. After all, it was the 15th anniversary of September 11th several days ago, and this past weekend proved to be a very busy weekend in sports, as well as for my son and I, who enjoyed a trip to the beach when we went to Sandy Hook on the Jersey Shore for one final swim of the warm weather season. Besides, it is still officially summer anyway, right?
However, I do want to return back to documenting the recent trip out west again. So, here goes with the day where we got to visit the other side of the Grand Canyon then what we did last year, when we went to the . This year, we instead went to the more remote and generally less visited North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Here is how that day went:
Saturday, August 20 - Our stay in St. George was great. We enjoyed it immensely. Everyone at the hotel, guests and management alike, seemed incredibly friendly. Trust me, coming from New Jersey, which by comparisons, feels like the rudeness capital of the world, it was hard not to notice. Not for the first or second or fifth or tenth time, I wondered what we were still doing living in New Jersey. We got a nice continental breakfast, which refreshed us. We got a decent swim in, and then showered and went on our way. Then, we drove out of town and through southwestern Utah, climbing in elevation before long. Gone were the palm trees and cactus and, at some point, there were green pine forests and cowboy ranches. Again, not what we expected from Utah. We drove for a while, and suddenly, we entered Arizona again. Before long, we took our turn to reach the Grand Canyon North Ridge. First, we had to reach a little place called Jacob's Lake, which from what I could gather from what was online about it, was not even a real town. Indeed, when we finally arrived there, it seemed like little more than an all-purpose souvenir shop, restaurant and inn, where you could also obtain some gas. Not surprisingly, the gas was quite a bit more expensive than anywhere else, although having anticipated this, I had made a point of filling up on gas beforehand. We arrived at the Grand Canyon's North Ridge was not much later on, although the gates (where you have to pay the entrance fee, which was $30 in both 2015 and 2016) were there well before you could actually see the canyon. In fact, on the North Ridge, it was quite a bit before you could really see much of anything, whereas on the South Ridge the year before, it seemed like just a few minutes later that we got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. Of course, the North Ridge Grand Canyon was amazing as well, offering some spectacular views. The one thing that surprised me, however, was that the North Ridge seemed so much smaller, at least in terms of the areas that you could access by car, where there were paved roads and parking lots. So, this is why it was considered far more remote! Now, it was a lot more obvious. The visit was still nice, although last summer, we had driving maybe forty-five minutes to an hour into the South Rim part, and there were still many, many miles to go, and there had been numerous spots to view the Grand Canyon from. The North Rim felt a lot smaller, and with significantly less spots from which to view the Grand Canyon, although it was nonetheless quite spectacular. The fact that there were notably fewer cars and people served as actually an advantage of many levels. We took some pictures, naturally, and we soaked it all in. However, after it got to be fairly late in the afternoon, and knowing that there was a full drive ahead of us (we were going to try to reach Durango, Colorado by that evening), it was time to go, and I was happy to reach the final point. Some of the points were very spectacular, although personally, my favorite was Cape Royal, which was really just spectacular! That was pretty much right at the end of the road for the Grand Canyon North Ridge, although it was a great way to end it! We then drove back towards the entrance to the park and then to Jacob's Lake, although we took a different way out. Along the way, we saw the Vermilion Cliffs, and drove through a region known as Marble Canyon, where we traversed over the Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge, which to my understanding, is viewed as really the beginning of the Grand Canyon, and which some recognize as the East Rim. Just for anyone's personal information, there is also Grand Canyon West, which we did not visit either last year or this year, and this offers a glass horseshoe, if you will, that must offer some incredible views, although it has also received criticism for being an unnatural and not entirely welcome addition to the Grand Canyon, which of course needs nothing in terms of improvement. In any case, the drive around the cliffs was longer than it might seem. We could see, only a few miles distant, where we had passed not long before, although you have to drive the lengths of the cliffs on both sides, before you make a turn and finally begin to climb in order to go in the direction of Page. As the bird flies, it is not particularly long, and perhaps twenty miles out, I thought I could still make out the area not far outside of Grand Canyon North Ridge where we had stopped, and I had gotten my son an arrow, and my girlfriend some jewelry for when we returned home. Once we reached the top of the cliffs, however, all of that basically disappeared, and you might never know we were anywhere near cliffs or mountains. But then, as we were fast approaching Page, I noticed off to the side a parking lot jam packed with cars, and people - a lot of people! - going up and down an adjacent hill. Initially, I passed it, but turned around and went, suspecting that this would be the famous Horseshoe Bend that I had wanted to see for a long time! Indeed, that was exactly what it was, and it was spectacular! We had come at the right time, too, as the day was growing short. We had daylight, but also happened to be there while it was getting dark, allowing us some nice desert sunset shots. However, having taken more time than expected at the Grand Canyon, and then taking this unexpected (but very welcome) excursion, we were now far behind schedule! However, it was already getting dark, and we had not prepared enough for things, which meant that we had not really eaten prior to our visit to the Grand Canyon. Page was the biggest town anywhere nearby, so we basically had to choose that as the place to eat dinner, and it felt necessary to couple that with a stop to fill up on gas, just in case we needed it. I had filled up just outside of the Vermilion Cliffs, but knowing how far we still needed to travel, and the late hour and lack of any really notable places on the map, I did not want to chance anything. The rest of the drive was indeed long and very, very dark. There were hardly any lights of any sorts, except by highway intersections and the few communities that we reached. Still, the miles needed to get done, and we got them done. We drove and drove, until we reached closer to Colorado. As we reached close to the border, something very strange and most unexpected happened - we almost hit two wild horses! It was dark, and there were two small buttes on the side of the road, but I saw some vague, dark shapes moving, and recognized them as two huge bodies. At first, I thought that they were buffalo, although as we got closer, it was clear that they were horses. What they were doing there, right in the middle of a road, is anyone's guess. We had not seen much traffic on the road, but suddenly, there seemed to be a lot of cars going in the other direction shortly after this incident, so I flashed my lights to warn them ahead of time. The first guy was close, and he slammed on his brakes, as the horses probably were still on the road. That was a big scare, and it slowed me down pretty much for the rest of the evening. This was just around midnight. We arrived outside of Durango as it was approaching two in the morning, and I found a quiet spot on the side of the road (it is not hard to do in that area), and tried to catch some shut eye for a few hours, before the dawn of a new day. All I can say from that long drive is just how thankful I was, and still am, that we did not actually hit those horses. That likely would have ended the trip prematurely, and on a sour note. Thank God I did not hit those horses!
Vermillion Cliffs, Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon East
The Colorado River
The Horshoe Bend, Page, Arizona
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