The Grand Canyon has its own weather system. What this means for us mere mortals is that the National Weather Service projects; the Grand Canyon laughs. During our first day here, we experienced snow, sleet, full sun which brought the temperature up from 39° to 63°; and clouds, winds, and more sleet which sent the temperature back down. The layers of clothing went on, came off, went back on....
We spent our time on the South Rim. For those not familiar with the geography of this national treasure, the edge of the canyon (the rim) is hundreds of miles long. From the south side to the north side is about ten miles across. To drive around from one side to the other takes about five hours.
We started our exploration where most of the five million yearly visitors start - at the Visitors Center. Our first glimpse of the canyon itself felt more like wading through a theme park than strolling through a national park. It wasn't particularly crowded, it just felt so wrong after the experience we had at the previous parks. Buses were loading and unloading. Signs along the entrance highway announced which parking lots were already full. And on the walkways themselves, no one seemed quite sure where they were, where they were going, or where the rest of their party was.
Most of the foot traffic hugged the Visitors Center or headed west, so Ron and I turned east. Almost immediately, the crowds thinned, and the canyon seemed to brighten.
The grey skies lightened and the colors of the canyon walls began to show themselves. 19th Century explorer John Wesley Powell called the iconic mile-deep gorge the "most sublime spectacle on the earth". This is the best description I have found so far.
We hiked all the way down to the South Kaibab Trailhead, and chatted with a few of the returning hikers. We hope to find time during our stay to make a hike into the canyon itself and so far the trail that begins here looks promising. The weather was really turning dark, so Ron and I headed back to our car, parked some 2.5 miles away at the Visitors Center.
With a little over a mile to go, the sleet came, followed by snow. My (new!) hiking pants were first drenched, then froze. All around us, the ground turned silvery white. It was really quite beautiful. [I would be remis if I didn't mention that during this portion of our adventure, no fewer than two transit buses pulled into loading zones AS WE WERE PASSING THROUGH, and we declined both. Ron kept mumbling that he didn't come all this way to ride a damn bus.]
Tomorrow, we return for Grand Canyon, Day Two. What could go wrong?
Car Talk
Distance 165 miles
Driving time 3 hours, 51 minutes
Average mileage 35.6 mpg
Average speed 43 mph
Trip total 2,645.3 miles
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