The Grand Canyon is probably the most iconic of all American road trip destinations, and it was certainly on my bucket list for this trip, but until I started approaching it, it never occurred to me to ask… which side do I go to?  Well, because I’ve got all the time in the world at the moment, I decided to go to both!  Since I was coming from Utah, the North Rim was first.  The drive in was just beautiful, even on a cool and rainy day.  I drove through at least three separate ecosystems on the way there, including an area recovering from either a wildfire or controlled burn where the trees were just starting to come back, a region of open prairie on the Kaibab Pleateau between forested hills…

…and the Kaibab Forest itself (or part of it, it’s everywhere!), where the leaves on the birch trees were at their peak of color, a beautiful golden yellow, making me realize that I’m missing the Autumn in New England..

My first view of the Grand Canyon was with a latte in my hand, and a light mist in the air.  I have to say that it was a perfect introduction!

I hiked around the rim trails, including the Bright Angel Point trail, and really enjoyed the fact that I was seeing it in the drizzling rain — call me silly, but the rain and the clouds added something to the atmosphere, a certain depth and vividness.  Now an interesting thing started happening here… although it wasn’t crowded, there were plenty of people of around, and almost every time I stopped walking to look at a view, someone asked if I wanted them to take my picture.  Now, this is a wonderful gensture for someone like me who’s travelling alone, and almost all the pictures you’ve seen of me in this blog were taken by strangers.  I’ve made a point of offering to take other people’s pictures, and asking them to take mine, so that I can have a least a few with me in them.

But at the Grand Canyon it got to the point of ridiculousness, where I was hardly able to get a picture of the scenery WITHOUT me in it!  I couldn’t help laughing after a while, when I started politely refusing any more pictures of myself, and was barely able to get people to take no for an answer!  Really people, stop being so nice, I don’t want to be in every shot!

I was finally able to get a few without my smiling face, and to just wander the trails enjoying the scenery.  I walked a short way down the trail into the canyon, and could have spent the whole day just looking at the colors, the contours, the clouds, and the storms overhead.  Really, could you get much more drama into this photo??

The next time I visit the North Rim (because I will), I’d like to see if I can stay in one of the cabins there, which are located right on the rim, and look beautifully rustic.  This is not at all what I was expecting for this region, and reminded me more of being back in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

What a place to be!

The drive out was just as lovely as coming in, although the rain had really settled in as a steady downpour by then.  The whole place had a surprising wilderness feel, and if I had actually seen any of the bison the signs threatened me with, the atmosphere would have been complete.

Rather than drive all the way around to the South Rim in one day, which is quite a long haul.. or try to find accommodation near the Grand Canyon, which would have been expensive and nearly impossible anyway.. I decided to stay near Flagstaff for the night and get on the road to the South Rim early in the morning.  The drive to Flagstaff was weird enough for one day, anyway.  First the terrain seemed to grow gigantic, and the FJ and I to shrink down to miniature proportions…

And then the plains opened up, with the Vermillion Cliffs in the distance, and I kept expecting to see Gandalf racing Shadowfax across the plains, leading the Rohirrim to the aid of Gondor.  The pictures probably don’t do justice to the drama in this entire landscape!

The Navajo Bridge took me completely by surprise, and I hardly knew it was there until I found myself halfway across it.  It seems that when the original bridge here was opened in 1929, it was the highest steel arch bridge in the world, and it created a direct route between Utah and Arizona, which had previously required an 800 mile detour around the canyon to reach the other side of the river.  However, the bridge was only 18 feet wide, with a load capacity of 40 tons, which became increasingly inadequate as modern vehicles increased in size.  In 1995, a new bridge was opened, having almost exactly the same construction as the old bridge, but a width of 44 feet and a much greater load capacity.  The old bridge is now a walkway and viewing platform, from which I took this picture.

After an overnight stay near Flagstaff and an early start the next morning, I arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, which had a significantly different feel than the North Rim.  First of all, the weather was warmer, though still coolish, and sunny, with the most lovely puffy clouds floating through the canyon.  The views were more expansive than those from the North Rim as well.  More grand, perhaps, and less intimate.

And then this friendly nonsense started again.  Sigh.  Honestly, I have more pictures of myself at the Grand Canyon than anywhere else! (Note that the wind was blowing from behind me, my hair does not look like that… not most days, anyway.)

I think that I could better appreciate the depth of the canyon from this perspective, although at the same time it seemed less accessible, more like an amazing painting.  The people there were also less of the outdoorsy hiking sorts, and more your average tourists.  The trails were paved.  There were interpretive signs.  The wilderness was still there… out THERE… but viewed from a tamed and civilized viewing platform.

I don’t mean to put it down, because it was certainly still spectacular.  And with nearly five million visitors going there every year, some accommodation is required to protect the environment and keep everyone safe.  Well…. as for safety… there were plenty of places that you could step around the guard rails, and plenty of places where there were none, so safety really was up to individuals to a large degree.  And that first step would be a big one!  See those little people in the picture above?  This is me looking over the edge from that spot… no guard rail… wheeeee!

Before I left the South Rim, I came to the conclusion that I was doing this all wrong.  The real way I wanted to see the Grand Canyon was not as a spectator, but as a participant.  I want to hike down one side and up the other.  I want to see it looking up and well as looking down.  There are plenty of ways to do that, and I’m going to start looking into them.  This is a place that’s so huge that you really almost have to know what you’re looking for before you get there.  You have to visit several times, at different seasons, and in different weather.  I believe that you can create your own experience here, whatever you want it to be, and set it against one of the most spectacular backdrops in the world.  So I left just a bit unsatisfied.  Feeling like I had a lot of pictures (many of them of myself), but oddly, I had somehow missed the essence of the place.  I want to come back here, but better prepared.