Friday, 1st August
(Page)
Having changed our schedule, we now have a day and a half to visit
the Grand Canyon. Better to move early to get there as soon as
possible. So we wake up at 7 a.m. and we have the usual donuts,
orange juice, chocolate milk and coffee breakfast. We pass through
Page's center just to fill up and then we head towards our trip's
last natural park.
Desert View Drive
The 130 miles between Page and the Grand Canyon pass quickly.
The most curious things we see there were Native American's very
well seeable signs "friendly Indians here" captions.
At about 10.30 a.m. we're at the Grand Canyon's
east entrance. During the morning we'd like to see all the
Desert View Drive's view points. The first one is
just called Desert View. It's emotional just to get to the canyon's
rim. Honestly if we had seen the Grand Canyon as our trip's first
park we would have probably been even more impressed by its views.
Nevertheless the Grand Canyon astonishes us. Our morning goes
on pleasantly driving from one view point to the other and exploring
them. Unfortunately the sky gets cloudy ruining some of the views.
After seeing all the east side view points we decide to exit the
park to eat in the nearby town of Tusayan.
Good ol’ McDonald's feeds us up
in the usual way and at 1 p.m. we're again inside the park.
At the Bright Angel Lodge our room is
not yet ready. So we decide to go out again for a couple of other
things we planned. In the meantime it starts raining heavily and
all we can do is to buy something to eat for supper at the Market
Plaza and get the information we need at the Visitor Center where
a young ranger gives us some hiking tip too. Rain's stopped and
it's possible to see some piece of blue sky. Our cabin is now
ready and we can finally leave our luggage. The cabin is little
but very nice and it's only few meters far from the canyon's rim.
South Kaibab Trail
We stop just a few minutes to get ready for our hike and get in
our car again. We first have to get to Mother Point.
From there we take a shuttle that will take us to the South
Kaibab Trail's trail-head. This trail leads all
the way to the Grand Canyon's bottom but there is no way to get
there and back in a day. There are signs everywhere advertising
that the round trip in a single day could cause "permanent
brain damage or death" (if reading this travelogue you'd
the impression I've some brain problem...well it didn't happen
at the Grand Canyon...). Our goal is to get to the Cedar
Ridge point and back. It's a 3 miles 350m elevation
gain walk. If we liked the Grand Canyon from its view point, we
love it while we walk inside the canyon. Paradoxically, you can
get a better idea of its size going down in the canyon rather
than from its view points. We feel "nearer", as if we
were actually part of this amazing natural wonder. We arrive at
Cedar Ridge in about an hour and we rest up enjoying the Grand
Canyon's view "from close by".
We'd like to go on but this kind of hike needs planning and a
perfect training. So we head back and in about 2 hours we're again
on the rim, just in time to take a shuttle which leaves us off
at Yaki Point where we stop to see the
sunset. The sky is not too cloudy but just enough to hide sun.
In any case, the colors are intense and the view is memorable.
A strong wind is blowing and we're frozen when we finally get
back to our cabin. We eat in our room and go to bed early. The
alarm clock is set at 5.15 a.m. because tomorrow we want to watch
the sun rise.
Saturday, 2nd August
It's 5.15 a.m. and the alarm clock reminds us that the we've a
meeting with the sunrise. We clothe heavily and, still sleepy,
leave our cabin. A few meters and we are on the canyon's rim where
some people are already waiting. There are no words to describe
the sunrise, it's something unique. To see the sun's rays wedging
into the world's biggest canyon is something I will never forget
and still now one of my best memories of this trip.
After a bit we go back to our cabin where we fall asleep again.
Hermit Road
The second time we wake up is at 8.30 a.m. We eat quickly and
at 9.15 a.m. we're already out. We'd like to visit the Hermit
Road, the western part of the Grand Canyon. This
part can only be visited by a shuttle that departs a few hundred
meters from our cabin.
We need the whole morning to explore the area, walking from one
view point to the next and moving by the shuttle too. Besides
the Grand Canyon, we can luckily also attend two unique true Italian
style tourists' speeches (that I'll briefly report here...©
of the owners):
She and he (both in their 30s) get off the shuttle at one of the
view points. She takes their camera and, neither looking at the
canyon, tells him "...well, I show you my back, looking at
the canyon. You pan the canyon, then you zoom on me, I turn, smile
and you dissolve...". They had just the time to do it and
they were already on the next shuttle. Mmm...do you think that,
at least in those five seconds while she was showing her back,
she took a peek at the canyon?
She and he (both on their late 20s) get off at the usual view
point. He, the new Magellan, walks up to the canyon's edge. She,
while the shuttle driver is helping a little girl with motion
problems to get on the bus, sticks to the shuttle's door and screams
"Marco, come back! The bus is going to leave!" and he,
joyless, comes back. Do you think they were told that it's also
possible to stop a few minutes at a view point?
Italian...what a great people!
Anyway, it's after 1 p.m. when we get back to the Grand Canyon
Village. We have to move, a long leg of our trip is waiting for
us and we want at least to get near Los Angeles.
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