Road Trip From Ca to Tx 2008
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Day TwoAnd of course Kathleen immediately tries something stupid. See if you can spot her in the picture below.
After I pulled her out we drove over to the next parking spot west, Yavapai Point which had an observation station Panels inside the station (8 a.m.�5 p.m. daily, until 8 p.m. in summer) identified the many buttes, temples, points, and tributary canyons. They also had point-of-view photos from the Observation station to certain points in the Canyon and photos of the view looking back. They had a large topographic relief model, as well as a large model showing the layers of the canyon. All together now:
While researching this info I found out about the Grand Staircase, an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park through Zion National Park and into the Grand Canyon. Did you know that the oldest exposed formation in Zion National Park is the youngest exposed formation in the Grand Canyon - the Kaibab Limestone? Yeah I know you don't care, but I thought it was interesting.
After driving west thru Grand Canyon Village we came to the lodges, restaurants, and the Grand Canyon Depot for the Grand Canyon Railway. This is also where our destination for most of the day was, Bright Angel Trail. There are five south Rim Day Hike trails listed: Rim Trail, and easy hike which runs along the canyon ledge; Bright Angel Trail, which has some shade along the way, as well as water stops; South Kaibab Trail, another steep trail, with no water, and little shade; Hermit Trail, an unmaintained steep trail; and the very steep Grandview Trail. Just based on the shade, water, and when we were starting our hike, I picked Bright Angel Trail. There are Resthouses at 1.5 and 3 miles down the trail, so we could re-fill our water bottles if we needed to and decide to head back up.
There's a tunnel thru the Kaibab Limestone almost as soon as you hit the trail down. This tunnel is also a welcome sight on the way back up, as you realize you are almost to the top when you finally get here. On the right I've marked off the trail with some red arrows. Click on the image to see the trail.
On the left is a sheer, white 350 cliff of Coconino Sandstone. It's 260 million years old and is composed of pure quartz sand, which are basically petrified sand dunes. If you get up close you can actually see wavey patterns where the wind moved the sand millions of years ago. This layer of sandstone looks like a bathtub ring around the canyon. the only way to get down below it is to follow fault lines, such as the Bright Angel Fault. On the right you can see the view from the bottom of the cliff.
Once past the sandstone the ground suddenly turns iron oxide red as we go into Hermit Shale layer. There's another tunnel at 0.75 miles into the hike. Finally we came across the first Resthouse, which you can see to the left. It took us just an hour for us to get down there, but since we started at 10am and it was starting to get hot, I took a poll of the kids and we decided to head back up at this point. Had we started at 6am or earlier, we might have been in the mood to keep going to the 3 mile resthouse, which you can see to the right (click on the picture to see it circled). We encountered many foreigners on the trip down and back up, but the most interesting group of people I ran into was a group of Amish girls who were hiking the trail. We kept passing each other on the way up as we stopped for rests. Very interesting.
We were going to take a tram along the Hermit's Rest Route to see another eight or so miles of the canyon, but the route was closed to all traffic. We got in the car and headed east along Desert View Drive (Highway 64) to head to the Watchtower.
If you are driving along Highway 64 (or for that matter anywhere in the canyon) and you see people slowing or stopped in the road, usually it's because there's something to see there. We got a picture of an Elk and Coyote as we were driving between points along the Desert View Drive (Different Link).
We stopped at several places along Desert View Drive, including Grandview Point, Moran Point, Lipan Point, and Navajo Point. There are also several places to stop by the road where the Canyon is right there by the road. I snapped the picture below at one of these stops.
The last stop on the 64 before you leave the Grand Canyon park is Here you'll find the Watchtower, a 70-foot-high stone building which you would initially think was an old Indian ruin. But no, it was designed by Mary Colter and built in 1932. It was not intended to be a replica of any particular watchtower, but rather an interpretation of Southwestern cultures. There is also a gas station, bookstore, shop, restaurant, campground, ranger station, and acres of parking. From the tower you can easily see the Colorado River.
Once out of Desert View, you exit the park and continue along the 64. The land dips a little here. While the Canyon turns north, Highway 64 follows along the Little Colorado River, which is more of a gorge than the Grand Canyon. Much narrower than the Grand Canyon, it is still a stunning drop from the highway to the waters below, over a thousand feet in some places. Highway 64 winds around Gray Mountain and is littered with Navajo jewelry stands every mile or so.
In Cameron (pop. 978), the Highway 64 comes to an end and we were to take a left on Us Route 89. However, there was a place I wanted to visit so we took a right and drove down about eight miles south to the little villge of Gray Mountain. Here you'll find the Anasazi Inn and the Gray Mountain Trading Post. The Trading Post was interesting because there is a spacious restaurant right next to the trading post which was empty when we came here to eat last year. I wanted to see if anything had changed. It was still empty. Kathleen bought some Indian jewelry for her friends here. Turning and heading back north, we passed into the Painted Desert. Kathleen took some pictures as we were driving along (left) and got a nice picture of a full rainbow. (right).
Once past the 164 turnoff we started driving alongside these huge cliffs, which I found out are the Echo Cliffs. You can see the cliffs on Google Earth looking like a long gash across the desert. (Aerial view here. Very pretty). Just before Bitter Springs the road turns and goes up Echo cliffs. Right before a huge cut in the cliffs, there is a turnoff where you can see the entire Marble Canyon as well as the Vermilion Cliffs to the northwest. (Picture to left).
Once past the cut in the cliffs we were on the Kaibito Plateau. Speeding along, we just barely noticed the Arizona State Police.. until he turned around just as we passed. We got nailed. Apparently the speed limit dropped from 70 to 55 as soon as you reached the plateau. He let us off with a warning, but Kathleen wanted to flash him if he gave us a ticket.
Finally.. finally, we drove into Page, AZ and stopped at the Roadway Inn. Even tho the owner boasted about the new pool, this is not a place we would want to stay at again. Any motel where you enter your room from the road is not a place I want to stay in again.
One thing about Page we noticed as we were going in. If you want to find a Church in Page, they are all lined up along South Lake Powell. We actually lost count of how many different churches there were.