Look Kids, The Grand Canyon

Unlike most great features, the Grand Canyon is invisible until you stand on its rim. You aren’t drawn to it as to a river’s source or a mountain’s peak. You have to seek it out, and then cope with its visual revelation. It simply and suddenly is. 

Source: The Conversation

Every time we go on a trip, I declare it was my favorite. Either we keep topping our last vacation, or all of them are my favorite. Maybe both.

I never wrote about our trip to Yellowstone in 2014, but it was transformative. I was not prepared for the sheer awe and emotional impact of it all. The breadth and expanse of the Yellowstone wilderness atop a volcano made my eyes well with tears of awe. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Profound, even. 

And it made me question what I thought Earth is, or what it abides. 

The enormity of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the clockwork predictability of some of the geysers and the sheer unpredictability of others, the curiosity of the Grand Prismatic Spring, the surreal aqua blues of Earth's deep chasm pools, and the boiling, bubbling and violent heat of the springs, the travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. 

And then there are the animals. The hundreds of bison just walking past your car, standing in the middle of the road just trying to get across. We saw elk, deer, a bear and countless bison. I've never in my life been so close to such raw nature. 

Bison in Yellowstone.

Just moseying along. 

It was after that trip to Yellowstone that we started better appreciating the National Parks. This past fall, we went to Acadia. (We previously went to Haleakala on our honeymoon and Grand Teton during our Yellowstone road swing.)

So when we were planning a spring break, we thought Arizona would be perfect — a bit of warmth, plus the Grand Canyon, one of the seven wonders of natural world and our fifth National Park. And somehow, neither Ray nor I had ever been.

"I'm pretty sure this makes unAmerican," I told Ray. "We are ripping apart the very fabric of our country until we see it."

He agreed.  

Grand Indeed

We first saw it from the lookout at Grand Canyon village, waiting on the bus to take us to the overlooks. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be there. I don't know where I thought it would be — further out on the bus trail, I guess — but we looked over and holy shit, there it was. It was so vast it's hard to comprehend. It took us probably a good hour of seeing it from various vistas before our minds could really grasp it. 





To call it a "canyon" seems a bit of misnomer, really. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone makes more sense visually. It is a clear canyon, with clearly defined steep sides. But the Grand Canyon... it's more like a mountain range you are able to peer down upon. 

And the colors. The unbelievable colors. The muted buff and grays on the peaks, the pinks and sunset oranges on the buttes and bluffs, there was white lining the outer rim, and staggering reds diving into the ravines and gorges, and then, the blue-green of the Colorado river, looking like a trickling stream against the magnitude.  

View of the Colorado River from Navajo Point.

View from Hermit's Rest.

It takes time to stitch together all that you are seeing. 

We spent the entire first day just looking at it from different vantages along Hermits Rest Route, the bus route of the Grand Canyon. It was insanely windy, with gusts from 35 to 50 miles per hour. Not surprisingly, one of the gusts knocked me over and caught my Reds hat, sending it sailing away. But Ray was able to scramble over and grab it before it tumbled into the Canyon. I'd have been embarrassed to think my hat would litter the Grand Canyon and befuddle ancient visitors. 

"Why was this unknown ancient a fan of the Reds? Weren't they in a 'rebuilding' year for about 20 years? We can only ponder the thoughts and hopes of the ancient Americans." 

But my favorite part was the Grand Canyon from Desert View Drive, on the east side of the South Rim. It was less crowded and yet views were equally as spectacular, if not more so. The Canyon ends to the east, physically, at Desert View. It's seeing the Grand Canyon up against that unfurling plateau that helps shape its grandness. Navajo Point was my favorite vista to the east, where you can best see the high Colorado plateau flatten out. 

View from Navajo Point. 

Ray with our rental truck, Wauneta. Because you just never know when you might need to off-road into a canyon. Or need extra space for gas station beef jerky.  

Driving into Tusayan to get to the Grand Canyon on 64 North is the definition of barren. Literally, beyond there lies nothing. Nothing but the Grand Canyon anyway. But driving out of the Canyon east toward Cameron is extraordinary. The road follows the Little Colorado River, with its own deep gorge carved into the high plateau. It's also where we met this Raven. 

We weren't home 24 hours before I started to feel depressed. One minute you're out taking in this incredible geological wonder, the next you're back in Ohio washing the red rock dust off your boots. I was writing a check to the cat sitter when I reminded Ray that we never go anywhere. I think I heard him scream into a pillow. 

So if you haven't been, either to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, go, immediately.   

Ray overlooking Desert View.