The Great West, day 4 (AZ)

We survived the night and actually slept pretty well.  Most of us wore our coats in our sleeping bags or layered up.  I believe the temperature this morning was 31, and I’m not sure how cold it will get tonight.  Seeing as how we all got plenty of sun today, I’m sure it’s bound to feel cooler on our skin though.

We began our day with a trip down the road into Tusayan this morning to grab some breakfast at McDonalds and try to find reception for our phones/laptop.  Apparently this area doesn’t have ATT so we have little to no service here.  After breakfast we came right back and began at Mather Overlook which is just down from Yavapai. The views here were quite a bit broader.  While driving 64 we saw several areas with fire damage from 2010.  The grasses are growing back and new saplings have sprouted.  Some trees were completely lost while others had only the lower limbs burned.  One thing I noticed was that typically while driving down 64 it was just wooded on either side of the road and seemed as if we were traveling any other highway, but when the trees would break, the Canyon was just right there!  It was nice to be out hiking along the rim and seeing the different angles.  From here we continued down 64E for 25 miles towards the East entrance stopping along the way to take in new perspectives.  Taylor and Caleb got adventurous when we arrived to Grandview Point.  They discovered a part of the trail that takes you to the base of the Canyon, and they we itching to go down it.  We obliged them for a while but reminded them that whatever we went down, we also had to climb back up! Taylor stopped us abruptly at one point and hushed us.  When asked what the problem was, he reported that there was a snake just off the path climbing up the rocks.  So of course we all had to get pictures; we still aren’t sure what kind it was, but we know it wasn’t a rattler.  Samuel stayed busy today working on his Junior Ranger packet and earned his Junior Ranger badge this afternoon after a Ranger talk.  We learned that the Canyon is ½ to 18 miles wide, 6000 feet deep and that the Colorado River is about 100 feet at the deepest.  The water now is a beautiful shade of green, but in about a month, the ranger said they will receive their “monsoon” and the water will turn a muddy brown.  There is a dam up the river that typically slows the flow.  This area receives about 15” of rainfall annually, and most of that will come in the next month.  Sounds like we were here at the right time!

One thing I just absolutely love about the western parks is that you can be driving along and around any curve you may discover that traffic has just come to a halt so that people can capture wildlife pictures.  The elk have been plentiful today and SO tame. We get within a few feet of them, and they nonchalantly continue their grazing. There are rock squirrels that have tufts of fur standing up from the tops of their ears that are also laid back and will stand right beside you on the sidewalk for picture opportunities. We captured pictures today of the elk, squirrels, chipmunks, falcon (We finally spotted him with our zoom lens calling out from the canyon.), and random butterflies.

All the food and supplies here are priced astronomically.  We are hoping that this is just price gouging in this area because it is remote and not what we will experience for the next week!  We purchased peanut butter and jelly ingredients for lunch and had fruit for dessert.  Nathan was looking at crackers for snacks and a box of club crackers were $5.59, milk was $4.89, and Honey Nut Cheerios were $7.39. OUCH! If we ever come back out this way we will know to stock up on nonperishables to bring with us.  We went back into town for dinner and ate at Big E’s Steakhouse and Dinner Theater.  We finally chose this place because it seemed to be the best value.  The restaurants are just as crazy.  Talk about price gouging! The boys were thrilled with the dinner theater.  It began with a video set to music that details the history of the area.  Then a lady came out on stage and did a song and dance routine.  This was followed by and illusionist.  A 15 minute break was taken, and they started a new set of song/dance and illusion.  It worked wonders for Andrew who was beginning to get restless in his highchair. When the lights dimmed and the performers came out, he got just as still and quiet even at times when he was working up into a fit.  He couldn’t even concentrate on eating because he was in such awe!

We finished up and headed the 5-10 minutes back up into the park just in time to catch our last sunset here.  There was a lady (another tourist) at the point who was acting as traffic cop and moving people about at the point so that everyone could get their sunset pictures.  At first she made us laugh, but after sitting and listening to her for a while, she became a bit obnoxious and pushy.  We noticed tonight that many people have brought little padlocks and attached them at the lower portion of the fencing as their way of leaving their mark.  I found that interesting.  The boys were a little bummed that we didn’t go down to the lower canyon, but there is no public road that leads to the base.  They offer plane rides that will take you to a jeep and then you can go even further by taking a boat, but these packages were going to run from $750-1600 for our family.  We had considered taking a train ride from Williams, AZ back into the Canyon, but I believe it was going to bring us in on the rim, not at the base.  We decided against that since we were already at the Canyon, and we would see the other landscapes that the train ride advertised as we drove out of the Canyon and into Williams to get back to 40.