October 29, 2010 Grand Canyon and Good Friends

We woke to a beautiful, crisp morning and the four of us headed up to the Grand Canyon.   All I can say is WOW and let the pictures speak for themselves:

OR    http://picasaweb.google.com/gardenhavens/102910?feat=directlink

The hard part of photographing the Grand Canyon is that it is much more beautiful than the pictures can show.  The average width of the Canyon is 10 miles across and 1 mile in depth and that is hard to show in photos.

In this photo, there is a bridge that spans the Colorado.  This bridge is over 400’ – hard to tell it is that long!

Our first stop was the Yavapai Point and Observation Station where we heard the Ranger talk on the formation of the Canyon (those who know me and have followed the blog know that I really enjoy the Ranger talks at National and State Parks and this was no exception – :-))   From there we took the Rim Trail to Verkamp’s Visitor Center.  This part of the Trail is also called the Trail of Time.  Every 3 feet they have brass markers that represent one million years in Earth’s history.  There are also rock samples and interpretive signs about the Grand Canyon rock layers and landscapes.  Neat.

We spent some time (and had lunch) at the Verkamp area where there was the Visitor Center, studios and gift shops.  Then we took the shuttle to Hermits Rest (no cars are allowed on this part of the road).   This is at the Hermit’s Rest Visitor Center:

Andy and Bill are on the right – isn’t that a beautiful rest stop – :-))).

From there we took the shuttles back to the main visitor center and walked back to Yavapai Point – and watched the sunset along the way.   The colors and shadows of the canyon while the sun is setting – oh my!!!

As we drove back to camp, the sky looked like it was on fire – just beautiful. 

Pictures of us throughout the day:

 

What a wonderful day with good friends and spectacular scenery!