The GRAND Canyon

We got up at 5.15 am to get the free continental breakfast at our motel in Flagstaff. I really do love the tradition of affordable motels in the US. The cars, the cheap gas, and the motels. It is all about freedom. Even when we lived in the US in 1998 and I was supporting our little family on the modest income of a graduate student, we could afford to go on fantastic car trips. The cheap cars and low gas prices in the US may not be good for the environment, but they are very democratic.

Our motel in Flagstaff at 5.30 am. A glorious morning with a pleasant temperature below 20 C.

The drive to the South Rim of Grand Canyon took about one and a half hour. We reached the National Park at 8 am. Already at a distance we caught a glimpse over the tree tops of the pine forest of the north rim on the other side of the canyon, its red rocks gleaming in the morning sun. And in that little glimpse you realize that you are facing something of extraordinary dimensions, something truly awe inspiring. We took the scenic drive going east along the rim and surprisingly did not experience any crowds (I was expecting, or fearing, something like Niagara Falls, which was incredibly crowded both time we visited). There was plenty of space to park at the view points.

And there it was. Looking like a crack in the ground of unfathomable dimensions. The Colorado river has incredibly cut through 1500 m of rocks in the flat Colorado plateau and the combined forces of winds and freezing temperatures has widened the cut to measure about 16 km across. This silent and unphotographable abyss is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. 

 A leap of faith

On the Grandview Trail. We hiked down the first few hundred meters.

Driving all around the Grand Canyon, we also visited the Glenn Canyon dam and Lake Powell.

The Glenn Canyon dam with Lake Powell in the background. Lake Powell is basically the water-filled canyon resulting from blocking the Colorado River.

M and I went to dip our feet in the tepid water of Lake Powell. My feet were hot, so it was really nice to cool them off a bit. Since we got sand on our wet feet, we wanted to go back to the car barefoot. After a while that felt rather hot, burning actually. M started running and so did I in the end. We thought we could seek refuge in the shade, but it turned out that the ground was just as hot there (you could probably fry an egg on the tarmac we were walking on). We both got blisters on our feet - talk about blistering sun.. Cooling my feet in the lake certainly backfired.