Grand Canyon, AZ Oct 9-11, 2010

GRAND CANYON, AZ

Our next stop on our trip back to Texas was the Grand Canyon. Camping in Williams, AZ, a quaint little western town, the drive to the canyon was about 50 miles. On our first day at the canyon, we opted to take the park shuttle bus which travels the 8 mile Hermit Road and Rim Trail and includes 8 main viewpoints. You can get off and on whenever you want and a couple of the stops we decided to walk the rim trail to the next stop.

Here is a glimpse of the Colorado River that traverses the canyon floor 4000 feet below. The average width of the canyon is 10 miles.

Our second day at the canyon, we drove to the east entrance on the 23 mile Desert View Drive. The 70 foot Watchtower was designed by Mary Colter in 1932 as a re-creation of the ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) towers found in the Four Corners region and preserved at the Hovenweep National Monument. Despite the name, it is not clear whether the peaceable ancestral Puebloans employed these structures as enemy lookouts.

The inside of the tower itself, painted by Hopi artist Fred Green, depicts various aspects of Hopi mythology and religious ceremonies. You can take the stairs to the very top and - what a view. The Watchtower was built to provide the widest view of the Grand Canyon and it is breathtaking! Colter was a perfectionist and scrutinized every detail down to the placement of nearly every stone.

Just to give you an idea of the enormity of the Grand Canyon, in the lower left of this picture you can see a small portion of the Colorado River. This section of rapids is 1 mile long!

The different colors of the canyon come from layers of shale, limestone, and sandstone.