“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.”

John Wesley Powell

I read those words, however, I am not sure I understood those words, until I tried writing a post with pictures, about our trip.

Day and I went to the Grand Canyon for Christmas with our friends Sue and David, back in 2015. I wrote about our trip then, and posted it to my old blog “Sail Away with Curly.” This is that post, cleaned up a bit of course, I hope you enjoy it.

The Grand Canyon, December 2015

Day and I, along with our friends Sue and David, are going to the Grand Canyon for Christmas. I cannot describe the excitement I am feeling, the anticipation of seeing the Grand Canyon. Understand, it is more than checking the Grand Canyon off my list, it’s more than being able to say, I have been to the Grand Canyon.

“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is the chance that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”

Mary Ritter Beard

To say the Grand Canyon is awe inspiring is an understatement for sure. We arrived at Bright Angel Lodge late on Christmas Eve. It was dark and after a long day of travel we were ready for bed. Just like a kid though, I laid awake in bed, in great anticipation of Christmas morning, and Christmas morning did not disappoint. This was our view, just 75 ft. from our lodge. I was speechless, and even now, I cannot find the words to adequately describe my amazement on Christmas morning.

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“The Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself.” Let’s give it a try though, shall we?

First, I could not believe how big it was. The Grand Canyon is frickin big, it’s huge. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long. At its’ widest point it is eighteen miles across, and on average, it is 10 miles across. The bottom of the canyon, the Colorado River, is over one mile down. The North Rim of the canyon is 8000 feet above sea level, and the South Rim is 7000 feet above sea level. The Grand Canyon National Park covers 1,217,262 acres, or, almost 2 million square miles. That’s big!

The Grand Canyon was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site  in 1979 and is considered one of  the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  Five million people visit the canyon every year.

“Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, and for all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American… should see.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Four million of those five million visitors are Americans, and four of them in 2015, were our friends, Sue and David, Day and myself!

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We only had four days there, so just enough time to get a taste of the canyon, and a great place to start is always the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center is at Mather’s Point, east of Bright Angel Lodge, on the South Rim. The visitor’s center has a great movie about the canyon, and there is plenty of staff there, that are happy to help you. We were there in December, and it was crowded, I cannot imagine that place in the summer, but I still think it is worth your time, if you’ve never been before.

I had read that Mather’s Point was the place to go for great views and seeing the sunrise. If you like taking photos, I guess it’s the place to go. So our first morning we headed out early with plans on making it to Mather’s Point in time for the sunrise and then to the visitor’s center. I think we all enjoyed the brisk walk along the rim (you can walk the South Rim from Pipe Creek Vista to Hermits Rest along the rim trail, approximately 13 miles long). I have been eating healthy and exercising regularly and have recently lost 30 pounds (since writing this post back in January of 2016, I have been on a rollercoaster ride and have gained and lost 30-35lbs. several times). I feel great, and for the first time in a very long time, I enjoyed all the walking and hiking we were doing, but to call the South Rim Trail, a trail, is a little misleading. The trail is more like an unpaved sidewalk, and actually paved in some areas. I would imagine this is where most of the five million visitors spend their vacation, and it’s probably pretty crowded in the summer. On one side of the trail are lodges, restaurants and other points of interest, on the other, the Grand Canyon and some spectacular views.

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We left Massachusetts on Christmas Eve and it was 50 degrees, we had to come to Arizona and the Grand Canyon for a white Christmas. Anyhow, a trip to Mather’s Point, the visitor’s center and back to Bright Angel Lodge is a pretty full day. You don’t need to go to Mather’s Point for great views, they’re everywhere, but the visitor’s center is there, and I believe it’s worth the walk.

We headed back to our lodge for a shower, and a nap before dinner. We ended the night with a game of Pitch (forced to play by Day). Tomorrow we’re heading west on the Rim Trail, to Hermit’s Rest.

Hermit’s Rest is a snack bar and gift shop at the end of Hermit Road. Hermit Road follows the South Rim and the Rim Trail west, and is quite popular, so popular, it is closed to private vehicles during the summer months, and the only way to see it is to walk it, or take a bus. In the winter however, the road is open to private vehicles, and we opted to drive it.

We had fun, we stopped often to take pictures, well Sue and I took pictures. Sue has been our friend for almost twenty years now, our good friend, and I had a great time with her. We horsed around, teased each other, as always, and photographed the shit out of the Grand Canyon. Here are a few photos of our day on Hermit Road.

More pictures of Hermit Road and my beautiful wife…

No fences, personal responsibility, you had better be careful, it’s one mile straight down. Sue has a fear of heights, we teased her of course, like good friends do.

I am pretty sure that is Day laughing at her.

The colors of the canyon are amazing, and change throughout the day. We must have been on Hermit Road at just the right time, because it was beautiful. The canyon was purple, absolutely breathtaking. My pictures do not do it justice, “The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features.” I tried my best though, and I think got some great pics.

There you have it, another day at the canyon. Tomorrow we will hike down!

If you are a hiker, the Grand Canyon must seem like heaven. It takes 8-10 hours to get to the bottom and twice as long to get back out. There are trails everywhere, we decided on the Kaibab Trail at the east end. Obviously we are not going to the bottom, we only have the day. So we set our sights on the first rest stop, an hour down. An hour and a half if you are afraid of heights. Now, I have a friend who is probably reading this, thinking, you only hiked down for an hour? Well, like I said, we were only here for four days, just long enough to get a sense of the canyon. It is so big and there is so much to do, you would have to come back many times if you really want to enjoy the Grand Canyon. A hike to the bottom, camping for a few nights and a two day hike out would be on my list, along with rafting the Colorado River. But today, just a three or four hour hike to the first rest stop and back.

For those of you wondering why it takes 10 hours to hike down one mile to the bottom, it is one mile straight down. The Kaibab Trail is 7.1 miles of switchbacks on an almost shear rock face. We took our time, meaning we waited for Sue, who’s afraid of heights remember. We enjoyed the views and had tons fun on our way down.

Amazing right? This turned out to be a great day. The hiking was fun now that I was 30 pounds lighter, and the views were great. This is a great time to say how much I enjoyed my wife. Day and I hadn’t spent much time together this past year. I had just spent a year on a job, which kept me in a hotel Mondays through Fridays, and she’d usually work weekends at Home Depot. We needed this, and we had a great time together, at least I enjoyed her.

Not the bottom, but for us, our goal, the first rest stop. We spent about a half hour here, before we began our hike up and out, soaking in the views. Our Grand Canyon trip ends here. We hiked out, jumped in our car and headed out to Sedona for the final 3 or 4 days of our vacation. Sedona will be another post, another time.

Surreal is a word I might use to describe the Grand Canyon, but…

“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.”

John Wesley Powell was absolutely right. The words I have written in my blog could never describe what I saw, or the awe I felt as I stared in amazement at the Grand Canyon. As I write that, the Grand Canyon, I think, it truly is grand. I can only hope my post, might entice you to go, and see it for yourself, my pictures do not do it justice.

Well, there ya go, an old post about a trip to the Grand Canyon. Since that trip, Day and I have talked often about renting a rv and traveling the country. The Grand Canyon was spectacular, and reminded me, I live in a big beautiful country myself, and Day and I need to explore it more.

Luv ya,
Curly