Beauty And Grandeur Still Abound

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 1

  Our reservations were for Trailer Village Campground located inside Grand Canyon National Park (www.nps.gov/grca), and the day after our arrival we spotted our first critters of this travel season…elk in the campground!

 

Our last visit to the Grand Canyon was in 2010, and though seeing the park is not as exciting as our first visits, its beauty and grandeur still amaze us.  It was declared a national monument in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt and became a national park in 1919.

 

  We drove up to the Village area, and you can tell the weather was nice enough for short sleeves and shorts.  We had taken Abby with us and strolled along hoping to spot some California condors in the canyon since this is the area where we’d seen them before.

 

Along the way we passed the placard naming the Trans-Canyon Telephone Line that was built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a National Historic Landmark.  What we had never noticed in the past was the actual telephone lines!  They extend across the canyon from the south rim to the north rim consisting of 18 miles of copper wire and 592 metal poles and are maintained by Mountain Bell.  These lines connect 11 emergency telephones and 4 ranger stations.

 

We were having no luck spotting the condors so I went inside Verkamp’s Visitor Center near where we had parked, and the lady said she’d heard they’d been seen nearby because of the warmer weather (the wind drafts assist them in flight).  As I stepped out, I saw Russ frantically waving at me to come.  Turns out a pair of condors were on the ledge below…getting busy!

 

Condors are one of the rarest birds in the world, weighing up to 23 lbs. with a wing span up to 9-1/2 feet and not that long ago there were only 22 left in the world. They generally lay one egg every two years, but the captive breeding program begun in 1983 found a way to trick the bird into laying
  more. As soon as she drops an egg, a researcher will grab it before she knows it’s gone. She thinks she hasn’t laid an egg and will produce another. Thanks to this program, there are now 435 condors worldwide, nearly all wearing numbered tags and transmitters. 
  More than half of them are flying free in the wild with about 75 of them in AZ and UT. They can soar and glide up to 50 mph and can fly 5,000 - 6,000 feet above the canyon rim. Condors do not build nests but instead lay an egg on the floor of a cave, ledge, or tree.  They mate for life, and we were
watching female #80 who is 15 years old and her mate, #87, who is 17 years old (they can live up to 60 years old in the wild).  Afterwards, they stood on the ledge for a bit, and then one by one took off.  There’s nothing like watching them soar above the canyon.

 

The next day we drove to the Visitor Center at Mather Point and watched its 20 min. film “Grand Canyon: A Journey of Wonder”.  Just outside the center sandblasted into the pavement is a representation of the Tribal Medallion.  It symbolizes those tribal people who call the canyon home and has their tribal names oriented around the edge of the medallion in the general direction of each of their current homelands.

 

We walked along stopping at various locations for views of the canyon and even a glimpse of the Colorado River.  In the bottom third of the photo at right, about in the center, that little green triangle is the mighty Colorado.  It’s located
         a mile below the rim which is how far it has cut into the rock layers over millions of years to carve out the canyon.  As you can tell by our clothing, the temperatures had
      dropped and the wind had picked up so shorts were definitely out of the question!  Our final stop was at the Yavapai Observation Station which is dedicated to the geology of the canyon and its creation, also noting the differences between the
    north and south rims.  In most of the pictures taken of the canyon on this trip, you can tell there was a general haze which does not help the photos due justice to the beauty seen by the naked eye.

 

We caught the shuttle back to the car and decided to make a stop at the Pioneer Cemetery located within the park.  The entryway was erected in 1928, and people buried there include Grand Canyon pioneers, war veterans, tribal members, and employees of the
      National Park Service. One of the tombstones is a memorial to the 128 people who lost their lives on June 30, 1956, during the collision of two commercial airliners over the Grand Canyon. At the time it was the worst disaster in aviation
   history and brought about sweeping changes in air traffic control.  During our last visit to the park, we had taken a ranger led walk through the cemetery at night which was fascinating, and we find it a very peaceful, moving, and respectful place.

A free shuttle bus operates four routes on the park’s South Rim, and on the next day we took the shuttle to the transfer exchange area for the red route that would take us the 7 miles out to Hermits Rest. No cars are allowed along the red route from Mar. - Nov. so it is only accessible by shuttle. 
  Hermit’s Rest was constructed in 1914 built into the side of the hill and made of stone and wood.  Though the road ends here, the Grand Canyon continues on for another 180 miles through undeveloped areas and Indian reservations.

 

There are several stops along the red route where you can get off to view the Canyon and/or see other historical sites.  One stop included a view of a portion of Orphan Mine that was used for 13 years for uranium mining, producing ore at the height of the Cold War with operations ending in 1969.  After all these years, they are still working to clean up the contamination from this site.

 

The views are spectacular including an even better view of the river, and while many lookout points have guard rails, most do not and there are always those adven-turous folks who like to push the envelope sitting on the edge like these folks below left.  Most of the time we prefer to play it safe…that first step could be your last! 

Another stop is at the Powell Monument that honors adventurer John Wesley Powell, leader of the first documented expedition through the Grand Canyon in 1869 lasting 3 months on the Green and Colorado Rivers.  Having lost an
      arm in the Civil War did not hinder his sense of adventure, and he led a second expedition through the Canyon in 1872.

 

Once we returned to the bus exchange point, we decided to walk over to the historic Kolb Studio.  Established in 1904 by the Kolb Brothers as a photographic studio, it was operated by one of the brothers until his death in 1976.  It is now a gift shop, information center, and museum run by the Grand Canyon Association and is currently undergoing some renovations.

A little further down is the Lookout Studio that was built in 1914 of natural limestone from nearby quarries.  Now it’s basically a gift shop but has natural stone stairs out back leading down to an area overlooking the canyon.  We’ve taken them in the past, but this time decided to simply view from the upper porch inside.  Renovations are being done to this building as well.

 

While waiting for the blue route shuttle to return to our car, we watched as the Grand Canyon Railway (www.thetrain.com) made its departure.  This passenger train operates between Williams, AZ and the Canyon’s south rim and has since 1901 with a brief stoppage during the 70s and early 80s when a businessman finally bought it and brought it back to life.  Vintage diesel engines and passenger coaches take folks on a spectacular ride.

 

Also on a nearby track sits Locomotive No. 29 which was restored in 2004 at a cost of more than $1 million.  It’s an SC-3 class locomotive having been built in 1906 and weighs 185 tons.  It currently is in semi-retirement in front of the Grand Canyon Depot.

 

The weather had continued to get colder and a winter storm was on the horizon the next day, but late that afternoon, we drove up to the Village area again to check out a couple more places.  As you can see, the fog/mist was already moving into the canyon.  First stop was the historic Hopi House built in 1905 which is currently used as a gift shop/museum for mainly Native American crafts.  Designed to resemble a traditional Hopi pueblo, Russ just barely made it through the doorway without having to bend over!



   Across from it is the historic El Tovar Hotel, also built in 1905, and designed to be a cross between a Swiss chalet and a Norwegian villa. It has 78 rooms and suites and from what we’ve heard, no two rooms are alike.  Located only about 20 ft. from the canyon rim, it was built from native stone and Oregon pine and has a very cozy lobby, a perfect place to relax.  The exterior of the hotel is also undergoing renovations.

 

The next morning we awoke to a little bit of snow and ice though nothing was sticking to the road.  It had dipped to 22 degrees the night before, and even though we had left the water at a steady stream, we found a leak underneath the RV evidenced initially by an icicle.  We couldn’t see its origin and since we’d be using the water tank the rest of our trip, we decided we’d have to wait until we got to Yellowstone to investigate further.

 

It was time to leave and our path heading towards the East entrance would take us past another area of the park known as Desert View.  The focal point of this area is The Watchtower.  Built in 1932, this 70 foot stone tower is the highest point on the South Rim and has
Hopi murals on the interior walls. Originally it was an observation station and rest stop for Grand Canyon visitors. Today it has a gift shop on the first floor and climbing the narrow stairs still offers spectacular views of the canyon and surrounding area including an even better view of the Colorado River.