22nd November - Grand Canyon, AZ, USA

Happy Thanksgiving – our second Thanksgiving celebration since we have been in South America.

Well I wanted to wear shorts in the US and my wish come true. Pity, they were under my jeans because it was cold. It was hovering around -1C when we got to the Grand canyon this morning. We were both excited driving on the road out the edge in the eerie twilight of dawn.

We arrived at Mather’s Point, where we visited the night previously. I had two t-shirts, a long sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie, shorts and jeans on. The easterly wind coming up the cliff edge cooled us down. We can’t complain as northern Saskatchewan is averaging between -20 to -30C at the moment.

The point was crowded with people having the same intention as us, watching the sun rise over the canyon. There was a band of cloud on the horizon which the sun as it peaked through was some what dim. The colours of the deep majestic canyon were playing with our minds. Different hues of red, yellow, grey, brown and orange changed by the minute. It was spectacular watching the colours change and the Grand Canyon unfold in front of our eyes.
As soon as the sun peaked out from the cloud, most of the people left much to our amazement. The sun shining into the canyon created some awesome shadows with bluffs and mesas appearing out of nowhere. Sunrise at the Grand Canyon, a fantastic but rather cool experience!!! We found the café and had some warming hot chocolate. On the way we saw some mule deer crossing the road. Lucky for them the speed limit is only 25 miles per hour. Warmed up we hit Yavapai Point. The same herd of deer had made it’s way there so we got up and close and personal.
Awesome vistas. Words can’t really describe what we saw.
We headed back to the hotel for some coffee and breakfast. This stage coach was rather rickety and Tan was spotting the servo up the road with this brave.
This is a token, welcome to the Grand Canyon, shot.
Round Two – The Hermit Road shuttle. The great thing about some parts of the Canyon is that you can access some of the great vistas via walking or via a hop-on/off shuttle. The track was a round trip of 14 miles, so we opted for a mix of shuttle bus and walks between spots. We stopped at Maricopa Point and this was the jaw-dropping, we are in the Grand Canyon view. The green rapids of the Colorado River were faintly visible below on the canyon floor.

It didn’t seem right, but in the middle of this brilliant National Park was a headframe and below us was a glory hole with ladders going into it. In the early 60’s copper and uranium was mined 1500 feet below the south rim of the canyon. The Orphan Mine was closed in 1969.
On the way to Powell Point we come across another herd of deer with two bucks butting heads antlers.
We walked to Powell Point and then on to Hopi Point. Splendid views.
Other areas along the way included Mohave Point, The Abyss and Pima Point. The latter was also spectacular and had a good view of the raging torrents below. Hermit’s rest at the end of the line was a great spot for a late lunch.

After the bus trip we decided to head east to watch varying stages of the afternoon sun setting on the canyon.
After all the touring and a big day in the canyon we hit the hot tub at the hotel. We followed that with an IMAX feature on the Grand Canyon which was excellent. Thanksgiving was a turkey dinner washed down with beer and wine and pumpkin pie. Not as good as Kim and Judy’s feast in northern Saskatchewan, but still pretty good.