Grand Canyon

Phil and Chris changed our plans again!  We'd originally planned to see and hike the canyons and national parks in Utah before visiting the Grand Canyon, so that everyone was in a better state of fitness.  However, when realizing that we were going to pass within 50 miles of the Grand Canyon (South rim) we decided to visit now.  That first glimpse of the canyon is literally breathtaking.  You can look at photos all you wish, but there is nothing like being there and seeing this vast canyon.

 We cannot begin to capture the canyon on film to do it justice. 

 We hiked most of the south rim.  There are busses that transport all the tourists and hikers along the developed area of the rim.  We like to get away from the crowds and it was possible to do some peaceful hiking.  Even in March, it was busy and we are glad not to attempt seeing it in summer.  We would have loved to hike in and out of the canyon, but much of our good hiking equipment is in Western Australia, plus you need permits and more preparation than we had.  The second option was to ride a mule down, but you have to book those trips 18 months in advance!  How does anyone know what they'll be doing in 18 months??

Chris and Phil were very lucky to find a third option to get down to the bottom of the canyon, and that was by jeep tour.  Here they are next to the Colorado River.  I didn't get to go.  Does anyone see the exclusion of Buster as a recurring theme here?  The jeep tour was an all day trip and included lunch at an Indian resort.  The western part of the canyon is owned by indians, so that is where you can take the jeep tours via the one road that goes into the canyon, and they also do quick rafting trips in the canyon.

While at the canyon we camped at Mather campground in the National Park.  There is plenty of wildlife up there and one night some elk came over to check out our campsite.  We saw lots of elk up there, and on the way to the jeep tour we also saw antelope.