Ever since I was little, I'd wanted to visit Meteor Crater. I finally got there. Not that I wasn't thrilled to be there, nor awestruck at imagining the incredible force that made this nearly a mile across and 600 foot deep hole in the desert in a matter of seconds somewhere around fifty thousand years ago, nor that thanks to desert conditions it is nearly perfectly preserved. It's just that once you'd paid your 16 bucks each and entered the hallowed ground, that was about it. We were allowed to walk about 200 yards around the crater rim in the company of a guide and take all the pictures we wished while he told us of the history and geology of the crater, most of which I'd memorized 40 or 50 years ago. If you're in the neighborhood, don't hesitate to stop in. On the other hand, realize it's actually only going to take up a couple of hours.
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| Meteor Crater. There it is, nearly a mile across and 600 feet deep. |
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| Maybe a better perspective. It is near Winslow, Az. |
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| Liz here: Mike at Meteor Crater with his new "What's your Ology" T-shirt. First new tee since we met. |
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| Portion of Meteor that created Meteor Crater. |
Liz here:
Mike thinks that most people know about Meteor Crater the way that he knows it. Learning about a hole in the ground created by a meteorite was news to me. 50,000 years ago a meteor ended its 500 million mile year long race through space to collide with Earth. Our young and enthusiastic tour guide, Darren is Navajo and proud to be about to finish a geology degree. He told us a joke about a visitor, a lady who stated that it was lucky that the meteor did not hit I-40. Darren thought that she was joking so he told her that the meteor hit Route 66 instead so they built I-40. So she asked him in all seriousness, "How many cars did it take out?"
Back to Mike:
By the way, that day was a full one. Up at dawn, finish up Petrified Forest, see Meteor Crater, stop at Flagstaff Walmart (only to discover this was one of the "no boondocking here" places) meet a fascinating California couple who told us just where to camp for free at the canyon, make the 70 mile drive to the canyon (half hour wait at a roadblock while a helicopter ambulance rescued a downed motorcyclist) over a scenic and twisty two-lane road then find the elusive free camping site just outside the Grand Canyon National Park. Location? My lips are sealed, we may need to use it again. Liz rates it as our best free campsite ever. Secluded, comfortable, shady and the US Forestry Service provides near-constant security. Absolutely no utilities (water, electric). On the other hand, no rules on when you can run your generator.
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| Rescue operation. |
The big day! We've both seen the canyon before but we felt in a rush to see it from this new perspective. Still a fifteen mile trip from park boundaries to the visitor center. Then a few hundred yard walk to the rim. It's difficult to take it all in even once you've seen it. Is that really ten (or more) miles across to the other side? Where's the river? I was promised a river. Oh, the canyon's so deep (over a mile) and the river so far down and the lower canyon so narrow you can only see it from certain viewpoints? Yes, the Grand Canyon is in fact two separate entities. The big, broad valley that completely overwhelms your sense of scale and the deep narrow cut through hard crustal rocks you can barely see. Even when you get a chance to see the river it looks so tiny and calm. In fact in many places it's a football field across and moving at 20 or 30 mph. It's also so far down, it's in a whole different temperature range than the rims. If it's 80 degrees on the rim, it's probably over 90 at the river. Okay, I'll shut up and show some pictures.
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Just a few of the hundreds of dramatic canyon views I took.
A photographer can hardly go wrong. Just wave a camera in the general direction of the other side and press the button.
Actually capturing the scale and majesty is something else.................... |
Our first intention was to step right out and hike to the bottom of the canyon. Then we saw the trails and realized that getting anywhere useful meant a full day's trek to the bottom, camp, then a nice long vertical walk the next day. Let's rethink this. On the other hand, there are 17 miles of trail along the rim, a shuttle service that'll take you to anywhere along the rim you'd like, lots of museums and historic sites, that magnificent view anywhere you look. Much more do-able! you can walk as long as you like, grab a bus back to the parking lot.
For the 9 days we were there, this was more than enough to keep us occupied. Eating lunch with our feet hanging over a long drop watching the ravens. They act here like nothing we had seen before. There is something about the wind currents of the canyon that causes them to become aerial acrobats, folding their wings and doing barrel rolls, flying at a sheer face at top speed and riding the wind straight up, flying in tandem, one upside right, the other upside down. Hell of a show!
Right along the path, we'd find ripe pinyon nuts. Just crack them with your teeth for the delicious bits inside. Look, a prickly pear bearing fruit. This takes a careful grab with a piece of paper and a pocket knife. Then scrape off the fine sharp needles (first time, I wasn't so careful and paid the price) and peel. The flavor can best be described as subtle. Stop at a lookout, enjoy the view and listen to all the different languages. Like Yellowstone, people come here from around the world. Many of them have seen more of the U.S. than we have.
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| The squiggly line across the cliffs is part, just part, of the Bright Angel Trail. It disappears to the left and goes all the way to the river, across a bridge and up the other side. 27 miles. |
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These young folks were having lunch on a precarious ledge next to a vertical drop.
4 young men with 1 female temptress trying to drive the men crazy. |
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| Tourists from ALL over the world. |
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| Prickly pear, with fruit. |
On the east end of the park is yet another Pueblo type ruin. Rather than describe it myself, I'll let a better authority do it. Enjoy..............
http://www.nps.gov/grca/photosmultimedia/200703_gatlin_rm_tusayan-wmv.htm
Liz is adamant we get to all the ranger talks we can. They're worth the trouble and a pretty good free show. For example, an hour and a half talk on Grand Canyon architecture. The government and many private parties have been building here since the early 1900's in every style from New England traditional to Mission to '60's functional, looking much like army barracks I've been in at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The architect who made the most of the opportunity was Mary Coulter in the early 1900's. As an aside, we also learned of the Kolb brothers, the park's resident photographers for 70 years or so. I'm serious, see these wild men for yourself.
http://www.grandcanyon.org/kolb/kolbphotographs.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLoL8v6Tv1M
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| A Mary Coulter creation, The Lookout Studio. |
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| Desert View, another Mary Colter design. |
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The train station, one of only three log stations in the US.
A train runs to and from Williams daily, just down the hill form the El Tovar Hotel. |
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| In the lobby of the El Tovar. Strongly reminiscent of the Lodge at Yellowstone. |
We are now in Dead Horse State Park, checking out Jerome, an old mining town up in the hills now a full bore tourist trap. Tomorrow we take a four wheel ATV out in the hills above Sedona. Then dinner with an old friend of Liz's. We've found where we will winter over, a place east of Phoenix called Gold Canyon, in view of Superstition Mountain. Not too expensive, a 9 hole executive golf course on site and many facilities including a gym with steam room, also 8 pool tables along with more activities than any sane person could want. Winter has been following us down the country beginning with late August in Yellowstone (!) and nearly catching us at the Grand Canyon. Time to run for the desert!
