Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend & Page

ranoodle31
Aug 24, 2016
3 min read

I got up bright and early at 4am and headed out on the road to catch the sunrise at the Grand Canyon.

Absolutely beautiful. I headed up to the hermit point road area and walk the rim trail and parked myself on a ledge and watched the sun rise. Purples, blues oranges reds and yellows and pinks coming up of a plateau. Now that the sun is up a little higher we have some mist and fog going on. Only pictures can really describe this beauty.

In walking along the rim I ran into one of the most beautiful sights, a momma and baby dear! They were so calm and I was able to get a bunch of pictures of them. It was such a wonderful thing to be able to see them so close and the fact that they felt comfortable with me being in the vicinity.

After this I walked more of the rim to take in the sight of the Grand Canyon and all that it has to offer. I really wanted to hike down into it, but my timing just isn’t going to work since there are so many places that I want to see on this road trip I am taking. On my way out while I was driving I came across a small intersection and encountered a Elk! This thing was like 5 feet from my car. I passed it, stopped, looked in the rear view mirror and backed up to get a better look. He was happy just munching on some tree leaves. I continued on and not much farther up the road near a picnic area was another one. This one was on the side of the road just strolling along. So awesome to see these animals up close and personal. Of course I stay my distance, but it is just wonderful.

My next step was Horseshoe bend. They have a sign out warning you to bring water for the walk because the heat can be extreme. I brought mine and I am glad that I did. There is no shade other than at the beginning of the trail and the trail is all out in the open. The walk doesn’t seem too bad until you have to walk back. Once you get to the edge the overlook is crazy. I am not a huge fan of heights so I figured that rather than stand near the edge to look over I would get down on my stomach and take pictures that way. People looked at me like I was nuts, but it was way better. Of course I still felt a bit ill being that close lol. If you have a selfie-stick or a fish eye lens for your camera that is your best bet in order to get it all in. There was a boat that was drifting along the river, oh how I wish I could do that!

From here I headed up to Page Arizona to check out the slot canyons. All of this land is owned by the Navajo Indian tribes which is fine...BUT...you can only get tours through them. You can’t get any access to the canyons in small groups or alone. For someone like myself who likes to take my time when going through these places, really stop to soak it all in and grab some amazing photos the tours suck.

They stick on you a truck with around 10-20 people, go for a ride about a mile in, park and you walk a bit to the canyons. From there you wait in lines going in and coming out and all the way through. People are always in front of you, behind you and you can’t take more than a few minutes to look at parts of it. Sometimes groups stop and take forever taking a ton of pictures, which OK I get, but let me go ahead of you lol.....nope! Have to stay with my group. UGH! I think it cost me $40 for about an hour and a half. I want to go back to see a different one if I can again someday, maybe I can find a private tour.

While inside the canyons, the reds and oranges are so vibrant!! Every once in a while the canyon would look blue due to where the sun was, and how the shade was effecting the colors. The sides of the walls were all lined from years and years of being worn down by water that goes into the canyon. Deaths here are few and far between, but people have to be careful of flash floods that can come from other areas even if it is not raining here.