Grand Canyon: 8 Oct 2010 Part 2

While on my trip to the Grand Canyon I kept a journal of my experience in order to create an after-the-fact travelogue.  Presented over the next few days is an edited version + photo essay of my trip.  ( First entry here) ---

8 Oct 2010 2051

I feel completely differently at the end of today.  My feet don’t hurt and I’m not exhausted.  I have some mild aches in my legs and very mild aches in my feet.  It’s because today was a much milder day.

We started by taking a photo at the entrance sign - we didn’t notice it on day 1 and yesterday we got in too early.

Then we went to the bus stop go get to the Hermit’s Rest Area.

There we took some photos and started walking east, towards the next stop.  Along the way we saw what may have been a small road runner.

We also found a spot to jsut sit and enjoy the canyon. We left when it got too noisy.  It was a spot with a bench so EVERYONE came and was all loud while taking photos.  It’s not impossible to find a nice, quiet place to contemplate the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon, but it’s hard if it’s a spot where many will stop.  I recommend somewhere without any benches or to do it very early in the morning or late in the evening.

After that mile we figured it would take too long to get to the next bus stop.  So we took the bus back to the village.  (Again, the Grand Canyon is HUGE!  Very hard to see it all and still get three sqaure meals at a decent time)

We finally ate at El Tovar for lunch.  While it was also run by Xanterra, it was the nicest of the restaurants at the Grand Canyon.  The atmosphere was a whole level up from the Bright Angel restaurants.  The service was also a bit more prompt.

After lunch we stopped by the mule stables on our way east.  We kept going east towards Desert View, stopped along many of the named overlooks along the way.  At Desert View we went up to the top of the Watch Tower.  (Nothing compared to the Cornell Clocktower)

We then went to Lipan Point to see a sunset.  It was listed in the guide book as the best sunset.  We hung out there for a few hours.  The sunset was OK.  Again, I’m not sure if sunsets are better in the summer or something, but I didn’t see the rocks “reveal their colours” as both the guidebook and the visitor TV station had claimed would happen at sunset.

• Grand-Canyon