It has been said many times that a photo does not do justice to the scenery but we have to share some of these Grand Canyon area shots.
We chose the Bright Angel Trail as our introduction to this fabulous canyon.
Boy were we hoping to get passed by one of those mule trains heading to the campground at the bottom of the canyon. We would have even enjoyed it if we saw one as they were heading back up from the campground:)
Laurie getting ready to head through a portal into another universe.
If you look closely you can see the trail winding back up the canyon walls.
Though we did not see any mule trains today we did see some evidence that they do indeed exist. Pretty flowers on the trail have avoided the mules keen sense of finding a tasty meal.
Boy, glad the brakes on our gravel bikes worked as the fall over the edge would not be good. The greenway bike path around a good chunk of the South Rim was probably the bike path with the most fabulous scenery in the world!
Call us scofflaws if you like but we did not figure the sign was meant for bikers.
Our next hike, which we cycled to was the South Kabob trail down into the canyon. What a fabulous trail with out of this world views.
Right off the bat we ran into some really cool mountain goats feasting on shrubs for lunch.
Boy was “Ooh Aah” Point named appropriately!!
Laurie had to look at my rear side all the way down the trail as I had lots of energy this day.
Made it to our destination for the day. Cedar Ridge was a fabulous spot to drop to our butts and eat a nice lunch before navigating our way back up to the rim. These rest spots for hikers have composting toilets for the hiker’s pleasure.
This “little guy” was waiting to greet us after our hike came to an end. We did not pull a “touristy” move and try to feed it or get too close but just admired from a distance.
We spent a day exploring the area near the canyon and found a cool 4 mile hiking trail up a massive called Red Butte.
Check out the spectacular view from the top.
At the summit was a cool fire tower that seemed to still be in operation. We were allowed (we think as no one was there) to climb it and the former (or current) inhabitants had set up a nice picnic area with chairs and everything for us to eat our lunch.
On our last evening in the area the weather got a bit precarious. Sitting in our Lance camper the noise of the hailstones hitting the roof was incredibly loud. I could not believe that there was no damage to the camper of the truck.
Check out the size of these hail stones. They are not as large as the stones on Laurie’s engagement ring but you cannot tell as her ring is flipped upside down.
Great views! Just mesmerizing, though I’m sure they don’t do the experience justice.
The mountain goats would have scared me off, though the offering of a shrubbery seems to have kept them at peace.