On our third day trip back to the Grand Canyon, we enjoyed perfect weather conditions..sunny skies with temperatures in the 70's. The shutter bug in me really had a hard time finding a good stopping point with the pictures. It seemed each view was one to keep for the memory books. Walking along the Rim Trail on this day finds us stopping at almost every vantage point.
After a nice lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge's restaurant, Ronnie wanted to walk a ways down the Bright Angel Trail. Now, we did not walk far, only to the archway opening. The trail is only for the most fit hikers, making its way 9.5 miles down to the Colorado River and the hiker's lodge, Phantom Ranch..
Once you walk through to the other side of the archway, the views of the Grand Canyon change. We can only imagine how much more interesting the views become the further one walks down into the canyon.
Can't take just one picture..
Gotta make just one more..
We see all sorts of folks walking the Bright Angel Trail this day, from tourists just taking a short stroll like us to the experienced hikers completing the entire trek "rim to rim". We see people of all ages and nationalities enjoying this beautiful day.
Moving on, we travel a bit eastward to the Yavapai Point and Geology Museum. This is the northernmost point on the Grand Canyon's rim. Here, within these sweeping views you see the Colorado River and the Kaibab Suspension Bridge. Built in 1928, the bridge connects the north rim of the Grand Canyon (North Kaibab Trail) with the south rim (south Kaibab Trail and Bright Angel Trail).
Kaibab Suspension Bridge over the Colorado River
We continue our walk down the Grand Canyon's Rim Trail. With more stunning viewpoints, we keep the camera humming. Ronnie and I take turns trying our best to record memories of this gorgeous day.
The sun is lowering on the horizon now, shadows are forming and the colors deepening.
The sunset crowds are gathering at the popular Mather Point.
Our shadows try to compete with the canyon's shadows.
Looking in the opposite direction from the same view point, the canyon cliff layers are appearing hazy with smoke and evening humidity.
That's a long way down from the observation point.
No storms or rainbows tonight, only a perfect sunset at the Grand Canyon National Park.
Leaving the Grand Canyon National Park at dusk, we come upon a pair of elk tussling with their antlers. Why of course we pulled over and captured a few photos from the safety of the Jeep. While we were amazed at this elk activity, we were also astonished to hear the snorting and their antlers clacking.
Ronnie and I watched these elk spar for about 10 minutes.
Yikes..time to go, they are headed our way!
More Later..
No comments:
Post a Comment