Driving from Las Vegas to begin our Grand Circle road trip, I was immediately amazed by the scenery. I was really expecting flat, dry desert and I was totally wrong. This post and those following about the Colorado Plateau (The Four Corners: Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, Southwest Colorado and Northeast New Mexico) are basically just going to be me gushing over how beautiful it is there.
Kanab provided a central base for our first three days of National Parking, and Quail Park Lodge was a great place to stay. There was something about the way it was run by the young couple that was just really sweet – superb hospitality.
Zion National Park: Visiting Zion is different to the other canyons in that you tour through the floor of the canyon rather than the rim. We didn’t arrive there until about 3 pm, so we didn’t attempt any serious hiking. Instead, we rode the shuttle bus along through the canyon, listening to the information provided about the geology and history of the canyon and stopping off for short walks to check out the features along the way. My favourite was the water that has been seeping through the rock walls of the canyon for two thousand years and trickles out as spring water from the canyon walls.
As we were leaving, the late afternoon sun (the Golden Hour, we love it) lit up the canyon walls and the colours were amazing. After some dinner in nearby Springdale we drove back through the park in order to get to Kanab. This was just at sunset and the views down into the valley as we wound our way up from the canyon floor were spectacular. We then drove through the 1.7km tunnel which was blasted through the rocky canyon wall in 1930 to link Zion with Grand Canyon and other parks in the area.
Grand Canyon: Well, you all know this one and what it looks like. Just as everyone says, the Grand Canyon is unimaginably big. Without any buildings or other structures as a point of reference, it is very difficult to comprehend the size, and even harder to photograph. We visited the north rim because it is closer to the rest of our road trip, and I was glad for it. The north rim is far less touristy than the south and pleasantly cooler at a slightly higher elevation. At times, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. To be fair, advantages of visiting the south rim from Las Vegas include being able to fly there and take in the amazing scenery from above and the additional amenities and accommodation available. There is also the West Rim, where a glass Skywalk extends out over the edge of the canyon.
In the morning, we went for a walk which we had planned to be a hike, but we were distracted along the way with climbing through some scrub and out onto some large, smooth limestone boulders over the rim. Sitting out there having a snack with my feet dangling precariously over the edge (Craig was more cautious, rightly so), I experienced a strange combination of emotions: fear, tranquility, appreciation of the earth and feeling very, very small.
After lunch we took a mule ride, which went along the rim for about five heart-stopping minutes (the mules are trained to walk right over on the canyon side of the track, and there’s no directing them otherwise), but was just a ride through the forest for the rest of the time. While we were on our ride a storm came over the canyon with fantastic thunder and thankfully little rain.
We also attended a ranger talk on the geology of the canyon, which was cheesy but interesting. I knew of course that the canyon has been carved by erosion from water and what is now the Colorado River, but I had never thought about how the rock was formed there in the first place, beginning almost two billion years ago, with all those beautiful layers reaching 8,000ft above sea level.
Bryce Canyon: Bryce was my favourite of the national parks for interesting scenery and a great walk of just the right length and exertion. This canyon is full of rock pillars of odd shapes carved by erosion, which they call hoodoos.
We walked for about three hours down into the canyon, along the floor and then up through a steep, narrow section back to the rim. The hoodoos were magnificent and provided an ever changing backdrop for the walk. Along the way we saw a rattle snake chilling out next to the track, very exciting.
After our big walk we stayed and had a picnic dinner at the rim before driving back to Kanab.
Next stop: Grand Circle Part II – Monument Valley/Mesa Verde
