Grand Canyon

To give you an inkling of how beautiful this day was, Eileen took 245 pictures.  Don't worry, they won't all make the blog!

We stayed the night in Kanab, UT which is very near Zion's National Park.  The red mountains are spectacular driving out of town.  We saw beautiful meadows and pine forests.  There were aspen groves shimmering in the sun.  It was unbelievably beautiful.

We even saw a herd of buffalo.  All of this before we even got to the Grand Canyon.  But that was just the beginning of the beauty.

We decided to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon as that fit into our time schedule better than visiting the South Rim.  Several people have told us that the North Rim is their favorite.  We loved it. 

This is the view from just outside the lodge.  We could have stayed here all day and just gazed at the canyon, but of course, we didn't.  There were some hikes available and we are glad we took them.  In all, we hiked about 8 miles.  The skies were filled with puffy clouds during the morning and early afternoon and then we could see storms coming it.  It was awesome.





We hiked out to Cape Final and brought our lunch with us.  Good choice!  This is the view from our lunch spot.  Just to the right of center, you can see a storm coming.



This outcropping of rock is where we sat and ate our lunch watching the storm come.  We were the only ones here for about 40 minutes while we ate.  Our timing was perfect as we met several people on the trail.

We also hiked out to Angel's Window.  It is a really cool outcropping with a hole in the middle.  On the way out to stand on the outcropping, there is a sign warning about lightning.  The sign said that if you feel your hair stand on end and feel a charge and can smell ozone, get under the shelter of the trees, but not the tallest tree!  While we were out on Angel's Window, Eileen put her hand in the air to point at a beautiful spot in the distance.  When she did so, the air charged.  We looked at each other and our hair was standing straight up.  Time to go!  You can't see Eileen's hair too well in the picture.

More views from our hikes.

A big tradition at the North Rim is to watch the sunset from the lodge.  It was really, really crowded and smoking is allowed on the patios, so we decided to hike just a short distance down from the lodge.  It was lovely.  The canyon literally changes colors during the sunset.  Certain outcroppings will be in shadow and then a few minutes later, they are ablaze with light. 

A beautiful, beautiful day.