Today was an early start to the Grand Canyon, especially after staying up much too late catching up with old friends that we haven’t seen in nearly a year. We made it to the South Rim by 9 am and went straight to Mather Point. Although I had been to the GC once before, I had goosebumps in anticipation of the view that would open up in front of us as we walked the path to the overlook. This was JD, Middleton, and Lauren’s first time at the GC and I was excited for them. It’s truly one of those awe-inspiring sites that needs to be experienced, because no picture or description can ever do such an amazing thing justice.
We hiked about a mile down Bright Angel Trail to experience the canyon from a different perspective. The number of fit people huffing and puffing their way back out of the canyon made us feel good about our decision to not venture too far down (canyon hiking is VERY deceptive in terms of exertion).
After working up a sweat, we rode the red bus line to some of the 8 lookout points west of the visitors’ center. Each one was unique in its own way. We enjoyed spotting the river down below and when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds to expose beautiful colors in the many layers of rock. The canyon was formed over the course of 5 million years, which is the “blink of an eye” in the geologic sense, considering some of the layers date back to 2 billion years ago.
We feasted on snacks and enjoyed a bottle of wine out at Hermit Point and made our way back to the village and car so that way Middleton and Lauren could get back to Phoenix at a reasonable time. We had some leftovers in our hotel room and are gearing up for either jet skiing or Grand Canyon North Rim tomorrow depending on the weather.
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