Sunday, March 23
Gourmet Breakfast
Well, it was finally time to leave Moab and head south. We were making a big circle, clockwise, and we had to start heading south and west. It was now Sunday, and we had two days left before our plane left Tuesday morning in Las Vegas. I know that Dad and George wanted to at least see the Grand Canyon, so it was logical for us to head there next given the amount of time we had left. From Moab to the GC, it is about a 4 to 5 hour trip. So, we got up early, made some quick breakfast at the campsite (our usual campsite breakfast was hot instant noodle soup, some cheese, and some oatmeal), and we were off before 8AM.
Canyonlands NP, Needles District
As a quick side stop I wanted to stop off at the Needles overlook, a lookout on the edge of Canyonlands National Park that looks out over the Needles district of the park (as you may recall, I said earlier that Canyonlands NP is divided into three large areas). The Needles district is a fantastically beautiful landscape of strangely shaped and colored spires of rock separated by gentle, grassy "parks". Excellent, excellent hiking terrain.
Dad surveys the vast desert vista
However, we had no time to explore, and I'd never seen the needles district from the overlook. Have a look at the pictures and see for yourself. Canyonlands stretches out away on all sides from the overlook, and the needles district appears as a maze of spires and narrow defiles. One could spend an entire vacation just in this one area.
But we have no time for this, so we head down US 191 and on, southwestward, into the Navaho nation and Arizona. We pass through Monument valley, backdrop for so many postcards, movies, and brochures. I must stop at a certain point and take my usual Forrest Gump shot (at the exact point where, in the movie Forrest Gump, Forrest stops his cross-country running career).
We stop for lunch at the old west-style output of Cameron, Arizona, where George and I have 'Navaho Tacos' for lunch. From there it is westward for 45 minutes to Grand Canyon National Park's south Entrance.
We arrive during mid afternoon. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is, as usual, a zoo of tourists. It is, after all, one of the most famous natural wonders in the entire world. We stop at the Desert view lookout, and Dad and George poke around at the overlook and in the quaint viewing tower/gift shop. The Grand Canyon is vast and impressive, to be sure. But, it is so vast, so big, that it is extremely hard to judge scale and size. Dad says that it doesn't look as deep as Zion Canyon, when in fact it is 2 and half times deeper!
George welcomes you to Grand Canyon National Park
This is Grand Canyon National Park!
This is also Grand Canyon!
We move along the south rim drive, stopping at various viewpoints and getting small feel for the park. George and Dad express a view that I've often heard from people that I've shown Grand Canyon to after visiting parks in Southern Utah: "well, its nice... but not as much as I thought. I think the parks in Southern Utah were much nicer". I think the reason for this is the lack-of-scale issue I mentioned above, but also the fact that the south rim, with all its people and crowds, and gift shops, is really kind of isolated from the Canyon itself. With this kind of visit, all you get are views, insulated by distance and the fact that you are not stepping _into_ the canyon at all. And in my opinion, it is only when you explore deep into the canyon on foot that you truly can experience its majesty, beauty, and its sheer scale. It then transforms itself into a place where you can have a most rewarding experience.
The Grand Canyon from 20,000+ feet
Topo map correlating to aerial view
courtesy George
Hoodoo of Kaibab Limestone
courtesy George
George at the Grand Canyon
We don't stay for long. The crowds are maddening and the day is growing long. We opt for the one-hour ride to Flagstaff, Arizona, where we know there are cheap and plentiful accommodations.
San Francisco Peaks
Flagstaff, Arizona is on a very high section of the Colorado Plateau. The mean elevation of the city is 6900 feet, and rising just to the north, the old volcanic remnants that form the San Francisco peaks rise to more than 12,600 feet. There are patches of snow everywhere, and higher up the mountains are blanketed in snow. So strange that we were just driving around in 27C weather and now we were practically in winter again. The diversity is wonderful.
We stay at an old Motel (the Thunderbird, I think it was) for the night. In fact, it sits on historic US route 66, which runs right through Flagstaff. We decide to relax for the evening. Dad watches the Oscars on TV, and George and I decide to check out a local movie. Turns out that nothing much good is on, so we instead grab blizzards at dairy queen and poke around in local drugstores looking for a special type of soap that is only available in the US that my mom wants.
