Our approach to the Grand Canyon began as we followed the Colorado River from Page, stopping at a trading post to take some photos of a scene at the beginning of the Canyon...it was an inkling of the grandeur that was ahead of us.
Grand Canyon approach
Grand Canyon elk
We came to Desert View which is four miles from the National Park boundary--it offers the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon for visitors arriving from the east and is different, as one third of the panorama is of the flat plains of the Painted Desert and is on the east side of the Colorado River as it bends to the north. The park road cannot follow the rim any further east as the ground falls away steeply towards Cedar Canyon, so the many other viewpoints are all found to the west. This land to the east is still accessible by trail.
Featured at Desert View is the historic watchtower, built on the cliff's edge in 1932.
The Grand Canyon is 200 miles long, a mile deep, and anywhere from 5 to 25 miles across.
After checking in at the Thunderbird Lodge, we walked around Grand Canyon Village before having dinner at the historic El Tovar Hotel. Located directly on the rim of the Grand Canyon, the Hotel first opened its doors in 1905. It is a National Historic Landmark and considered to be the crown jewel of the National Park lodges.
The next morning Christine and Lorie took the Canyon Vistas Mule Ride, traveling along the rim of the Canyon. It was a four-mile, three-hour mule experience. Wranglers gave the riders interesting information about the geologic formations, human history, fire ecology and more.
Desert View Blooms
Carol, Christine, Lorie and Donna in front of Desert View Watchtower
Carol at Desert View
South Rim Vista 1
South Rim Vista 2
Lorie and South Rim Overlook
El Tovar Hotel
Christine's Mule
Mule Train
Mule Riders on Bright Angel Trail
Donna and Carol watched some adventurous visitors riding mules down into the Canyon on Bright Angel Trail.
