Welcome To The "Huge" Grand Canyon National Park!

Another day in the life of these two crazy travelers!

This morning we decided it wasn't worth it to kill ourselves and drive to Kayenta, AZ to spend the night there. Kayenta is the Arizona gateway to Monument Valley, a 3 hours drive from Flagstaff.

Instead, we took our time to explore the territory around Flagstaff, and visited, with no hurry, Meteor Crater in the morning, and the Grand Canyon National Park in the afternoon.

As soon as we stepped out the door we knew it wasn't going to be a nice sunny day as we've been lately used to.

The situation improved as we moved East on I-40 towards Meteor Crater Road, and here's a picture of the long straight road leading to the meteorite impact side that shows patches of blue sky waiting for us at our first stop:

Meteor Crater is on I-40 at exit 233. As you can see from the picture, it doesn't say National Park, nor National Monument (the "purgatory" to become a National Park), and this is due to the fact that the Meteor Crater site is privately owned and operated by the guy that in 1913 first bought the land to look for iron.

The crater left by the impact of the meteorite with the Earth surface, is huge. To give you a better idea, I found on a website (http://www.satimagingcorp.com/galleryimages/quickbird-barringer-arizona-crater-web.jpg) an aerial view of the crater that I couldn't have been able to take myself, but that certainly explains how massive the crater is, as the small black rectangle that you see, is the entire parking lot, and the white little thing that you see attached to it, is the complete infrastructure hosting the visitor center, Museum, Gift Shop, Theater, etc.:

The crater was created about 50,000 years ago, and the object that excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 meters (54 yards) across, which impacted the plain at a speed of several kilometers per second. The impact produced a massive explosion equivalent to about 150 times the yield of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Meteor Crater lies at an elevation of about 1740 m (5709 ft) above sea level (according to the tour guide, higher than Denver, CO). It is about 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in diameter, some 170 m deep (570 ft), and is surrounded by a rim that rises 45 m (150 ft) above the surrounding plains.

Here is a shot I took this morning while we were there:

Visitors should be warned that they due to previous accidents and subsequent lawsuits, the Meteor Crater management doesn't allow sandals, flip flops, or any kind of open toe shoes, on the rim of the crater.

They offer guided tours that lasts for about one hour, where they give you all the facts and numbers, plus some other interesting details to make the hike more pleasant. I would definitely recommend the tour, the trail is very easy, and really doesn't present any difficulty.

After spending a good 2 hours at Meteor Crater, we decided to head out and drive to our second and last stop of the day, the Grand Canyon.

I thought I would share the picture down below with you, of an RV that has a place inside the "body" of the RV itself to fit the car, rather than having to tow it just like everybody else. I thought it was neat!

To reach the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff, AZ, there are four ways. The one that I decided to pick up is in my opinion the best one for a series of different reasons.

But before I get into the details of why you should drive on this suggested itinerary, let me tell you what the itinerary actually is.

From Flagstaff, AZ drive north on US89, and from there, once you reach Cameron, turn left on US64/Hwy180. This will allow you to have a view of the Little Colorado Canyon, and here's a picture of "The Bug" with the Canyon in the background:

Some 30 miles after turning left on US84, the visitor gets to the East Entrance of the Park, at Desert View. This is the way you want to drive to the Grand Canyon. You will still have the chance eventually to get to the South Rim, but before that, you'll actually have the chance to drive aside from the Grand Canyon Rim while you make frequent stops at the several view points along the road

Remember that to enter the park, unless you have one of the annual passes, there's a $25 standard administrative fee.

This is a picture of the sign right after the entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park:

As soon as you physically get inside the park, as I already mentioned, the opportunities to take pictures will be several, and unless you happen to be at the park on a cloudy, rainy day just like we did, well, you're going to have fun, with amazing shots.

Here is one that I took at the first viewpoint:

I was certainly very upset about the weather, as the shots really don't do any justice to the mystical beauty of this place.

But nonetheless, just because it's been raining and overcast all day, that doesn't mean that one can't have fun!

We took several different pictures, sometimes daring to get as close to the edge of the Canyon as possible. I know, that's not very responsible, but at least we had fun, and that allowed us to kind of shift our attention away from how cra**y the day really was.

Here's a shot of myself sitting down on the edge of the Grand Canyon at one of the many viewpoints on the East Rim:

And here is the same locations, but this time I dare to stand up and get closer to the edge!

As I previously mentioned, the Grand Canyon has a mystical beauty, enhanced at this time of the year, by the beautiful colors of the foliage on the trees and bushes around the park.

Here's a shot that I really liked of some orange (in color) leaves, and the Grand Canyon in the background.

Another great shot of the Grand Canyon, I think taken at world famous "Mather Point" (too bad there was a light mist making it for a foggy day):

Another viewpoint, this time with a protective hand-railing:

At around 5.30PM, after having spent several hours inside the park, fought with the rain, the mist, and the huge crowds, we decided to head back East towards the East Entrance of the Park.

At some point, the sun made a shy appearance while setting West, and that's when I took this next shot:

I really have nothing else to say other than I would certainly recommend a visit to the Grand Canyon, if you ever happen to be in Northern Arizona. I still have to get over how huge this place is. The Canyons sometimes are so big, that there are other smaller sub-canyons inside the bigger ones.

This evening, as we're spending another night in Flagstaff, AZ we went back to the restaurant I recommended to you yesterday, and I have to admit that the food has been consistently good, as well as the service.

Now it's time to go to bed my fellow hikers! LOL

Tomorrow morning we're heading East towards Kayenta and Monument Valley, where hopefully, weather permitting (I doubt it), we will be able to take some great shots of one of the most recognizable places in the United States if not the whole world.

Good night my friends,

Nico