Here's a close-up of the river. Looks kind of mucky.
I think my first sentence when we arrived was: “Oh, Mom would never stand here!” The canyon went straight down.
There was one little pipe about 4' off the ground that went around the edge. With my current balance problems there was no way Mike was letting me get anywhere near the edge. I'm so glad we left the dogs in the car. But I must say it was truly a sight to be seen.
It’s really hard to get a picture that shows the depth of something. I tried really hard…but it just didn’t work. So you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you this was really deep…and it was straight down. Here you can see that it was straight down for sure.
They had a portion of the outlook that was down a large walkway. This part for some reason had regular handrails. Mike went down there and took a couple pictures while I went back to the car.
I thought that overlook was extremely beautiful until we actually arrived at the Grand Canyon.
I did most of my sightseeing from the car and the Grand Canyon was on the right side of the car. Boogie's crate blocks my entire view of everything on the right side of the car. So we decided that Boogie could ride loose during our drive along the canyon so Mike folded his crate and put it underneath in the storage area.
This worked great for me...but Boogie could never settle down. He paced, he licked his lips, and he'd hang his head way down. It finally dawned on me that he was feeling a bit car sick. I think he's not used to seeing things move around him. As soon as we put his crate back in position, he got right in, turned upside down and went sound asleep...just like always. Interesting.
Back to our adventure. Our first stop was at Desert View Canyon. This sure made our stop at the Indian overlook dim in comparison.
Dogs are allowed anywhere in the Grand Canyon as long as they are on leash and above the rim. So at this stop we took all four dogs.
It was just an easy 300 yard paved trail. The view was beautiful. We could even see the Colorado River way down below.
Here's a close-up of the white rapids you see in the above picture.
Looking in the opposite direction you can see another portion of the river.
Close-up of the Colorado River.
Here are some of the views we saw at this stop.
At this stop, there was a really tall tower, named Watch Tower, where you could go up to get an even better view.
But it didn't seem wise to try that with four dogs so we just looked over the edge. I mean straight over the edge. I was surprised that about 95% of the places we stopped, there was no railing of any kind.
As we headed back to the car, we decided to go on the dirt instead of the pavement. Oh my goodness, poor Mike just about went over the edge. All the dogs smelled something - and whatever it was must live just over the edge down in the crevices of the rocks.
Slugger was really determined. Needless to say I had an impossible task trying to get everyone to pose for a picture.
I gave up on that idea pretty quickly as my legs just didn’t have time to wait around for all their sightseeing. So I decided that three out of four dogs in the picture would have to do. (Slugger is behind Mike looking over the edge.)
Then we stopped at the Tusayan Ruin Trail. There were some ruins (as you might have guessed!) and a museum. This was definitely a good spot for me to stay in the car - even if I was healthy! So the dogs and I all stayed in the car while Mike investigated.
This might be a good spot to tell you a few bastic facts about the Grand Canyon. Geologists currently set the age of Earth at 4,500 million years. Kaibab limestone, the caprock on the rims of the canyon, formed 270 million years ago. The oldest rocks within the Inner Gorge at the bottom of Grand Caynon date to 1,840 million years ago. Geologists generally agree that canyon carving occurred over the last 5 -6 million years. I can't really comprehend all that...but I do know it's really old!
Without the Colorado River, a perennial river in a desert environment, Grand Canyon would not exist. Water draining off the western slopes of the southern Rocky Mountains carried sand and gravel, cutting down through the layers of rock. From Yavapai Point on the South Rim (our last stop) to the Colorado River is a change of 4,600 feet, yet the river still flows 2,450 feet above sea level. I'm not sure I understand all those numbers but I do agree that it is deep!
Over its 277 river miles, the jagged Grand Canyon varies in width. Along the South Rim, it ranges between 8 and 16 miles depending upon where you choose to measure. Okay...if you want to know more about the Grand Canyon you can either visit it yourself or look it up on the internet. But I do have some pretty pictures to share with you. Read on.
After our first stop, we decided it would be easier to take one dog at a time instead of all four at once. So at the next stop, Sparkie and Mike took a little walk while the rest of us waited in the car. To me, it doesn’t look like she enjoyed it all that much…but fortunately she did a nice stay as she is only inches from the edge!
They saw some interesting views from this spot too.
Boogie really enjoyed his turn and so many people asked about his breed and they wanted to pet him. But all he wanted to do was look over the edge. He sure had a nice view.
No matter where we stopped along the trail he did the exact same thing. But look at the view!
I think he really likes sightseeing!
I wonder if he is looking at the granduer of his surroundings.
He has no fear. But we trust his “stay” so we put him near the edge for a couple pictures.
And, of course, he did a prefect stay each time - thank goodness!
Except for once…He got a little too brave and decided he wanted to see something…he quickly realized that wasn’t a good idea – he was hanging on for dear life.
Even Boogie quickly realized that there was no use panicking…mommy would have to take pictures before she would come to his rescue.
Oh come on…you didn’t really I would do that did you? Here is the making of that photo. There was one spot where there was a small ledge about five feet below the rim. So Mike got down there and held Boogie up…as you can see here. (Notice Mike's hat and his hand.)
It was only a few seconds before I realized I wasn’t at the correct angle to see the Grand Canyon behind him. So I moved a bit and the above pictures were the outcome.
Boogie was TOTALLY safe.
On the way back to the car, I convinced Mike to get a picture of me and Boogie at the Grand Canyon…just to have proof that I actually did get out of the car for a couple minutes at least.
However, you can probably tell I wasn’t really too thrilled about it.
Of course whenever I’m with one of my kids I can always manage a smile. Dogs are so good at making people smile. Thank God for dogs!
The view from this spot was really beautiful.
The colors were just beautiful...even though it was a bit hazy. I think I've mentioned in previous outings too. It just seems like there is no such thing as a clear day anymore. We humans have just polluted this world way too much.
But that didn't stop me from taking pictures!
It was Wazzu’s turn to get out with Mike. And what a perfect choice as it turns out this spot had huge squirrels. That really perked Wazzu up…now she was having a good time.
When Mike showed me the pictures he took here, I decided that every view point of the Grand Canyon is a beautiful spot for viewing.
Mike took this really cool picture. Notice anything special about it?
In case you didn’t notice, you can see Mike taking the picture and Wazzu standing next to him looking out over the canyon. Cool.
Well, the sun was starting to go down so it was time to think about heading back.
I don’t think I mentioned this but we were at the South Rim. I really wanted to go to the North Rim but it’s an additional five hour drive. It really is pretty remote. But I wanted to go there as about 25 years ago, my brother built a portion of the road that goes along the North Rim…he had help of course!
One of my dreams is to hike down into the Grand Canyon someday. When I mentioned that to Mike, he was totally silent. But I think that’s where the really cool views are…many more photo opportunities for sure. I actually told him I’d like to hike in every National Park…not the little sissy trails like we’ve done in all the parks we’ve been to…but the really cool trails that get into the more secluded areas.
Dream on.
Debbie
4/17/08
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