Grand Canyon

2025-09-16
Grand Canyon, AZ

The Grand Canyon is another of the big draw National Parks, pulling 5 million visitors a year into a big hole if you will. It is amazing to stand on the rim and look out over the canyon and realize that one river did this. I may have taken a few million years, but it got there. They say it's getting deeper by about the thickness of a sheet of paper each year. It has slowed once it hit tougher rock, and of course Glen Canyon damn prevents a lot of flooding.

I left Page pretty early and got to the canyon by 9:30 which gave me plenty of time to stop by the lookouts on Desert View Drive. After Desert View Visitor Center and tower, I stopped at Navajo Point, Lipan Point, Miran Point, and Grandview Point before arriving at the main Visitor Center.

I watched the 22 minute move about the canyon, and then walked out to Mather Point. Afterwards I parked near the Maswik Lodge (my hotel) and walked 1.5 miles up the Rim trail before taking the bus back down.

This is what the far away stuff looks like, but closer

The Grand Canyon is a mile deep and at least as wide. This makes all of the pictures a bit washed out with the normal haze, usually due to fine particles such as dust, pollen, or smoke in the air. I did what I could, but my best tactic seems to be using photos with a lot of foreground interest. Being there right after a rain would help.

Hiking Distance 2.1 miles