Grand Canyon

Just before we went to Yosemite, Cath, Steve and I went to the Grand Canyon. Besides the National Park, we also went to the Hulapai Reservation and went on that new glass bridge. It was pretty cool, but outrageously expensive!

The real highlight of the Grand Canyon visit was hiking down Havasu Canyon, camping at Havasu Falls, and dayhiking 15 miles round trip to the Colorado River. We floated down the last bit of Havasu Canyon in the narrows into the Colorado River, where we climbed out and up and had lunch. It was a spectacular hike with new and amazing scenery around every single bend. One highlight was seeing a big-horn sheep. One moment we were in the tropics and the next in a cactus "garden" in the desert. It was all so amazing that it's practically indescribable. Although the pictures don't really do justice to the scenery, you can at least get an idea of why we were all so thrilled with the trip.

Here are Steve, me, and Cathy on our hike down Havasu Canyon to the Colorado River.

This is a picture of the "narrows" that we floated down into the Colorado River. It was really cool to see the blue of Havasu Creek flow into the muddy red of the Colorado. Havasu Creek is quite warm water, and the Colorado is really cold!

This is Cath and me right after we climbed out of the Colorado River.

Here I am at Havasu Falls.

Cath and I are inside a grotto behind Navajo Falls. It was so cool! Getting in was really, really hard. We had to climb up a rock through pounding water. Going back out I wasn't able to keep my balance on the rock and the water knocked me down. I smashed into a rock under the waterfall and hit my arm so hard that I was afraid that it might be broken--but it wasn't. :)

Here's Cathy, Steve and me as we're leaving to hike back out of Havasu Canyon. It's a 10 mile hike through the canyon and back up to the parking lot.

When we had about 2 1/2 miles left there was a rain storm. I don't know if I've ever seen such huge raindrops! By the time the rain stopped, I might as well have jumped in a swimming pool. I'm absolutely soaking wet in this picture. The plateau just behind me is the parking lot. Even though it was still way up there, it was exciting to have the end in sight!

This is a picture of that glass bridge that goes out over the Grand Canyon. You can't really tell it's glass from this angle. It's the bottom that's glass. It was pretty freaky walking out the first few steps. It cost $75.00!!!!! True story. Per person. It's $50.00 to take the bus out to see it, and an additional $25.00 to actually walk on it. I think it was worth it. :)

Here we all are eating dinner at the edge of the Grand Canyon on the Hulapai Tribal Lands. As part of the $50.00 package that got us out to "see" the glass bridge, we got dinner. (Our $50.00 package was the least expensive package available.) Dinner was surprisingly good, and the view was stunning.