National Park of the Day – The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon

No mention of National Parks would/could be complete without mentioning The Grand Canyon. And no, the pictures I have of it cannot completely do it justice, i.e. I didn’t have a panoramic lens or anything like that.

That being said, I find it to be one of the most awe-inspiring parks in the nation — of those I’ve visited; Tanya prefers the Redwoods and I’d agree, but although listed as a National Park, most of the Redwoods are managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. I digress.

I first visited the Grand Canyon by myself in the summer of ‘94 on another jaunt from my Telluride base. (BTW, I need to thank the Telluride Rose for letting me do all of this traveling back then; I couldn’t have asked for a better employer — if anybody’s out there from Telluride, please tell Cookie that Ron said hi). This jaunt was planned to go to the Canyon and to Las Vegas to see the Grateful Dead; at least I got to see the canyon.

I drove in just before nightfall and was surprised to find no one at the booths taking money. I had no idea how big the place was (it was dark) and I couldn’t find the campgrounds. So I drove until I found the parking lot for the boats (which looked like giant cruisers to me) and slept in the back seat of the Cressida.

Ron at the Grand Canyon

I woke the next morning and got my bearings, then headed over to the South Rim to walk along as other people took their tour. A kind gentleman took a picture of me next to the rim. I returned the favor and kept walking along, taking in the full South Rim and wondering what it might look like from the other side. But I didn’t have time to see that if I was going to make it to Vegas. Aaahhh youth … had I known then what I know now, I would’ve hung around longer. But that’s another story.

So it took 12 years for me to make it back. On this trip, Tanya and I helped Bob Pryor move to Portland and then we took our time coming down the Northwest Coast into Northern California, where we were awed by the Redwoods. In fairness to Tanya, she saw the Redwoods first. Had she seen the Grand Canyon first, perhaps it would’ve been more impressive.

Anyway, we went to the North Rim this time because I wanted to see that side of the Canyon. However, it’s not as developed as the South Rim and I felt Tanya was cheated, so we went to the South Rim, too. That’s a lot of driving folks.

When we got to the South Rim, it seemed more overgrown with tourists than I remembered it. But of course, I came at night the first time and left by mid-morning, so perhaps I just didn’t get the full effect. Even with all of the tourists this time, I didn’t get the overwhelming feeling of too many folks as I did at Yellowstone.

I guess the most memorable things about the second trip to the Grand Canyon was A) I bought John McPhee’s “Encounter with the Archdruid,” a book about David Brower, the most militant conservationist in the world and B) the squirrel with no fear.

When we pulled up to the parking lot, a squirrel came directly up to Tanya looking for food. Though she started moving toward it, it refused to run away. I came around to take pictures and still it stood its ground. I’m not sure if that’s good for the animal population … in fact, I think it shows people have been feeding the animals entirely too much.

Once again, I have photos of the squirrel but that will have to wait for the photo section on the home page. For now, here’s one of Tanya and me during that 2006 trip. If we go again, we’ll take money to try the Skywalk and perhaps go down into the Grand Canyon on donkey or, better yet, ride the rapids of the Colorado River to see it from the inside.

Tanya and Ron at the Grand Canyon