A few facts about the Grand Canyon: it is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide and over a mile deep. That's quite a hole. The canyon was gouged out by the Colorado River, which began carving its path through the valley an estimated 17 million years old, and is a geologist's dream; the exposed layers of rock chart the geological history of the earth and the bottom strata is almost two BILLION years old. Although inhabited by Puebloan people for centuries, it was first seen by Western eyes in 1540, when a conquistador named Garcia Lopez de Cardenas stumbled upon the South Rim of the canyon. He had been sent from Mexico by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to search for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold but instead 'discovered' the Grand Canyon. He doesn't appear to have had a particularly happy trip - he and his band of merry men apparently tried for three days to descend into the canyon so they could take on water, before eventually giving up and returning to Cibola, from whence they came.
And that was more or less it for three hundred years: it wasn't until 1869 that John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran turned explorer, became the first to explore the entire length of the canyon, on a three month expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Powell had studied classics and geology and seems to have been quite an adventurer even as a young man. In 1855, at the age of 21, he spent four months walking across Wisconsin (goodness knows why) and undertook several water-borne expeditions over the next few years: in 1856 he rowed down the Mississippi from St. Anthony (Minnesota) to the sea; in 1857 he rowed down the length of the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, a not inconsiderable 961-mile undertaking; and in 1858 he rowed down the Illinois River to its mouth and then back up to Des Moines. It must have been quite a blow to his rowing career to lose an arm (which he did during the Battle of Shiloh in 1861), but this didn't seem to deter him and he started planning a trip white-water rafting down the Colorado River rapids instead - the now-famous Powell Geographic Expedition. Powell set out from Green River, Wyoming, with nine men, four horses and enough supplies for ten months - which was just as well given that they lost one boat and most of their supplies within the first few weeks. Of the nine adventurers, one left after a month (apparently telling Major Powell that 'I've had more excitement than a man deserves in a lifetime. I'm leaving.") and a further three departed after three months, fearing that 'we surely will all die if we continue on this journey' as they contemplated the terrifying rapids ahead. These three unfortunates were never seen again, presumed killed by Shivwits Indians. And just two days later Powell and the rest of his team reached safety at the mouth of the Virgin River, thus becoming the first to chart the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Most people would have been content to put their feet up for a while, but Powell returned to re-map the route in 1871-2.
Inspired by Powell, the Shercliff family spent the next 24 hours exploring the area. Our expedition mostly consisted of admiring the canyon from as many different
viewpoints as possible - although, much to Simon's disappointment, not from the vantage point of a canoe. We watched a glorious, gentle, sunrise on Sunday from the terrace outside our hotel - we hadn't planned to do so but Alex was still on D.C. time and acted as a convenient alarm clock. After a hearty breakfast in the Bright Angel restaurant, Simon was itching to go down into the canyon, but eventually took the advice of the NPS ranger who told him that even hiking down to the 'Three Mile Resthouse' was not to be taken lightly and it would be tough to make it down and back in a day (particularly with a dehydrated, sunburnt, exhausted baby strapped to one's back). Apparently scores of people are rescued from the Bright Angel Trail each year; it looks relatively easy but is classified by Backpacker Magazine as one of America's Top Ten most dangerous trails precisely for that reason (the article also provides an eye-watering description of what happens to your brain cells at 120'F). Hazards that hikers can encounter along the Bright Angel Trail include dehydration, sudden rainstorms, flash flooding, loose footing, boot-packed ice, rockfalls, extreme heat, hypothermia and drowning. But apparently the leading cause of hospitalization sustained by hikers at Plateau Point is squirrel bites. Seriously? We made do instead with a walk around the rim which, although less challenging on the legs, afforded us some wonderful views of the canyon, and we made it safely back to our lodge after three hours with no dehydration, sunburn or squirrel-inflicted injuries to report.
We had booked a scenic flight over the canyon on the Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately it was too windy for the plane to take off and the trip was cancelled. Unable to view the canyon from the air, we journeyed instead to the Grand Canyon i-max cinema for a viewing of the 'most-watched i-max movie of all time' (presumably by many other would-be scenic flyers who had been the victims of inclement weather). So although we didn't get to inspect the 'masterpiece of nature' from the air ourselves, we did learn that the grand canyon was 'born for the giant screen'. In only 34 minutes we 'discovered a Grand Canyon that would take a life time to experience', so we were delighted to discover that we had used our time so wisely.
The highlight of the trip was sunset on our second evening. We took the advice of some friends and walked up to 'Shoshone Point', where we were treated to an exhilarating 180' view of the canyon, away from all the crowds. There was only one other couple there - a British duo from Harrogate - and a local family. We fed Alex his tea as we watched the sun set over the canyon and admired the rocks below as they were bathed in the gorgeous golden light, fading from terracotta to burnt red to light pink. The following day we drove back to Phoenix via Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, a hip little New Age town that boasts psychic readers, aura cleansers, crystal healers, spiritual counsellers, chakra balancers, transformational soul adventurers and the only MacDonalds in the world without the trademark yellow arches (Sedona's are turquoise).
Sedona is apparently a 'global power spot' (no, nothing to do with the large number of celebrities who have second homes here), although I only discovered later that we had driven through a Vortex or I might have paid more attention to my inner energy flows. Even more disappointingly, we totally missed Ye Olde UFO Store (I was too busy admiring the incredible red rock formations all around
us, on one of the most stunning 'scenic byway' drives that we have travelled
in the US), but fortunately I have caught up with extra-terrestrial developments on Ye Olde UFO Blog which documents alien abductions, light orbs, encounters with unseen beings and 'strange craft that flew overhead and disappeared'. I must submit my own findings: there is clearly some sort of spooky gravitational force in the 100 mile stretch between Sedona and Phoenix which makes traffic travel at a constant pace of 20mph. I knew there had to be an explanation. We somehow made our flight with seconds to spare, but next time I will be sure to consult a psychic traffic forecaster before we set out on our return journey.
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