Hermit's Rest & Dinner at El Tovar

April 25

It's our last day at the Grand Canyon and we've seen pretty much the whole of the South Rim except for the Hermit's Rest trail.  It's finally a beautiful day..I want to walk...Rick's feet hurt and he wants to take the shuttle.  We make a plan to meet at the first shuttle stop about a mile up. Just before the bus comes, we spot two California condors resting on a cliff. Notice they've both been tagged.

I start out lovin' my walk.  It's steep, but the views are terrific. 

And we've finally got good enough light and a little less pollution haze to get see some really striking colorations.

I see the mule train heading back up top.  Think I would have loved to do this a few years ago...but somehow the idea of a seven hour trip on the back of a mule down to the floor and then seven hours back again doesn't seem so much fun to me anymore!  Would love to see the canyon floor and overnight at Phantom Ranch, but I don't know if either one of us could ever walk again after 14 hours on a mule!

The path is getting steeper and steeper and while there is no earthly reason I should stumble or fall on a path that's about 4 feet wide, I'm beginning to get creeped out.  There is no wall, there are no rails, there is just a bit of shale and a crevice just big enough to fall through between me and the floor a mile down..  Not lovin' this anymore!

Meet Rick at the bus stop and he's off on the edge of a thinly railed point.  I can't even make myself go down there anymore.  When he surfaces, I just want to get down...either we take an hour's bus ride up and around the loop, or we walk...we opt for the latter....I look like Tim Conway doing his old man bit. 

We are constantly atonished at the lack of safety barriers around the canyon.  In the village there is a knee wall, most places nothing at all.  And so many people seem either totally unaware of the potential hazards or are so stupid as to keep testing the limits.  We see people sitting or standing on walls and ledges that are clearly not stable.

 Some are a bit more careful and have climbing ropes...but yikes!

Rick bought a book called Death in the Grand Canyon.  We learn there are several deaths a year here.  Some are sliders, other are jumpers, others are pushed and a few stepped back too far while taking photos. The lack of fencing makes the canyon look ever so much grander.  Still a wonder to me though, that in this litigious society it hasn't been over surrounded.

Yavapai Observation Station is the one place every visitor to the Canyon should go.  It is a glassed enclosed museum perched right on the cliff over the Colorado River suspension bridge.  The views are fantastic and it feels non-threatening. (It's not just me....I overhead a ranger say it was the only place in the Canyon she could work because she is afraid of heights!)

Dinner at El Tovar at sunset is a fitting end to our Grand Canyon stay.  The food at breakfast was far better, but it was fine and looked good.  Rick had Chicken Cordon Bleu.

I had a grilled salmon with corn/citrus salsa...could have been quite good...they needed to leave off the bed of tortilla chips...they get soggy.

Five days at the Grand Canyon was perfect for us.  You could get a good look in a couple of hours.  But being able to see it in all sorts of weather in all sorts of light was great.

Kind of deadheading to Boulder for a reunion with Rick's family.  Pretty much everyone will be there. We'll take several days 'cuz it's nearly 700 miles.  Have to go "the low road"...that is the longer, southern route because some of the elevations we would need to take on the more scenic and shorter route, seem a bit too much for Gigantor.  We'll stop in Santa Fe for a couple of days to break it up...really looking forward to that...loved it when we came through in November.