The Big Hole

  Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
Monday, May 18, 2009

So the big hole, what can be said about it?! We stayed in a hostel 80 miles south of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and it was the cheapest hostel we stayed in, in America. On the way we passed through the Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam

Wat a place, and o my god the heat, as soon as we got out of the car, I wanted to get straight back in the car and carry on, it was that hot! Quite easily the hottest place we had visited and that is including vegas.

Dont look down!

But, anyway we got to the Canyon the Saturday Morning and had the whole day to explore. We decided to do the bright angel trail first, as it is one of the most popular trials you can do down the Grand Canyon.

starting the Bright Angel Trail

So anyway, as we started it at the top there is a sign saying make sure you have enough water and food just in case. Then there is a story of a 24 year old athlete who completed the Boston marathon in under 3 hours and she had gone on a trail with not enough water or food, and didn't realise the length of the trail and got lost and because of this died in the Canyon in 2004. This kind of thing really makes you think!

Anyway we started the trail and were hiking down to the first rest house out of 3, when believe it or not, just like Yosemite, Corinne started to complain about her sore feet and the heat and so on and so on! (lol). To be fair she had been having a lot of problems with her feet, with her bad shoes that she has brought, that she knew she couldn't walk in, but anyway. It was really hot, and all the signs advise not to do trails between 10am and 4pm, and we had started the trail at 12 noon thinking it was early! But know pretty stupid. We should have probably picked up on the fact that we were the only ones walking down and everyone else was walking back up out of the Canyon!

When we came to the 1st rest point, however, Corinne was really ready to just walk back up but somehow I convinced her to go to the second rest point which was another mile and a half down which would take another hour (secretly thinking that once we would get there, I could convince her to go all the way to the bottom believing it would be an achievement, something to tell people).

At 2nd and final rest stop

So anyway, we get to the second rest point and by this point, there is no way Corinne is going to go to the bottom and I know this by just looking at her face, and even though I want to go to the bottom as it would be quite a conversational piece, I agree that it is probably wise to just walk back out of the Canyon (looking back it probably was a good move because that hike back out was really hard).

On the way back out of the Canyon we encoutered a mountain deer which just jumped out of the bushes at one point right out infront of us. What a sight this was, what made it even more special was the fact that the deer seem to be following us up out and then that her baby joined her out of the bushes onto the path.

Crazy Goat and it's baby

We had also encountered the mules which take tourists down and up the canyon which was amazing, not that I would have liked to be on one of them as apparently they walk right next to the edge!

poor lil donkeys!

When we had got out, we were told by a guide book that we should witness sunset at any point on the Canyon, to see the different colours as it sets.

more sunset

We decided to watch it set at Hopi point, as it was one of the recommend points. As it was setting we walked to Powell point, named after an explorer of the canyon, which is where you can see all our pictures at sunset.

sunset again

To end on, I would just say what a place the Grand Canyon is to see!.