Feeling Grand at the Canyon

I was up with the sun feeling excited about facing the new day. Stowed the last few things that hadn’t been secured before, dumped my unmentionable cargo and was rolling down the Highway bright and early on a Sunday morning.

Just me and a couple thousand cross country truckers. Lines of them going in both directions. Many of the on and off ramps lined with overnighters that hadn’t woken up yet. Some of them even seemed to have problems staying upright. What was the old Smokey and the Bandit motto “keep your wheels between the ditches and smokey out of your britches.”

Swung north after a while and started gaining serious altitude. The barren desert gave way to pinyon and juniper grasslands and the road squeezed down to one lane each way. I had spotted some ruins on Google maps while plotting today’s course so I decided to pay them a visit. I couldn’t remember the names. I’d written it on the camp receipt last night. I looked all over and couldn’t find it. I ended up passing them by a few miles and had to do one of my least favorite things ever when traveling -back tracking! Just ask PJ. But I did it. I later found the paper. It was in the back pocket of the shorts that I had on. Don’t ask.

The first set of ruins was the Nalakuhi and Citadel pueblos. There was one other lone traveler wandering when I arrived but he soon left and it was just me and Wilson enjoying the desert all to ourselves. Eye opening to think of the history that these places have witnessed. There was also a big sinkhole out behind he citadel where the earth is swallowing up the ground above it. I sat on a bench and did a quiet meditation before hopping back in the rig and heading to the next stop.

The Lomaki pueblo is a bit more popular than the first two and there were one or two other cars and a few more people milling around. These buildings were a little more intact and placed around ‘earth cracks’ where water collected and the native dwellers were able to use the water and shade on the ravines to grow food in the desert. I took my time not wanting to show up too early to Desert View campground at the Grand Canyon.

A short way before entering the park, there was an overlook run by the Navajo I think. I pulled in and got my first glimpses of the Grand Canyon. I’d been here probably 55 years or so ago but I was still unprepared for the awesome sights of the canyon. I moseyed around a while then was off to the national park.

The entry fee is a whopping $35 just to get past the gate. I purchased a senior pass for a lifetime for just a bit more so that will inspire me to visit a few more parks to get my dollar’s worth. Found my rustic little site and got all dialed in. Decided to take off on the bike and see what I could see. The watchtower was only a hop, skip and a jump from camp so I pedaled over for amazing views of the canyon.

Found a quiet spot along the rim and sat on the rocks watching crows dance with the wind over the massive ravine carved out by the Colorado River below. The day was beautiful, high seventies and blue skies with puffy white clouds. I went for a short (6 mile) bike ride but it seems we’re at the apex of the park. I went west for several miles but it was all downhill, so not wanting to set myself for too much climbing, I turned around and huffed my way back up to the campground. I went past and out the gate but it was even steeper all downhill. Gave up and turned around again sucking in the 7,500 foot air or lack thereof into my lungs.

Hung around camp with my lizard friend for the afternoon, reading and doing crosswords. Basically, being an idler. As the sun was ready to go down, I was back on the bike and first went down the camp trail to an unprotected ledge of cliff with a different perspective.

Realizing I wouldn’t see the sun setting from that point, I hustled over to the watchtower to catch an awesome sunset surrounded by foreigners taking in the majesty of the moment. I lingered for a short time after and was about to leave when I turned around to grab Bluey and was gobsmacked by a blood moon rising up from the opposite side of the canyon. Wow, was all I could say. An unforgettable welcome to the wilds of Arizona.