(no subject)
Rode mules down into Grand Canyon and then back out again.
It was pretty awesome and, as with all vacation activities, you get things you were expecting and things you were not expecting. Let's look at both of those in more detail.
Things I was expecting:
Lots and lots of scenery. Holy fuck, there was scenery. You just can't see all the scenery. Way, way too much scenery. It is interesting colors and interesting shapes and it just goes on and on and on.
Hoary, hokey jokes from the guides. (Sample: What do you call a deer with no eyes? No-I-Deer!) The guides running the mules were pretty good and our lead guy was westernly photogenic in a greying-beard sort of way. He also wore leather chinks (probably to help stay warm). But his patter was clearly from the "I flew in from Chicago and boy are my arms tired!" school. "See that rock formation over there that looks like a sombrero? Yeah. That's Mexican Hat." Apparently enough mule guides called the one section of S. Kaibab trail "Ooh Ahh" that there's now a sign referring to it. (I took a picture.)
Hikers with sticks. There were a lot of hikers with sticks. If you didn't remember to bring your own sticks, the gift shops were all selling hiker sticks so that you could accessorize for the trail. Probably if you pay enough for your sticks they become "trekking poles" but whatever. Still looked like sticks to me.
A river at the bottom. There is indeed a river at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It is the Colorado River and it's green. And fast. And, apparently, cold and deadly. There are rather a lot of signs telling people not to swim in the river because of drowning. People still drown there a lot, though. The water is all the time cold because it comes out of the Glen Canyon Dam that makes Lake Powell up near Page and it never gets warm or floods like it used to. (We were in Page for to look at the Antelope Canyon slot canyon and were somewhat confused by all the boats and boat sales and whatnot. It was kind of like driving up past Huntington on 26 and going "What the hell is up with all the boats in the middle of PA?" because you didn't know that there existed a Lake Raystown. Same deal. Lake Powell is huge and in the middle of the damn desert and it supports a somewhat incongruous large-boat industry in an area that does not look like it should have one.) The Little Colorado River is apparently not dammed and still floods a bit, but nothing like the system used to work.
Fairly narrow pathways. These were narrow, but not nearly as narrow as you might imagine. They're wide enough for a mule and rider plus also hikers to past alongside. It's not horrible and a person can walk down comfortably the whole way. (Not me, mind you, but a not-afraid-of-heights person.) I was surprised by the invisibility of the pathway (you cannot see around the switchbacks or where you are going very far ahead because of the geography) but the narrowness was to be expected.
Tourists speaking non-English. Lots of non-English going on, some of which I was able to place and some of which I was not. First time I ever heard spoken Navajo, too. Lots of fun on the language front.
Things I was not expecting:
Ravens. There are a shitload of ravens in the general Grand Canyon area. (We started out thinking they were excessively large crows, but then I googled. They were ravens.) Somehow the ravens go unmentioned, but trust me, there are a lot of them.
Snow. We had snow on parts of the canyon where the sun does not shine. The "South Rim" is the part without the sun, by the way. The North Rim, where there is sun, is closed in the winter. Go figure. It was not deep snow (maybe a decorative inch or two) and it was definitely losing the persistence fight, but there was snow.
Signs about marauding squirrels. Apparently the most common cause of needing-a-doctor in the Grand Canyon is being chewed up by a squirrel. (This is probably because most of the people who fall off the edge or the trail wind up dead.) The tourists feed the squirrels, the squirrels bite the tourists. Lulz abound and there are warning signs.
Ease of falling off the edge. There are safety fences at the common lookout points, like Powell Point or whatever, and there's a low stone wall right at the village where the hotels are. But for a lot of the rim trail, if you just want to fall your ass right off the edge, you are free to do so. It's not even terribly difficult to arrange for a 500-foot instant-death splatter landing. The fact that not many people do this is kind of surprising.
Elk. We damn near ran over an elk looking at ruins on the way back from Page. Elk are a lot bigger than deer. We also saw elk at the Grand Canyon while driving to dinner in the little town thing. Also there are nearly-tame Mule Deer at the Phantom Ranch and at the Grand Canyon. Apparently there is no hunting and these critters do not fear the sight of man. It was a little disconcerting.
It was pretty awesome and, as with all vacation activities, you get things you were expecting and things you were not expecting. Let's look at both of those in more detail.
Things I was expecting:
Lots and lots of scenery. Holy fuck, there was scenery. You just can't see all the scenery. Way, way too much scenery. It is interesting colors and interesting shapes and it just goes on and on and on.
Hoary, hokey jokes from the guides. (Sample: What do you call a deer with no eyes? No-I-Deer!) The guides running the mules were pretty good and our lead guy was westernly photogenic in a greying-beard sort of way. He also wore leather chinks (probably to help stay warm). But his patter was clearly from the "I flew in from Chicago and boy are my arms tired!" school. "See that rock formation over there that looks like a sombrero? Yeah. That's Mexican Hat." Apparently enough mule guides called the one section of S. Kaibab trail "Ooh Ahh" that there's now a sign referring to it. (I took a picture.)
Hikers with sticks. There were a lot of hikers with sticks. If you didn't remember to bring your own sticks, the gift shops were all selling hiker sticks so that you could accessorize for the trail. Probably if you pay enough for your sticks they become "trekking poles" but whatever. Still looked like sticks to me.
A river at the bottom. There is indeed a river at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It is the Colorado River and it's green. And fast. And, apparently, cold and deadly. There are rather a lot of signs telling people not to swim in the river because of drowning. People still drown there a lot, though. The water is all the time cold because it comes out of the Glen Canyon Dam that makes Lake Powell up near Page and it never gets warm or floods like it used to. (We were in Page for to look at the Antelope Canyon slot canyon and were somewhat confused by all the boats and boat sales and whatnot. It was kind of like driving up past Huntington on 26 and going "What the hell is up with all the boats in the middle of PA?" because you didn't know that there existed a Lake Raystown. Same deal. Lake Powell is huge and in the middle of the damn desert and it supports a somewhat incongruous large-boat industry in an area that does not look like it should have one.) The Little Colorado River is apparently not dammed and still floods a bit, but nothing like the system used to work.
Fairly narrow pathways. These were narrow, but not nearly as narrow as you might imagine. They're wide enough for a mule and rider plus also hikers to past alongside. It's not horrible and a person can walk down comfortably the whole way. (Not me, mind you, but a not-afraid-of-heights person.) I was surprised by the invisibility of the pathway (you cannot see around the switchbacks or where you are going very far ahead because of the geography) but the narrowness was to be expected.
Tourists speaking non-English. Lots of non-English going on, some of which I was able to place and some of which I was not. First time I ever heard spoken Navajo, too. Lots of fun on the language front.
Things I was not expecting:
Ravens. There are a shitload of ravens in the general Grand Canyon area. (We started out thinking they were excessively large crows, but then I googled. They were ravens.) Somehow the ravens go unmentioned, but trust me, there are a lot of them.
Snow. We had snow on parts of the canyon where the sun does not shine. The "South Rim" is the part without the sun, by the way. The North Rim, where there is sun, is closed in the winter. Go figure. It was not deep snow (maybe a decorative inch or two) and it was definitely losing the persistence fight, but there was snow.
Signs about marauding squirrels. Apparently the most common cause of needing-a-doctor in the Grand Canyon is being chewed up by a squirrel. (This is probably because most of the people who fall off the edge or the trail wind up dead.) The tourists feed the squirrels, the squirrels bite the tourists. Lulz abound and there are warning signs.
Ease of falling off the edge. There are safety fences at the common lookout points, like Powell Point or whatever, and there's a low stone wall right at the village where the hotels are. But for a lot of the rim trail, if you just want to fall your ass right off the edge, you are free to do so. It's not even terribly difficult to arrange for a 500-foot instant-death splatter landing. The fact that not many people do this is kind of surprising.
Elk. We damn near ran over an elk looking at ruins on the way back from Page. Elk are a lot bigger than deer. We also saw elk at the Grand Canyon while driving to dinner in the little town thing. Also there are nearly-tame Mule Deer at the Phantom Ranch and at the Grand Canyon. Apparently there is no hunting and these critters do not fear the sight of man. It was a little disconcerting.