Girl, Independent

Of all the places I didn’t think I needed on my Bucket List, the Grand Canyon was somehow always one. For some reason that I’ve never really understood, it simply never appealed to me that much. I assumed it was a very big, albeit impressive, canyon that I’d seen in photos before, and somewhere I wouldn’t regret missing out on before I died.

So when hubby and I were planning our Utah Road trip, it wasn’t something I felt needed to be shoehorned in to the itinery. We had enough we wanted to do, frankly. But when we saw the loop we were going to end up doing anyway, brought us within a two hour drive of the Canyon, we thought we “might as well”, and added a night on the rim to the plan. I’m so pleased we did.

The Watchtower

We arrived from the East, and to the Watchtower as our first stop. We parked the car, and walked to the edge, amongst the tourists, and to the viewing platform. And although it had been somewhere that I admitted I wasn’t too bothered about seeing, it actually brought a lump to my throat when I reached the edge and took in the huge view.

It’s simply stunning, and no photos can do it justice.

We spent the afternoon wandering the rim, taking photos, and simply marvelling at the scale. It’s unfathomable to be honest, when you stand on the edge and peer across to the other side, just how big it is, and exactly what geological forces have been at work to create such a breathtaking view.

Canyon Sunset

In the evening we wandered along to a well known sunset point, and waited it was quite chilly, but worth the wait in the end.

On the way back to our rimside cabin, we had to stop at one point to allow a HUGE Bull Elk to cross the road in front of us – not your average road crossing! He was higher than our SUV easily. Sadly, as it was dark, i didn’t get a photo, but he simply ambled across the road in front if us, as the traffic behind us queued up. He was a beautiful creature.

Canyon Trek

The following day, after our lovely cabin with a roaring fire (awesome!) we took a trek into the canyon itself. Now you can do days worth of trekking, the canyon is so deep, and steep and arduous. We opted for an easy trek, ensuring we had plenty of water (even though it was February, it was still warm the lower you got). We hiked for about an hour, and managed to get a tiny teeny fraction of the way down in to the canyon, through only a minuscule layer of the canyon’s geological history. But it was a long and steep way back up hill!

After being nonchalant about visiting such a well known and photographed place, I didn’t think I needed to see it. but how wrong I was, and how happy I am that I’ve seen it. It’s truly beautiful.