Monument Valley, Page, Grand Canyon

After leaving Gooseneck we drove two hours to Monument Valley, leaving Utah for Arizona. We had a look in some of the gift shops then went on a jeep tour of the Valley. Some parts were interesting - there was this one rock feature that you lay back on and looked up at the 'ceiling', and because of some pretty flukey wind the shape of an eagle's profile had been sculpted. It was very cool and something I wouldn't have even noticed had our guide not pointed it out. It made me wonder what else we might be able to see if we looked close enough at the things around us. I had hoped our guides might have told us about what significance the rocks held for their people, but they didn't.



On leaving Monument we drive to Lake Powell, a dammed lake in Arizona. It was really clean (at least in comparison to Recapture Resevoir, the last place I'd had contact with water), and refreshing after being in the dusty valley earlier. When we dried off we drove to Page, and went out for dinner. I ate half an enormous calzone. We went from the restaurant to this total dive bar where we played pool and some members of the group got wasted and did kareoke. I sat that one out. It was a surprisingly brill night. The cheap drinks helped.

We left Page at 1am, driving through the night to the Grand Canyon and after getting about four hours sleep we arrived at the park. My immediate concern on our arrival was to seek out the showers. It had been a LONG time. Once showered, walked along the rim with Julie and Christie until we reached the Bright Angel trail viewpoint. The trail looked amazing, but VERY long. In the evening we went to listen t a ranger talk about 'extreme beauty and extreme danger' in the park. It was ace! It was in this open-air aphitheatre in the dark, and we took beers. The ranger was really enthusiastic and knew so much. When the talk ended I walked with Julie and Vicky to the rim in the moonlight; we couldn't see a lot but could just make out the other side of the canyon.

The second day I took it pretty easy and after making lunch I walked from the campsite to the rim, then from there to Pike Creek Vista and ate my lunch on the edge under a tree. It was a really quiet trail - everyone else had seemed to go in the other direction.

I had different expectations of the canyon to how it actually is - I had expected a huge drop beneath the rim but it's more gradual. I think we have been spoiled by the other canyons we've visited on the tour - to someone who hadn't been to Zion or Bryce or Arches the Grand Canyon might seem incredible, but those other parks are just as, if not more, beautiful.