21-GRAND CANYON

We've spent the last two days at the Grand Canyon. We haven't been there in many, many years and I had forgotten how beautiful it is. 


I've decided it was best to just let the pictures do most of the talking. What can I say. It is just breathtaking!

 

In addition to standing at the canyon edge with our mouths hanging open, we did see a few other things.


There was a movie about the Grand Canyon at the Visitor Center. 

They had an old boat there that was originally used to float the Colorado River through rough rapids many years ago. It weighed 900 pounds and carried five men. 


Don's Dad and a buddy of his used to fish the Colorado River around Glen Canyon Dam. They did this well into their late 80's. Fortunately there boat was lighter than this one. Anyway this reminded us of Dad and his adventures on the river.


Most of the "Trading Posts" at the Grand Canyon are filled with tourist-y junk...except this one that was called Hopi House.

It is an old stone building built many years ago and modeled after the houses in Old Oraibi, Third Mesa, where we went a couple days ago. 


Unfortunately, the outside is totally under construction. Inside are beautiful arts and crafts made by Hopi and Navajo and a couple other tribes.

 

On all the corners of the building sits an actual pot. I enjoyed that little piece of detail.

We visited the Desert View area. It was very different from the rest of the Visitor Centers.

The Watch Tower sits on the edge of the canyon. It was built there many years ago and it appears as if constructed by natives. However, it was designed by a lady, Mrs. Coulter, an architect who was instrumental in building and designing several other buildings at the Grand Canyon.


The Tower, while looking quite frail, has in fact, a steel framework between the rocks and the inside of the building. 


It has been built to look like it has been there forever, with many designs and paintings that refer to the natives who were the first residents of the canyon.

The Tower is a four story building. The room in the first floor is a large round room with a ceiling that is made of these timbers. There is a hole in the middle that goes all the way to the ceiling on the fourth floor. It is made to be reminiscent of a Tribal Kiva.

There are huge pieces of "native" art work painted on the walls in all the round rooms on each floor. High above that, on the ceiling, is painted a large grouping of "petroglyphs."

The ceiling is completely covered with paintings of Indian designs, petroglyphs, pictographs and more.

Views from out the windows in the Tower were even more impressive.

Each floor was encircled with lights inside what appeared to be real Indian pottery with an Indian design painting above it.

There were long stairways between the floors. The steps were pieces of stone and the railing was completely wrapped with sinew.


Outside there was a sign near the Tower that told the sad story of an overhead plane collision in 1956 between a United Airlines plane and a TWA plane. 

The wreckage landed on two buttes out in the middle of the canyon that are pointed out on this sign. All 129 passengers plus crew were lost. I don't know how they ever got to the site as it is very remote. 


It was the deadliest crash in aviation history up until that time. Only 15 bodies were identified and the rest buried in a mass grave in Flagstaff.


The day before, I had overheard a tour guide telling some people that now no airplanes of any kind are allowed to fly at any altitude over the Grand Canyon. Actually, commercial airlines can fly in certain areas at 18,000 feet.


I didn't know why, but I'm sure this contributed to that decision. I also remember a number of years ago when a helicopter crashed, landing at the bottom of the canyon.


The guide was saying before the ban, the noise of planes and helicopters overhead was deafening and endless for Park visitors. 

 
Well there is none of that noise now. It is beautiful, quiet and very peaceful.


Next post, Heading Home. I'll post that in about three or so days.