We decided to make an early start as this was to be the busiest day since Genesis.
Our route was to drive to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and then on to Las Vegas. That is 4 and a half hours to get there followed by another 4 hours later on.
By setting off at 8am, we would be there by 12.30pm and then planned to spend 5-6 hours at the Canyon, arriving in Vegas at around 10pm, ready for when the Strip comes alive. Easy.
Tip 24 – Getting to Las Vegas early might be a bit pointless as the Strip gets going later on.
The route to the Grand Canyon is truly mind boggling. Red mountains and cliffs rise from the ground and extend across the entire journey. If this is not one of the most beautiful road journeys in the world, I will eat my brand new Stetson.
You can’t get bored of red rocks. Along the journey, there are indian homesteads and lots of fruit and bead sellers. As we neared the actual canyon, there are hundreds of other canyons like the one below, of varying sizes, weaving their way alongside the road.
If any of these were somewhere else on the planet they would all be major tourist attractions, but this road leads to the most impressive of all, so they are just ordinary canyons – crazy.
As you pass over a hill, suddenly you are smacked in the face by a horizon to horizon range of bright red cliffs across a bright green plain. These are the Vermillion Cliffs. You need to see these before you die.
Tip 25 – By driving to the Grand Canyon, you get an amazing scenic journey you would miss in a helicopter.
As you can see from the pictures, there was an amazing pattern of rays from the sun, lasering their way through the clouds. This was punctuated by frequent forks of lightning blitzing from the sky in the distance.
Le Fevre Viewpoint
Eventually, the road climbed and we were at Le Fevre Viewpoint. From here you can survey the entire landscape. I walked up to the viewpoint to take some pictures. After a few shots, I noticed a small american flag neatly folded on top of a note. I could just see the headline of a print of a web page, so I lifted this, noticing that it said RIP and a couple of names.
I assumed that this was a tribute to a lost soldier, however reading the article, only a fortnight earlier, a honeymooning Thai couple were struck by lightning at the view point and killed instantly. To say that I felt suddenly vulnerable and terribly sad, is an understatement. I felt a strange empathy as there was lightning striking nearby.
Safe to say, I sprinted back down to the car and jumped in. The Indian ladies who were setting up a stall didn’t seem perturbed however. I guess that may be why they are known as ‘Braves’!
Grand Canyon
When we eventually reached the Grand Canyon National Park it is a strange realisation. Being surrounded by mountains somehow means you expect to drive into the canyon, though suddenly I realised that it will be in the ground!
Imagining a mile deep hole in the ground, is a little different than a mile deep gorge in a mountain. As you start to rise up from the plain below, you also realise it is going to be huge.
Once you get to see the Grand Canyon, it is a fairly unique experience. Suffice to say that you can’t do it justice in a photograph and you actually struggle to take it in at all. There are no words in the English language to describe it and even after you have been there, you still can’t really imagine it.
It is basically unforgettable, but un-understandable.
Tip 26 – Disregard almost everything you have heard about the Grand Canyon. You have to see it yourself first and then try to compress it into some kind of memory before giving up and going back again to remind yourself.