The Grand Canyon (Part Five)

It had been a long first day at the Grand Canyon. We had ridden the train up from Williams (did I forget to tell you about that and show those pictures?), followed by a bus tour  to the west of the South Rim Village, including stops at Hopi Point, Mohave Point, and Trail View Point. Then I took a small hike for a quarter mile or so (maybe a little more) along the rim in the village itself.

I had mentioned that there are some shows and historical buildings in the village.

Google Maps

I had mentioned that there are historical buildings in the village. (There are also some “southwestern style” commercial shops and restaurants as well, but even *I* didn’t take pictures of them.) This is the Hopi House.

Kachina Lodge

There were outdoor theaters with shows.

Toward sundown we headed to Kolb Studio, which sits atop a promontory of  rock that sticks out from the rim at the west end of the village. (You can see another picture of it in Part Four.) The art studio and shops are up on top, but there are two or three terraces down below that you can go down to. Fair warning — the terraces are not exactly “handicapped accessible”. There are stairs and they’re not particularly steep or hard, but they are irregular, narrow, and cut into the rock face, so if you have mobility issues they may be a challenge.

Toward sunset the canyon takes on a completely different view.

Here’s that lower plateau and canyon with the Bright Angel Trail crossing it, now deep in shadow.

It starts to cool quickly, even in the summer, and the sky gets hazy.

You start to see more blues, purples, and bright oranges as the reds and browns fade.

The dynamic range needed on your photos starts to go through the roof. How do you deal with that? (Hint: Digital photos are cheap, so…)

Following this we had a great anniversary dinner at one of the first rate restaurants there. (Make reservations for one of the good restaurants if you don’t want to be eating at a coffee shop or fast food place.) The food was fantastic and they gave us a window seat looking right out over the canyon as darkness fell.

When it gets dark, first of all, be careful you don’t do something rash and go over the edge, it’s a long way down. There are guardrails, of course, but they’re just waist high and they were no doubt built before I society became so litigious and forgot what common sense was. But stay up by the rim in the village if you can. Find a place to sit and relax.

If it’s not cloudy, the stars will be freaking fantastic! There are a few lights in the village so it’s not quite an astronomically dark spot, but compared to any big city, you will see orders of magnitude more stars. In the summer, you’ll see how the Milky Way got its name. If you’ve never been in a dark sky location, you’re in for a treat that rivals the Canyon.

What caught us by surprise after dinner were the deer. Once it gets dark, the mule deer come out to feed. They love the plants and flowers that the landscaping staff at the village work so hard on and they’re used to people being around. They’re not tame – leave them alone, don’t try to pet them or something silly. But don’t freak out when all of a sudden you notice a dozen or more ghost-like, horse-sized shapes shuffling around you just at the edge of the lights. Yet another aspect of a totally mesmerizing place!