Jonathan Hikes at the Grand Canyon!

It was late afternoon when we arrived at the Canyon, so we went straight to the Bright Angel Lodge, out the back door, and Jonathan got his first awesome view!  Conditions were a bit hazy, but I managed to get a couple of nice rim pix before it got too late.

The Mather campground at the village had availability, but lots of construction, so we opted to stay just south of the Park entry at Ten-X, a very nice Forest Service CG within minutes of the front gate.

Jonathan was anxious to "hike the Canyon", but not having any clue as to the depth & effort required, we convinced him that the hike down Bright Angel to the first rest stop at mile 1.5 would give us all a good workout.
We got a late start, about 8:30, but the temperature was fairly nice hiking down.

There were numerous opportunities for pictures, but again, the haze limited the colors a bit.  I did the best I could working with the light available.

The trail was fairly crowded, but we did manage to find a couple of nice curves that gave us some isolation from others and made for a nice pause in the effort.

At the rest stop, Kim found the "tame" squirrels were execellent beggars, and Jonathan got a kick out of the pack mule train passing by.

This vantage point also gave us a good look farther down the trail, and of Plateau Point (another 5 or so miles) far below.

Jonathan literally sprinted back up to the Rim, he knew I'd promised ice cream!  We all gobbled it down before I thought to take a picture, except for Jonathan giving one of the local beggars the last of his treat.

Next morning we headed East, along the South Rim, hit the visitor center, and got some nice views from  rock outcroppings there.


The finale was a stop at the Desert View WatchTower.  Kim & I enjoyed the walk from the parking lot to the tower, where many samples of the rim wildflowers were in full bloom.

Jonathan got a kick out of being able to see the River for the first time,

and especially enjoyed using the spotting acope atop the Tower for a closer view.

All in all, a short but rewarding visit to one of the world's most spectacular wonders.  And, there's no doubt in my mind that Jonathan will be back for a go at the rim-to-rim hike within the next couple of years!

Jonathan Visits Petrified Forest National Park

On our way up to the Grand Canyon, we took Hwy 180, which lead to the southern entry of the Petrified Forest.  Great place to enter and stay if you're in a trailer.  The owners of the two museum/stores just outside the gates allow overnight parking for free!  So, you Rver's out there keep that in mind if you're planning a visit to the Park.

The south entry is also the iste of the Rainbow Forest Museum & Visitor Center. Along with  artifacts of early reptiles, dinosaurs, and ancient crocodiles, the museum houses several stunning examples of huge petrified trunk slices. 

The Park is unique in that this is the only place in the world where "Rainbow" petrified wood was created.  A twenty mile area containing the Park was a large swamp over 200 million years ago.  The remaining organic materials produced the stunning colors found only here.

Behind the center is the Rainbow Forest, a broad collection of some of the Park's largest and most intact trees.

Probaly the most enjoyable hike of the first day was the Crystal Forest.  A 3/4 mile stroll through an area containing hundreds of magnificant specimens.  Walking through the trail one and seeing the thousands of small fragments in huge piles throughout the area triggers the imagination of what this place looked like a couple of hundred of years ago before heavy human traffic.

Early the following morning, we made the two mile roundtrip to the Agate House, a small pueblo dwelling of originally eight rooms built entirely of petrified wood.  As we walked around the beautiful structure's walls, Kim & I thought how neat it would be to have part of our cabin constructed with this exotic material.

We left the Park later that morning to find a huge store just north on 180.  I was captivated by their outdoor storage lot, in which the piles of petrified material seemed to go on endlessly......

Equally interesting was a nice display of unique furniture all made from combinations of Juniper and Rainbow petrified slices.

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