The next adventure brought me to Arizona again and for a brief period of time the beauty and splendor of the Grand Canyon. The time here was short as the main destination was further to the west but even then, a sunset and sunrise was enough to get a small taste of the sublime. But no where near enough time to even begin to relish the sheer vastness of the park.
Our stop was at the south rim of the canyon where most visitors start their visit as well. As always we were racing to catch the sunset but first had to grab a campsite. Due to the pandemic and still being the winter season we were able to drive right up and grab one of tent sites right in the park. From there we headed to the rim to look for a spot for sunset.
After checking out a few locations we settled on what looked to be a good spot and headed out. After coming from Seattle the clear skies and views of the sun had been amazing but a small portion of me was wishing for a few clouds for sunset. None appeared but the golden light hitting the walls of the canyon left me with no reason to complain.
Just because it was sunny didn’t mean it was bitterly cold though as the wind whipped up the canyon walls. It was definitely still February and certainly still winter. One of the amazing things about the Grand Canyon is the temperature difference at the south rim compared to the bottom and then compared to the north rim. There is over a 1000ft of difference in elevation from the South and North Rims and temperatures can be up to 20 degrees warmer at the bottom from the rim.
After sunset we headed to the surprisingly very well stocked grocery store near the Park Headquarters which also had a small clothing section full of Patagonia apparel. I definitely was not expecting that but I’m sure visitors unprepared for the cold would be happy to see it. Having purchased a few groceries for dinner we headed back to the campsite, had dinner, played some Catan dice, and headed to bed with early alarm clocks set for sunrise.
As always, the alarm clocks came way to early and we tried to quietly get ready and quickly leave the campsite without disturbing our neighbors too much. We tried out a new spot on the rim for sunrise and for the most part liked the perspective but the Grand Canyon is just really hard to capture it’s shear size. Soon our time here wrapped off and we headed off to our next destinations of Death Valley and the Eastern Sierra’s.
I can’t wait to return to Grand Canyon National Park though as there is still so much I would like to see there. The North Rim is an eventual destination, hiking to the bottom and back, maybe even a Rim to Rim…… I do know visiting Lookout Tower Hill the highest point in the park is also a must do for me to keep working on my highest points of the national parks list.
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