“Pretty Big Canyon”

Working our way along from Monument Valley, we stop for lunch at a roadside shack serving Navajo bread, a frybread of the native American people. Here they are served as a ‘taco’ or ‘burger’ variety. We go for one of each. For some reason an army of Scouts has also just arrived here so we wait patiently in the shade as it’s now 44°c, while the husband and wife owners of the shack work hard to make up everyone’s order.

Approaching the Grand Canyon, we plan to see as much as possible with a few hours to go until sunset. We begin at Stone lookout and are both impressed by the enormity of the natural phenomenon.

Next we move on to a Geology station. Here we learn how the canyon was formed over millions of years of erosion by the Colorado River as it cut through the Colorado Plateau, which was uplifted by plate tectonics. Soon after, we walk the timeline trail where each one meter step is equivalent to 10 million years of human existence. It makes us realise how short humans have lived on planet earth, tens of thousands of years compared to the billions of years since the earth was formed. Like a tiny ant on an elephant and our lives are but one atom of such an ant. Or that’s how I imagine it anyway.

It’s time to walk around the rim and try to take in the sheer scale of this magnificent canyon. As a signpost informs us, it is not the longest, the widest or the deepest canyon in the world but it is perhaps the grandest. It’s hard to argue with that.

A man passes by us on the pathway and tells us there are eagles flying past just ahead, if we wait patiently, we will see them. We perch near the edge of the canyon wall and wait. As we’re about to question if he was having us on a blurry black shape hovers towards us. Soon it becomes clear it is indeed an eagle that soars right over our heads.

After quite a long trek around the rim (and a short run to the shuttle bus stop) we hop on and decide which stops we’ll get off at. Our plans are soon thwarted as the bus driver announces he will only be going so far as stop 5 (out of 11) as it’s getting late. Darn it. Still we get off at stop 4 and walk the short distance over to stop 5 to watch the sun setting over the canyon.

After a long long day (remember this day started with the Monument Valley tour) we need to get to our hotel which is an hour’s drive away. Alex offers to take the wheel and expertly drives us to the hotel under a sky blanketed with burning stars.

Rest Day (with a short hike)

After blitzing through four states since we arrived here, we’ve decided to take a rare day of rest to catch our breath and catch up on some planning. We have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and restock at our favourite superstore (Walmart). Feeling like we might want to stretch our legs a bit to avoid spending all day in the rather basic hotel, I look for a short hike nearby. “Fatman’s Loop” comes up on Google, only a short drive away and at most a 2 mile easy loop.

We pull up onto the carpark and find a spot for a picnic lunch under the shelter of some pine trees. As we’re finishing our grub I spot a firewatch tower on the map. The route towards it picks up from Fatman’s Loop and it doesn’t look too much further away. Having played a videogame based on being a ranger in such a firetower, I’m immediately intrigued and it seems like destiny to see one in the flesh. I tell Alex I’ve changed the plan slightly and we set off to reach the tower. What follows is a steep and difficult ascent up and up, climbing to the top of the mountain to where the tower sits. It takes an age and is pretty exhausting in the afternoon heat. Over an hour in and Alex is not impressed, I suggest she can wait in the shade or return to the car but she is determined as ever to carry on and see the damn thing.

On the way up we see chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, lots of birds and bugs and a snake! We also spot a gigantic train that has nearly 100 cargo containers in tow, we try and work out how many kilometers long it is as it seems to stretch as long as the entire town of Flagstaff down below. At least there are some distractions from the slog!

After a two hour ascent, we finally arrive at the base of the tower and a ranger is stood out on the balcony, binoculars pressed to his brow searching for signs of fire. There have been several large fires breakout over in California to the West and the park rangers here are on high alert in the extremely dry land and searing heat. The tower is surrounded by huge drum shaped radar dishes and many other pieces of technical equipment, it looks like a serious operational base. The total hike (after getting slightly lost on the way down) takes nearly four hours and we clock over 10km on our smart watches, whoops.

Similar to the carrot and stick method, I’ve promised Alex we can go for a steak tonight as a reward for doing such a strenuous hike. There’s an Outback (Australian restaurant chain) a five minute walk from our hotel so we don our glad rags and set out for steak. We share a large slab of beef short rib with a loaded baked potato with a side of mac and cheese. I treat myself to a large glass of red while Alex sticks with lager. All in all its a very tasty reward.

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Adventure – Seeing so many creatures and critters on our hikes. Watching the sun set over the canyon.

Excitement – The grand canyon, despite everything we’ve seen on this trip that was pretty damn impressive. Sharing a huge steak at Outback.

Trauma – Concern about the wildfires in Cali affecting our camping plans. Long drives with nothing interesting to look at. Hotel breakfast was very dull (unless you love sugar).