Fergus and Veronika, with the Grand Canyon in the background

Thursday August 5th 1999

After our trip to the Sedona Valley the day before, we were ready for the big one, the Grand Canyon, and we were not to be disappointed by anything except the weather. We drove for an hour and a half from Flagstaff, and when we reached the Canyon, Ben, our guide, suggested that the best way to first see the Canyon would be to close our eyes and allows ourselves to be led to the edge, where we could open our eyes, and he was right - it was an awe-inspiring sight to behold when we got there. It's not called the Grand Canyon for nothing - it is huge - a mile deep, and eleven miles across. In fact from where we first viewed the Canyon, it was net to impossible to see the Colorado River, which created the Canyon. All we could make out of it was a little brown curved line which we were assured was in fact the river.

Few pictures can do the Grand Canyon justice, anad this one is no exception!

One aspect of the Grand Canyon is that, although literally millions of tourists visit it every year, it is simply so vast that it is possible to escape the masses and find a quiet spot to appreciate the wonder of the place, which is just as well really. Fortunately, the group we were with were an excellent bunch (hello to you all, if any of you are reading this!) of international travellers, from Korea, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and Germany. After our initial wander around the tourist haunts (with the exception of the IMAX theatre - can you imagine going to a place like the Grand Canyon and then watching a movie of it? Inconceivable to me, it is apparently the most popular attraction in the Grand Canyon!

More stunning scenery

Another impressive sight was a group of California condors. These huge birds (up to 8 feet in wingspan) were almost extinct, but they have been re-introduced into the Colorado valley. Seeminlgy there are only around 100 left in the world, so we were extraordinarily fortunate to see eight or nine of them at the one time - nearly ten percent of the world's population.

After hanging around the rim for a while, and having eaten lunch overlooking the valley floor, we decided to go for a hike. We'd driven around the rim a bit to try to escape the stormcouds which were slowly gathering, but unfortunately we were not successful - as we started to descend, it started to rain, and the sky was looking increasingly ominous, so much so that we decided to turn back at what was supposed to have been our half-way point.

Half of our group high up on a rock

As we climbed back up, the rain got progressively heavier, so that we were all fairly quickly soaked. I've climbed a few mountains in my time, and the beauty of that is that it's easier on the way back; with the Grand Canyon, in contrast, the second leg of the journey is much harder, expecially when it's raining. At least we didn't have to worry about dehydration!

The contrast between the storm clouds on one side and the sun still shining on the other side was producing some amazing light effects around the canyon, most of which my camera was unable to capture.

Light and shadow in the Grand Canyon

After we reached the top again, we were all too wet to contemplate any more hiking, so we drove on to the Navajo Indian Reservation. Here we had the opportunity to buy native crafts direct from the source - cheaper, and you can be sure that the money is going to the producers, and not to the middlemen. I was particularly impressed by the beautiful pottery, which we were unable to buy as we would have no way of carrying it and I'm not sure I would trust the postal service to ship it to Europe undamaged. Eventually, Veronika bought a dreamcatcher. The landscape around the Navajo reserve was stunning.

The barren landscape of the Navajo Indian Reservation

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