Wednesday 15th February – Grand Canyon

A glorious day, not a cloud in the sky, but boy was it cold last night?!  Our pilot said we were lucky, during those rainy days last weekend they couldn’t fly at all, but today would be perfect.  We checked in for our helicopter ride with Maverick Helicopters at 1145am.  Our pilot, Danny, called our names along with two other more senior couples.  They weighed us when we arrived and their clever computer had worked out where everyone needed to sit to balance out the helicopter.  This meant that I got a window seat, but in the back, whilst Simon had a central seat, which wasn’t ideal.  However, I noticed that the ladies in the front had a lot of reflection to deal with on the front screen so I think it actually worked in our favour.

Taking off about 1215pm we headed over the Kaibab National Forest for five minutes or so and then Danny warned us to be ready with our cameras for the moment we flew over the South Rim over the canyon:

I was too busy going ‘Wow’ (as you may hear if the video works?!) to think about the ground disappearing below me.  It was truly awe-inspiring.  We flew along some noteworthy sections of the canyon, for example the meeting point of two tectonic plates (right) where volcanic activity as recent as the 1980s was recorded. We also got to see the North rim of the canyon which is closed to the general public until May because of the snow.

View of the North Rim

 

It is like seeing two different countries on either side of the canyon – the geology and the flora is vastly different between the North and South rims as you can see.  I’ll try not to bombard you with numerous pictures but we took plenty!  Having seen the Grand Canyon once before from the ground I confirm that helicopter is an amazing way to see this wonder of the natural world.  For those wondering about the price of this tour, we booked online with Viator so we probably got a deal because it’s low season but we paid £208 each for the pleasure, plus $15 each fuel charge on the day (I’d expect them to have known we’d need that when we booked?!).  But it’s a once in a lifetime experience right?  This was quite a reasonable price compared to other companies for similar flight times.

 

The flight lasted 45 minutes, which passed way too quickly, but back on the ground we got some snaps in front of the chopper.

Simon treated us to a Pizza Hut takeaway for lunch to give us energy for exploring the Grand Canyon on foot this afternoon.  Our National Parks Pass saved us the $30 entry fee (boom) and we headed to the west of the park to Hermit road, which is roughly 7 miles long and has multiple viewing points of the canyon.  This road is closed to private vehicles during the high season when you must take a bus along it instead, so we benefited from having our own wheels and being able to take our time.  Just when you think you’ve seen enough Canyon we would round a corner and get a brand new angle and view that took our breath away.  This afternoon of driving, walking, climbing and viewing kept us occupied until 5pm! 

A couple of bits of wildlife for you

We had intended to see some other areas today but instead we headed to the Visitor Centre, which had closed at 430pm, but where we got the idea to do a section of hiking trail tomorrow actually into the canyon.  There are some really treacherous trails that take up to two days to complete but other less strenuous options are available.  

We headed out to Mather point to see the sunset.  But as well as being very cold by now the sun was also setting over the forest, not the canyon.   But the shadows did offer some amazing views:

Simon suggested that sunrise tomorrow would be better (I know.... Simon suggesting an early morning?!?) and so we took a couple of snaps and made our way back to the RV park, checking with the rangers that we could get access in the morning for sunrise.  The gates at GC National Park are open 24 hours a day so that would not be a problem.