August 9: Having arrived at the Grand Canyon North Rim campsite after dark the night before, we were excited to see where we were in the morning. We didn’t plan to stay long at Grand Canyon before getting underway back toward Colorado. We were to end-up at Mesa Verde National Park by day’s end, but his was the only night on the trip for which we left our accommodation open – we would either try to get a campsite in Mesa Verde or drive an hour further to Durango for a hotel depending on availability and how we felt at the end of the day.
Blake got up before sunrise to explore and head down to the canyon rim to see the sunrise. This picture by Blake is from later in the morning, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that our campsite was right by the canyon’s edge (visible beyond the tents) – we had no idea the night before as we pitched camp in the dark!
Here are a couple of pictures I took from Bright Angel Point at sunrise while everyone else was still sound asleep. Deeply in need of coffee, I returned to the campsite and as I was boiling some water, the guy from the adjacent campsite came over and asked if he cold have some hot water. He was from South Korea and was traveling alone around the Southwest. He kindly offered me a couple containers of spicy Korean noodle soup in exchange for the water. We ate the soup later and quite enjoyed it.
Kenny and Sam hadn’t even had breakfast before they wanted to check out the canyon. Photo by Blake.
At the visitor center, an artist named Ramson Lomatewama was making blown glass figures based upon similar imagery as the pictographs we had seen at Sego Canyon in Utah two weeks prior on the first day of our trip (right). Photos by Blake.
On our way out of Grand Canyon, at almost the exact spot we had stopped the previous night to gaze at the stars, was this herd of bison. If the bison were there the night before, they were very quiet. Photo by Blake.
Coming down off the Kaibab Plateau, looking southeast with Vermillion Cliffs on the upper left. Photo by Sarah.
We stopped for a nice lunch at Cliff Dwellings Lodge below Vermillion Cliffs. These river boats were behind the café. Photo by Blake.
Panorama of Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River with Vermillion Cliffs in the background. Photo by Sarah.
Looking east, up the Colorado River. After the stop at Navajo Bridge, we pressed-on through Arizona without stopping but for gas, and on across Four Corners (where the state lines of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado meet) into Colorado. It was just before dusk when we arrived at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. Photo by Blake.
At the Mesa Verde visitor center, we asked about campsite availability, not expecting there to be anything open, based on having to make reservations at Yosemite and Grand Canyon five months in advance of our trip. The ranger laughed at us and said “I wish the campground would fill to capacity – ever!” It was a lovely evening, so we decided to stay and were told, surprisingly, to just go find a campsite we liked and plant ourselves.
The campsite was fantastic. We pitched the tents and ate dinner as the sun set. The Milky Way dominated the sky from horizon to horizon, and as we enjoyed the campfire and some whiskey, the Perseid meteor shower highlighted the night. This last night of our trip might have been a melancholy one, but for this special place. Photos by Blake.
No comments:
Post a Comment