North Rim and Angel's Landing

We got started early this morning in order to catch the sun rise over the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Believe it or not, we weren't the first ones to walk out to Bright Angel Point that morning...a group of about a half dozen Germans around my age were there. As we got there, they were trying to get a group shot so I offered to take it for them..in German. It felt so great to speak a bit of German (outloud) again and listen to colloqial German. I would overhear parts of their conversations and couldn't help but smile or chuckle. It was great...sigh. It was rather chilly with the brisk wind and the sun always seems to take forever when you are waiting for it...so I took some pictures of the canyon. Needless to say, they are pretty dark and I kind of wasted some film by not waiting till after sunrise...oh well, lesson learned...besides, it was my first time to the North Rim so I was excited to get some pictures from that viewpoint.

After spending a couple hours or so at the North Rim, we headed back to Jacob Lake en route to Zion. At Jacob Lake, we stopped so the guys could grab some food for lunch later (I brought stuff and made sandwiches). While waiting for the guys, I overheard some woman refer to herself as a New Yorker. So, naturally, I asked where her and her husband were from in New York. Turns out they are from Vernon and the guy (Justus Cheney) student taught under my Grandpa Schulz in Central Square in 1959. I was in shock...this is more of a coincidence than the couple I met at Church. This guy had my grandpa for a master (now cooperating) teacher. Amazingly small world it is.

I dozed a bit on the way to Zion after the initial shock of meeting the couple wore off...I mean, we were up before the sun after all. As we drove into Zion National Park, I just gazed (rather lovingly) at the awesome rock...it's colors and patterns (due to the layers). Oh how I miss rocks sometimes. We drove into Springdale, which is just outside of the park, to try to find a motel room because parking was full in the park anyway. After getting a room, we took the transit system to the park and then up to one of the stops in what I guess you could say is the main canyon. In order to drive up this part, you have to take the bus or have reservations at the lodge. What a great way to keep down traffic and increase the safety (not to mention animal-vehicle collisions).

Today we hiked the Angel's Landing trail that leads to the end of a promontory in the canyon. The trail isn't too long mileage wise but still a decent workout due to its vertical rise. I loved the hike because I got to gaze at lots of cool rock like the thick layer of fossilized sand dunes (Navajo Sandstone) and the cool drop-off parts and climbing up rocks. Certainly not a boring trail or one for acrophobics (the afraid of heights crowd). At one point, the trail is only a couple feet wide and it drops down steeply on both sides to the valley below. Don't worry, there's a chain strung between two metal posts that you can hold onto if you are uneasy. Besides, the views at the end are indescribable. I was perched on the end of a long rock thousands of feet above the river valley with approximately a 300 degree view of what is below. Pictures can't do it justice and I wonder if a video camera is even sufficient enough. My pictures came out okay nonetheless but I'm anxious to see if Joe's stitching will create a more representative view.

For a warm-down (and because we had time), we hiked to the lower Emerald Pool on our way back to bus. The path follows the rock behind a thin veil of water falling to the pools below. The walls and path are a bit muddy and the walls are rather slimy...kind of gross but also kind of cool. We took the bus back down the canyon after our excursion and ended up getting some information from others on the bus who had hiked The Narrows that day on what the conditions are like and where to rent equipment from. So we went to Zion Adventures on our way back to the motel to get our dry pants, neoprene socks, boots, and walking stick. The girl showed us the correct way to put everything on and gave us some tips on the trip. We then carried our cool gear back to the Bumbleberry Motel then went to the diner in the front for some grub. I tried a buffalo burger (that's a burger made from buffalo meat, which is leaner) that tasted good. Joe and I also split a bumbleberry pie but he didn't really like it so Pete ended up eating it with me. We figured out, mostly by taste and sight, that the bumbleberry is a mixture of blueberry and blackberry...yummy with ice cream :-). So a very productive, fun-filled day...now for The Narrows in the morning....