The sea was wet as wet could be, The sands were dry as dry.

Travel Dates: Monday & Tuesday, July 5-6

After waiting through heavy traffic to cross Hoover Dam (indeed, quite huge), we made it into Arizona and on to the Grand Canyon (or as we came to rename it, Grand Canyon: Land of the Mega Raven).  We arrived at dusk, found our campsite and rapidly cooked up some campfire grub to appease our growling bellies.  Knowing that we were going into our only driving-free day the following day, we decided to call it an early night to rest up for some intense exploration in the morning.   

Early to rise, we found ourselves on the Southern Rim which seems somewhat more typical for tourists to visit.  Making our way up to the edge armed with copious amounts of H20 and a few Cliff bars, we plotted a course Westward and set out on what amounted to about a 14 mile hike into the mid afternoon.  We covered about 8 or 9 major vantage points and even hiked about a mile down into the canyon at one point.  For the true outdoor warriors, we learned that you can expect to spend a solid 2.5-3 days if you want to hike down to the Colorado River and backup.  Yearly, rangers haul dozens of folks out of the canyon who have underestimated the physical exertion needed to take on the enormity of the hike, with many others not making it back period.  [Editor’s note: When your body temperature reaches 105^oF, your brain is officially cooked.]  Next visit, we plan to come prepared to do the long haul down and back.  This go around, our trek was more than sufficient to reveal the vastness of the crevasse that the GC is:  277 miles long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles and attains a depth of over 6000 feet.  At the end of the day, we also made sure to snap a few shots of the sunset (see below).  Nature is truly spectacular.

- The Carpenter