| Over three million people visit the Grand Canyon each year which
creates impossible loads on some roads. Thus the canyon rim road to the west
(Hermit Road) is closed to normal traffic and only natural gas-powered
shuttles are permitted. |  |
 | It is possible to get
from one rim to the other on foot or by mule. This trail is not for the
faint-hearted. It takes two days and covers 26 miles, at least one mile each
way is vertical - up! The shot on the left shows the trail down and the one
on the right is a close up of a mule train on the way down. |  |
| The rapids on the Colorado River look innocuous from a range of
2-3 miles but they are rated as some of the most dangerous in white water
rafting. |  |
 | They look a little
more dangerous in close up. I guess you have to remember that this is the
low water season. The water is usually a deep blue but was very muddy with
all the sediment brought down in the recent rains. |
| The distance shots are the most difficult and the least able to
convey the vastness of this landscape. |  |
 | Even the small
tributary rivers have created the erosion over the centuries. It is just the
scale here which overwhelms you. |
| There are several stops along the twelve mile road out, several
with brief views of the Colorado. The shuttle buses stop on the way out but
not on the way back. |  |
 | It is so quiet up on
the top with so very little wind. Virtually the only noise was from the
helicopters which occasionally appeared, flying along the canyon. They often
looked smaller than insects. |
| At the end of the road is Hermit's Rest, now occupied by a small
gift shop. The area is named after a trail which started just beyond this
point but has now largely been supplanted by the trail seen above, which
starts nearer to the village centre. |  |
 | The building was
originally put up by the railroad which runs from Canyon Village to Williams.
It formed part of their tourism package in the early 1900s. |
| As ever we are always on the lookout for wildlife which we
occasionally manage to catch in a usable photo. |  |
So we left Grand Canyon in early afternoon, driving south to the interstate
before heading west towards Los Angeles. We got as far as Kingman on the
Arizona/California border before the light failed. |