Grand Canyon

One of the things that we had hoped to see while on this trip was the Grand Canyon. However, as our route had taken us further south we didn't think that we wanted to pull the trailer up and then back south. M came to the rescue when she asked if we had ever seen it. She said that she would take us on Monday while C stayed home and worked. It was nice to have our own guide. Since she has hiked down into it and been there several times we saw more and learned more in less time that we would have without her.

It had snowed there on Sunday so the wind at the overlooks was cold. This time B brought a sweat shirt and his jacket. I just brought my jacket and wished that I had brought a sweat shirt along too. We did hike from one view point to the next so that helped to keep me warm. You can take the bus.

M said that she always wondered why they just didn't build a bridge across the canyon. Then, when she saw it for the first time, she understood.

We were on the south rim looking at the north rim. Many of the people who go in start at the north rim and take the bridal falls route, which this pictures shows, and hike out on the south as it is not as high. The bridal falls area is actually a fault line that crosses the canyon.This shows the fault better.

This shows some of the trail on the south side. Notice the brown spots in the left lower corner. Those are roofs. I zoomed on this. This is a rest area and where some will stay if only going down part of the way.
This show the same area without the zoom.
These are of the trail going down on the south rim. We were out on a point looking back. Note the snow.Remember that I was zooming in on these.

While we were there a storm started building on the north side. By the time we left it was closer to us. We even went through a few snow flurries on the way home.

C told M not to fall in before we left. Every year they loose a few people.
There was a ledge a few feet below.

At the furthest point out we saw three bull elk. We had seen some cows driving to get to the canyon. Note the broken horn in the first one. They were all pretty skinny.
Because of the sun and shadows it is constantly changing.
Note the brown streak starting about the middle left side. That is the Colorado river.

At Dewey, AZ

After driving through much open space we arrived at M & C's home. They are at a higher elevation than some of the other towns, so it is cooler at their place. Of course, this time of year we can use a little heat.

On Saturday they took us for a ride. That is a ride on their Rhino. This is the vehicle that they now use riding the dunes by Yuma. C has rolled it a few times. Even though he kept looking at some climbs on our ride, M would tell him NO.

After making sure all was in shape with it, B helped C load it in the back of their truck. Then we took off for Prescott. We spent some time walking around the town and checking some of it out. We had lunch at the Palace Saloon, where some movies were filmed. An interesting thing about this place is that at one time the town had a big fire that went down Saloon street. The patrons in the Palace picked up the carved, wooden bar (not an easy task as it is very large) and carried it outside to save it from the fire. Of course they went on about their business then while the fire burned.

After lunch we went to the Costco parking lot, unloaded the Rhino and went up into the hills. In less than five minutes, we were in the mountains. There are lots of summer homes in the whole area. Sometimes you wonder how they got the supplies in as they are not small homes. We went to the stage coach stop for the line between Prescott and Phoenix. It also served the many gold mining camps in the area. The original building is there, now used by the forest service.

We had gone through a snow bank on the way up, however we were going down hill. Coming back we didn't make it through until we lightened the load. That meant the ones in the back seat, M and I had to get out. Then they went right through.

Notice B's bare arms? He thought since it was warm in town, it would be warm up here. This stop also meant a good time to throw a little snow and make snow angles.
The view from up here was great.
On Sunday afternoon we went to the old mining town of Jerome. It is built on a hill side. I should say a VERY steep hill side. The town is now inhabited by artist with lots of their wares in the shops.

From there we went on to Sedona and it's red hills. You can see the hill in the distance of this picture.

The red layer was made by volcanoes. The formations are also interesting.


This is another one of those pretty trees that we saw on the way. M and C didn't know what they were either.

From there we went up to Slide Rock, located up a canyon. This area is used by many to swim in/slide down during the summer. There was once an orchard/guest ranch here. I think the formations made by the water are interesting. It is obvious that it has had some large flows through it at times.
This is some of the area that they slide through.

To Arizona

Some day, maybe I will get caught up to where we are instead of writing about the past. We are in California right now, but I need to cover the points in between first.

While traveling across New Mexico we went through the Valley of Fire. I couldn't figure out why they called it that. We went through a small town and then started up a hill. I could see a strip of darker ground towards the lower part of the hill. We were trying to figure out what it was when we started to go into it. THEN I KNEW WHY IT IS NAMED VALLEY OF FIRE. See for yourself.

I think it was hot at some time.

Carlsbad Caverns

Sometimes not taking a guided tour is better than taking one. At Carlsbad Caverns you have to make reservations before getting there fore a guided tour like you normally would have at a cave. However, there are self guided tours at Carlsbad. You can also rent a tape to listen to but we didn't know about that until too late. I don't think we missed much as there are also some signs along the way. On the self guided tour, you could either take the elevator down, the height of the Eiffel Tower, or walk to the natural entrance and walk in for a mile to where the elevator stopped. We picked the walk in and were glad that we did as you see lots then. These first pictures are of the entrance as we went in. There were lots of cave swallows flying around. You can see the steep switch-backs that we went down.
This is looking back up at the entrance as we were going down in.
This is still going down in. If you look at the center bottom you can see some of the people walking on the path. The 'people' in the center of the picture are stalagmites.
This is looking back towards the entrance, above the blue area. If you look closely you can see people. The green is because of the type of light shinning on that area. You don't see these colors when looking at it, but cameras pick it up.
At one time there were other people who came into the cavern. They left their drawings on the wall. This was in what they call the twilight area as it still gets a little light from outside.
There were pools in the cave also. Here is one.
There is lots of sand stone on the ceiling, sometimes many, many feet over head. I thought this was pretty.
There are some interesting things in this cave. Such as the forest:

The tongue,The whales mouth,
The finger,
The rainbow room,
The lion's tail,
Big daddy and his kids,
Profile of Chibocci from star wars,
Snow White's castle,
Grapes,
And an aerial view of a mountain.
After some of the formations were here, the cave was partially flooded, depositing popcorn formations on the stalagmites up to a height. One of the most interesting things was areas where water had flowed (looking like a mud flow) and then went into a pond. The pond edge would have shapes that resembled mushrooms with the tops cut flat. Then there were popcorn crystals below the water.
Sometimes the water would then flow out of the pond and make more formations. This picture doesn't show it well but is the best I have of it.

Did I mention that after we reached the area that the elevator came to we went through a huge area, sort of shaped like a cross, lying down. It was one mile in to here, then one and a half around this area. The ceiling was at least 100 feet up or more in places. It was hard to tell exactly. The three 'trees' in the bottom left corner are people. I couldn't get a picture of how far it extended.
These are just formations that I liked.
That is B standing by the rail.