As with many national parks, the Grand Canyon closed in mid-March due to COVID-19. In hopes that it would reopen, we made reservations for four different periods in May and June. The first reservation was cancelled, but we managed to get into the park on the first day it re-opened for camping, June 5. It was a great time to be there.
Because the park had just reopened, there were no people coming to stay in the hotels, no one riding the train up for the day, no tour buses, and no one visiting from overseas. The park was very quiet and uncrowded - eery for the summertime but nice for social distancing!
On our first day, there were clouds moving through the area, making for dramatic skies and moving shadows on the canyon surfaces
The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon, but it is in a deep chasm at the bottom, and only intermittently viewable. The river is a full mile's elevation drop below the rim.
The vegetation on the canyon rim is a combination of ponderosa pines and desert shrubs and cactus.
The Yavapai Geology Museum (which was closed) had an interesting exhibit to illustrate the age of the earth and various canyon features. They inserted medallions into the rim path, where one meter represented one million years. The entire walk took up three miles!
Thirty-five years ago (the year after we married), we visited the Grand Canyon with some friends. We hiked down into the canyon, then hiked along the canyon for 5 days, and then climbed back up to the rim (in what was a very long, very tiring climb). In honor of that trip, we decided to again hike part of the Bright Angel Trail. We went to the first rest station, about 1.5 miles down the trail and about 1,200 vertical feet down from the rim. We made it! Both ways! Along the way, we passed a small mule train. They were not yet taking people down to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon, but they were re-familiarizing the mules with the trail in preparation for that.
Because we had made that trek successfully, we decided to try another trail down into the canyon before we left. We hiked the Kaibab Trail down about 800 vertical feet to the aptly name Ooh Aah Point. We could see the trail continuing down, but felt like that was enough for us for that day.
On our final evening in the park, we walked along the Rim Trail - always a dramatic time where the colors of the canyon rocks are enhanced during what photographers call "the golden hour."
We noticed that a wildfire had started beyond the North Rim, and the setting sun had lit up the smoke dramatically.
We left the Grand Canyon the next day and headed south to spend a few more days in Arizona. More about that in our next blog post.