Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park is well known world wide for its beauty, size, and color all of which make it impressive, a word that doesn’t do it justice. There are two main areas of the park that are easily visited by car: North Rim and South Rim. Access to the North Rim was closed by the time of our journey, so we travelled to the South Rim, staying at a resort with an odd computerized cafeteria for a restaurant, and a general store to rival markets found in many small towns. The computerized restaurant--where we had dinner twice--had orders and payments rung up by a computer with the food prepared when the order is put in. A fascinating concept i suppose, but if felt a bit impersonal. The lodge we stayed at is fed by a shuttle that takes you to the Grand Canyon Village, a small town really, made up of museums, shops, and resorts, big enough to warrant its own substation. We arrived in time for an exhibit on art work about the grand canyon. There were also a number of gift shops disguised as museums, and interpretive sites, many remnants of the formerly privatized tourism of days past.

From the South Rim looking across The mile-wide chasm of the Grand Canyon  toward the North Rim. The network of canyons is formed by smaller creeks that flow to the Colorado River-Mark Kramer, Photo

One of the reasons I was impressed by the Grand Canyon, among other reason, was its scale. Visiting the canyon is an experiment in perspective. In the foreground it’s easy to take in details: flecks of color on rocks, lichen and shrubs growing atop boulders, and the shrubs and trees which are fifteen feet high. Across the way, are trees barely visible, but you know that the same intricate details you see before you are present there as well. Using this view of the canyon, you realize walking along the rim, that each mesa, monument, and ravine is as intricately detailed as the next, and the canyon is so massive, that a single traveller could never hope to explore every nook and cranny, nor take in every detail: it’s impossible. According to a ranger program we attended one evening, this matter of scale tricked Spanish explorers who severely underestimated the size of the canyon and its features. Rocks they believed to be the size of a man were tower-sized monoliths. Many early travelers were discouraged by this fact, but today I imagine that that is part of what draws people to the grand canyon.

The Desert View Tower overlooking the Grand Canyon near the entrance to the park.

-Mark Kramer, Photo

As with any national park, large groups are impossible to avoid altogether. Tour busses carrying people from all over the world crowd certain overlooks, and the twenty-first century invention known as the selfie stick makes it next to impossible to stay out of your neighbor’s frame. However, the busses run very tight schedules, and the grand canyon is massive, much of it remote. One line of the park’s shuttle system provides service to parts of the park not accessible by car (and out of reach of big tour busses), including hermit’s rest store, where a weary traveller can stop for a lunch and break from exploring, just like in days past. Along the way are a variety of overlooks which allow you to bask in the majesty of the canyon, as well as learn about the brief commercial use of the canyon for mining and lodging, including a toll path leading to the Colorado River which is now run by the park service. Toward the North End of the park is the Desert View Tower. This is a modern structure inspired by Anasazi construction. The inside is painted by Hopi artists (a tribe that claims the Anasazi as their ancestors) and a number of viewpoints including a memorial to the air disaster in the 1950s over the Grand Canyon that led to the creation of the FAA to enforce safety. Overall, the Grand Canyon is something that must be seen to be truly appreciated, a place large and diverse enough to be its own country in many ways, and as crowded as a small city during peak season. However, solitude can still be found in many places when its needed. The Grand Canyon is a work in progress; no two visits will be the same. -KP

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