Arrival

After a pleasant and relaxing drive up from Phoenix through Payson, and then through Flagstaff (where I bought a new hat), I finally arrived at the Canyon around late afternoon. So, after checking in at the Maswik Lodge, I ventured over to the rim to take a few pictures before sunset.

Luckily, the evening was partly cloudy, the shadows of which give a extra depth to the photos which were all taken not far from the Bright Angel Lodge.

This picture looks down into the side canyon in which the Bright Angel trail descends (or ascends, depending). You can see the Plateau Point trail down there. The shadows combined with the setting sun gives the photo a lot of visual depth, if you'll pardon the expression!

Here's another great shot looking more toward the East. You can see the pointy Zoroaster Temple just to the right of centre.

With this shot, I tried to compose the picture somewhat by using the Pinon Pine trees to frame the distant shot of the Canyon. I think I got a bit too much of the trees in, but I suppose I could crop the photo to remove the excess. We'll see if I get around to that!

Finally, I took this shot looking over toward the El Tovar Hotel (the priciest one on the rim). In it, you can just make out a couple of the ravens, which were using the air currents to soar up the wall of the Canyon. They would then tuck their wings and drop quickly, just to keep repeating the thrill over and over. It looked like fun!

After all that, I went to get something to eat and then headed back to my room to relax. My next day was a "free" day, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do - would it be a relaxing day of walking along the rim, or a 7 mile round trip excursion below the rim down into one of the quieter areas of the Canyon? Hmm... I wonder...