Las Vegas (Nevada) to the Grand Canyon (Arizona)
Monday, 15th May 2006
We left at 0630 to Boulder City to fly with Papillon Airlines to the Grand Canyon, flying on a small plane with twin-prop engines.
Our (San Franciscan?) pilots liked to hold hands at the start of the flight
We flew over the Hoover Dam Wall
Click here to see our archive of photos of the Hoover Dam.
Click here to see other photos taken of our flight with Papillon to the Grand Canyon.
Our tour-guide "Bob"
On arriving at the Grand Canyon Airport we were met by Bob, who introduced himself as "I'm Bob from Arkansas, I've just recently divorced my sister, moved to Tusayan and started brushing my one tooth." Bob said his aim was to get us to come back to the Grand Canyon. Bob let us know that as there were two tour-guides named "Bob", he'd decided to differentiate himself from the other guide by spelling his name backwards.
Helicopter ride
We had booked a helicopter flight and first did that - the flight was spectacular - the Canyon was everything that I expected and more. What I found amazing about the Canyon wasn't just the depth, but the fact that it extended so far - it was wide, and consisted of canyon after canyon after canyon, with peaks in the middles. There is a deep sense of the time it took for this to occur, for the layer after layer of sediment to build up and harden, and then for the Colorado river to carve out and expose the layers of deposits - the level of the river exposes the oldest rock (apparently some R2bn years old). Click here to view the archive of photos of our helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.
Biggest Canyon in the world?
Bob let us know that the Copper Canyon in Mexico is the deepest canyon in the world. The Grand Canyon is the biggest canyon in the world by volume. The south-summit is about 7000 feet above sea level.
Kaibab (indian for 'upside-down mountain') limestone covers much of the summit of the canyon, and just about every town in Arizona has a street called Kaibab. Click here to view our archive of photos of the Grand Canyon's Kaibab Trail (South Summit).
Karen without her cap on
Bob was quite anxious for us to get back to the airport on time, as he'd had trouble with the pilots before when he brought people back late - he got us back on time, only for us to wait at the airport for quite some time - hurry up and wait!
We had been warned that the barf bags were primarily for the flight back! Luckily they didn't come into play. Click here to access our archive of photos of the flight from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.
When NOT to come to see the canyon!
Most visitors come to the canyon between Memorial day and Labour day, during which there are very long queues.
Non-evergreen trees on the canyon
Gambel (Oak trees) are the only trees on the canyon which are not evergreen.
Fauna
If you're lucky you can see Mule deer and Elk on the canyon (they're most common at sunset and sunrise), there are also coyote, fox, mountain lion, squirrels (squirrel bites are the most common animal bite so don't pet them - they're wild and carry diseases). California Condor were introduced about 8 years ago near the Utah border - they've flown over to the canyon and nest here.
Mules are more more sure-footed than horses, which is why they use mules to climb down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Bob announced that the mules could only carry people up to a certain weight, and slapped a German tourist on the back announcing jovially that he'd have to lose about 200 pounds before he could climb on the mule. It was clearly visible that the German tourist didn't take too kindly to the joke, to which Bob said "Aw, Cant I have fun, I don't want to work for a living."
Point of interest - mules cannot breed, they're sterile - something to do with their chromosomes (you cross-breed horses and donkeys to get mules).
Flora
Poison Mistletoe kills the trees slowly - it is transported by the feet of birds.
Fires
A big problem is fires. Control fires are done to ensure that actual fires burn themselves out. A few years back a control fire went out of control, and the authorities had to close the park for one whole day while they got the control fire back into control.
Mather Point
Mather point is named after Steven Mather, the first director of the national park, and is the number one spot for the sunset tour. The Grand Canyon was declared a national park in 1919.
Kiva
Kiva is an indian church.
Bob's Nicknames
As the day went on Bob assigned nicknames to some of us - we had "My friend from Georgia", "Our German friends" and I was "the wild man" - I didn't ask why, perhaps my week-long growth of beard and wild hairstyle from mostly wearing a cap made me look a bit wild.