Day 5 - Grand Canyon National Park

On our second full day at the GCNP, we drove on the Walhalla Plateau to get another view of the canyon.  On the 23-mile drive, we saw another burn area, this one 13 years after the fire.  It was awesome to see the way the way the forest was able to recover over that time.  The burnt, empty tree trunks still stood tall, while a new aspen forest only 6-10 feet tall grew underneath.  The view here might not mean much to us if we hadn’t moved west, hadn’t dealt with the drought of the last several years, hadn’t seen the numerous forest fires of the last year in Colorado.  But, because we had, it was a time of reflection, some sadness, and a lot of hope. 

Remnants of the Outlet Fire of 2000 

The road ended at Cape Royal, where a short hike gave us even more spectacular views of the canyon, Angels Window, and the Colorado River!  (This was the first time we were actually able to see the river from the North Rim!)  Angels Window really tested my fear of heights.  The boys weren’t thrilled about holding hands tightly the whole time and I did admit to them that it was as much for my security as it was for theirs!

Angels Window - Do you see the guardrail at the top of the rock?  That's the end of the trail!

This is what it looks like up close!  Yikes!

Our final stop on the drive was Point Imperial.  To our left, we could see nothing but red rock desert canyon.  To our right we saw a rocky, green canyon leading up to green forest.  It was amazing to see such diversity in the land.  It was all just literally breathtaking.

Cape Imperial 

The boys and I ended our second day with a campfire program on Nocturnal Animals with one of the rangers.  We learned a lot about the diversity of wildlife in and around the canyon.  Did you know that the Grand Canyon is #2 as far as National Parks with the most species of wildlife?!  We also learned that they use mules rather than horses to ride into the canyon because horses are afraid of heights and need water everyday.  Mules are not afraid of heights and can go 2 WEEKS without water!  There are 30 known mountain lions that call the Grand Canyon home.  There used to be hundreds before “wildlife conservation” in the early 1900s led to massive hunting of mountain lions to “save” the deer.  The cougar population has not yet bounced back – nearly 100 years later – and the deer are still hugely overpopulated.

Because Aidan complete a Junior Ranger packet and attended the campfire program, he became a Certified North Rim Junior Ranger! 

Our North Rim Junior Ranger being officially sworn in.

So, today we drive away from one of the most spectacular places we have ever been.  We cannot believe it took us this long to come see it…and we have still only seen a fraction of the canyon.  We will be back!  Next time, maybe we can hike in!