Monday, September 2nd 2013

We woke up early and prepared to hike.  My legs were still sore from my last excursion in the canyon, but I was ready to go.  At least this time we were only doing a day hike.

So I packed up my camera, some water and some snacks, and we headed to the South Kaibab trailhead.

Valeria and I took advantage of the ample photo opportunities that were available while Marcos made his way ahead.

 

The heat was strong but we found ways to enjoy it.

A group of cowboys lead their pack mules downward.  The sight seemed to shoot me backward in time.

We hiked back upward and then drove east along the rim, so we could make our way north of the canyon.  Along the way we stopped for some sight seeing.

In route, a castle sits perched upon the cliffs.

When we left the official boundaries of the Grand Canyon, we drove into Navajo land, where a roadside canyon drops straight down to the Colorado River.

The Navajo were set up in their road stands, selling jewelry and dream catchers.

 

Of course you didn’t have to look far to find another lizard.  Sometimes the ground just seemed to be moving.

We kept driving through Arizona until we came upon the Navajo Bridge.

From there, the landscape was breathtaking.

 

We even spotted three of the endangered California Condors perched upon the adjacent bridges trusses.

We kept driving right into Utah, where the canyons turned into mesas, but the sheer grandeur never changed.

Having never been to southwest America before, Marcos was especially awestruck by the landscape.  His enthusiasm combined with his limited vocabulary of English made the trip pretty entertaining at times.  The word ‘amazing’ was thrown around quite often.  With his Spanish accent, everything from the landscape to the food was “ahh-messing”.

To his credit, it absolutely was amazing.  Especially the bison meatloaf I got for dinner at The Rocking V in Kanab Utah.  (Highly recommended!!)

We stopped for an absolutely breathtaking Utah sunset.  We were all enamored.

Marcos proclaimed, “Wow, it is ahh-messing” a few more times, then we got back on the road.  We made our final leg to our next destination, then set up camp for the night in the prolific Zion National Park…