7-20-17

We were up and out the door of the hotel by 8:00. We took a quick drive to Walnut Canyon. We were the second group of people to arrive and the storms from the previous night had abated some of the heat. Lorelei finished her junior ranger and then we had full range to enjoy the loop trail to see the homes built into the eves of over hanging rock all along the Canyon walls. These people from 1100-1450 AD were pretty amazingly resourceful. 

We finished our hike and headed north on 89 to Sunset Crater Volcano. We stopped in at the visitor center to pick up a junior ranger badge then hike one little trail out into the lava beds and another longer trail to the base of the cinder cone volcano. The boys enjoyed this as it was the first time they had really been in the lava flows. Lorelei and I have seen way too many volcanic parks on this trip. I wish there was a video that would show the formation of America because it must have been pretty interesting to be a bystander to it 1000, 5000 and 10,000 years ago. 

Sunset Crater and Watpuki Are connected by a road so we took that to reach the visitor center there. This is the site of a 100 room pueblo, the largest in Northern Arizona. These folks would also have had a first hand account of the eruptions that shaped the land. They were also living on the land when the government basically took it away from them. It has been so strange to be in these places where cultures existed and thrived before any white man stepped foot on this continent. I wish that the heritage of the native people in the east had been better preserved rather than running them west and killing them. We made sandwiches and ate lunch under the shelter because in the shade the heat isn't so bad and then walked out to the ruins. We drove to see a few more and got caught in a little rain. 

I normally plan about 2 hours for us to visit most national park sites. The bigger ones we spend more time in. For these three parks we did not need 2 hours in each and we were way ahead of schedule heading into the Grand Canyon. This worked well because we stopped at the first spot and climbed the watch tower to ooh and ah at the view. One thing you don't realize until you visit is the number of trees at the Grand Canyon.  Our expectation of the desert has been shattered. We expected nothing to be living on the colorful dirt but along the Canyon drive there were tall pines and other plants and grasses that hide the rim from view. We stopped at the Grandview overlook and walked about a half mile down on the Grandview Trail. There was no one on this trail as most of the visitors preferred to stay up at the rim taking pictures. We oohed and ahhhed some more and also enjoyed experimenting with the echoes of the Grand Canyon. Whatever we said came right back to us and we got some good laughs. 

We hit the visitor center next and watched the park film narrated by Peter Coyote then it was 5:00 and Lorelei got her junior ranger badge so we could go check in and eat dinner. We hiked about 4 miles today. We were staying in the Thunderbird Lodge and after dropping off our stuff, we headed out the back door to arrive right on the rim trail in the village. This is a paved, 10 mile trail that goes along the rim. A nice place for an early morning or evening run or walk. We ate dinner at the Bright Angel Restaurant then found a place along the rim to watch the sunset. Scott and the kids got to see mountain goats just over the rim wall while I was in a visitor center picking up a hiking guide. There were thunder clouds on the other side of the Canyon but we had a great sunset. We retired to our hotel room and we were in bed by 10:30 because we had plans for an early morning.