10 April 2010 Grand Falls & Grand Canyon

Saturday, April 10th, we picked up Carol and decided to go to a place just outside of Flagstaff, near Leupp Az. to see a sight that is not known by a lot of people. It is like Niagra Falls and has that much or more water when it is flowing full force. It was not flowing full force but it was and awesome sight. David and I had not been there in 32 years. We went there after we had gotten engaged. The place is called Grand Falls. We will never call the Verde river muddy or dirty again. The Grand Falls is surely the muddiest.

This is at the top of the falls with the San Francisco Peaks in the back. Looking back to the top of the falls from below. The falls are part of the Little Colorado River and this eventually runs into the Colorado River near the Grand Canyon.

We had a great time looking at the falls and would have walked down by them but it was to muddy.

There were some that decided to kyak down the river and it comes out at Wupatki National park, 16 miles down river.

Our next stop was to go to Cameron and go up to the Grand Canyon through the East enterance. We had not been there in many years and they had made several changes.

This several miles down from where Grand Falls is and several miles before you get to the Grand Canyon.
It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed having Carol come with us. She had not been to the Grand Canyon in a long, long time.

They have redone the road and it no longer goes right along the Canyon and this is the old bridge that you use to go across.
We finally got to the Canyon and the first stop is called Desert View. They are in the process of fixing the top of the tower. The inside has five different levels that you climb stone stairs to get to the top of it. The drawings on the inside of the tower are really neat. The view from the top is amazing.This picture below was taken from the Tusayan Ruin pull out. It is a pretty picture of the Peaks.
This is at Grandview Point and trailhead. We want to go back and hike this trail. They mined copper off of Horseshoe Mesa in the early 1900's but it became to expensive to keep it up. We did not know about this trail. It only goes out to the Mesa, which is about a 6 mile hike.

As we were leaving the Canyon there was a herd of elk right in the middle of the main park are and the cars were stopped all over the place. We had to go aroung them to finally leave. It was a great day trip and it was so much fun having Carol come with us. We will be going back to do some hiking. The Canyon kind of calls to you when ever you go to visit it. If you like hiking then you know what we mean. It was a great adventure and there will be more to come as the weather gets nicer.