Route 160 East

It's been a long day. I got up 4am (Pacific time), and am now finally contemplating sleep at 11:30pm (Mountain time). Ah, the changing nature of road trips. I was supposed to head out of LA last night to have an early start at the Grand Canyon today, but that just didn't happen. So instead, since I'm what some might call more of a morning person than a night owl, I decided to get out of dodge before traffic hit the mean streets of LA. I got to see the sun rise over the hills this morning!

I arrived to the Grand Canyon around midday, but the crowds weren't too bad (although I have no point of reference, they just weren't as bad as I had expected). I came in by the South Rim and got to stop at a few different scenic overlooks... Near Grandview there's a place where you can climb down a bit of a ways as well without the eyesore of guardrails and cement steps, which was pretty sweet. I was nearly ambushed by some pretty aggressive squirrels, much to my horror but all the onlooker's delight. They were persistent little buggers, trying to get my cheese and crackers! My lunch, not yours! I was in the park for a few hours, not including driving time, and I'd like to think I would have spent a bit longer had I had some company... It would have been amazing to have hiked the canyon, but alas, plans fall through sometimes.

To be honest, the parts of the canyon that aren't all hyped up at the eastern end intrigued me a bit more. I think it's because the Grand Canyon is just so ginormous that you almost can't comprehend its proportions. Also, you can't really get up close to most of it, since it's so steep, so massive, etc. Anyway, I look forward to a hiking trip to get into some of the nooks and crannies some day.

The drive today was gorgeous. Route 160, especially, captivated me the entire way. There were a few blissful stretches where I even had the road all to myself in both directions. I got to see an overturned semi engulfed in flames (emergency crews already on the scene when I passed, so no worries), some nice rock formations (you can see lots of cross-bedding in the massive, light colored layer, as well as several fault lines breaking up the sections):

I mistook one of the little artisan stall areas for a scenic outlook once outside the paid park area, so I took advantage of the view anyway, and chatted with the one seller there:

The rest was just awesome, both literally and figuratively. The skies don't get much bigger than out here.


Oh, and I added a few more states today! I went to the four corners monument, which was, to say the least, underwhelming. But my feet were happy to be so omnipresent.


So after almost 800 miles today, just 200 more or so tomorrow and I'll be in lil' 'ol Gothic, wheezing at 9000 feet!