Hounds
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Grand Canyon, Arizona
June 25 - June 26
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A morning photo of the Grand Canyon. A smoke cloud from the North Rim fire dominates the northern end of the sky.
The second stop on our cross-country trip was the Grand Canyon. We spent most of June 25th driving across northeastern Arizona on I-40. We heard on the radio that part of Grand Canyon National Park was closed due to fire, so we stopped briefly at the visitor center in Flagstaff to make sure we still had a campground to go to. The visitor staff confirmed our suspicion that the fire was located on the North Rim of the canyon, meaning our campground was unaffected. Reassured, we got back on the road and reached our campsite in the late afternoon.
It was about 90 degrees with a slight breeze, and we didn't have any electrical or water hookups for the camper at our site, so we opened up all the camper windows and let the hounds relax. Since it was so warm, we decided to just stay put until the evening then head to the canyon rim for the sunset. So we fed the hounds and ate our own dinner while we waited.
As sunset approached, we loaded the hounds into the van and drove out of the campsite towards Yavapai Point, a scenic overlook that has a good view of the west. The sky to the east and above us had become very overcast, and we wondered if we were in for a storm. When we parked at Yavapai Point and got out of the van, we discovered that what we thought were rainclouds were actually thick clouds of smoke. The smoke from the fire on the North Rim of the canyon had drifted over the canyon and the South Rim end of the park. The air all around us smelled like burnt wood, and ashes drifted down like snow flurries. It wasn't hazardous or particularly unpleasant (if it had been, I'm sure park officials would have kept people away from the canyon rim), just a bit surreal. It gave us a small taste of what it must be like to experience the after-effects of a volcanic eruption (minus the sulfur smell).
A telephoto view of the Colorado River.
We walked along the eastern side of Yavapai Point first just to see what we could see. We couldn't see much of anything: only the canyon walls that were part of the southern rim were distinct; everything in the canyon further than a hundred feet or so was only visible as dark shadows in a dark fog. We took a few pictures anyway, then headed to the west side of Yavapai Point where folks were waiting for the sunset. Visibility was better looking towards the west, but most of the canyon was still fairly indistinct. The sun was visible, and we waited with everyone else to see if the clouds (real clouds, not smoke clouds) on the horizon line were thin enough to let the last rays of daylight peak through. Unfortunately, the clouds were too thick, so it was a fairly ordinary sunset. At least everyone else who waited with us got to see four greyhounds hanging out at the Grand Canyon.
We got back into the van and drove back to our campsite. Even though the sun had only just set, the smoke cloud made it as dark as night, so we walked the hounds one last time before calling it a day.
The next morning, we woke up to clean, fresh air. Not knowing what to expect, we decided to drive back to Yavapai Point. The western end of the canyon was still obscured by haze and smoke, but the sky above us and to the east was clear except for a few clounds. Since it was still cool and there were few people around, we hiked to Mather Point (a little over half a mile away), taking several pictures along the way and at Mather Point itself. We then returned to Yavapai Point and drove back to camp.
Deanna and the hounds pose for a group shot at Mather Point.
After breakfast, we decided to drive east to the desert overlook at the eastern end of the canyon before it got too warm, so we loaded up the hounds and off we went. The desert overlook was about 26 miles away, so it was already pretty warm by the time we made it there. We walked the hounds to the overlook and took several pictures in between talking to the folks who came up to us to ask about the hounds. We then noticed that Frazzle was beginning to look unsteady and uncomfortable, and then his back legs began to wobble. We quickly took them back to the van so he could lie down and turned on the air conditioning for the hounds. We drove back the way we came, stopping at a few scenic overlooks along the way. Although the air was clear of smoke, the typical summer haze hung over the canyon, so it was hard to get clear pictures of the more distant formations.
After we got back to camp, we decided that since it was so hazy and so warm, there wasn`t much point to staying any longer and subjecting the hounds to the heat (Deanna and I had both visited the canyon before, and the hounds didn`t seem all that interested in it). Deanna called the campground in Flagstaff (our next destination) to make sure we could arrive a day early. Once that was confirmed, we packed up and drove out of Grand Canyon National Park. We took scenic Route 180 around the mountains and down into Flagstaff.