Another Giant Hole: Utah Lots of Parks part 9

Day 10: That’s how you die in the Grand Canyon

A while ago I came across the book Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon which is basically a chronicle of over 500 people who have died in and around the Grand Canyon in the past 150+ years. Most have fallen, drowned, or died of exposure. Needless to say the statistics of the book spell out that if you’re male and in your 20s that you’re probably going to die if you go to the GC.

None of this stopped us of course. We didn’t fit the profile so we put on our jellies, grabbed a bottle of booze and practiced our sweet parkour moves before heading out for the day.

The signs at GCNP don’t pull their punches.

 

 

 

 

 

After touristing around the rim at the popular lookout spots we hopped the bus to the South Kaibab trail to hike down into the Canyon.

 

 

 

Switchbacks. It should be the slogan for the West.

 

 

 

 

Heh heh. I like it when stuff is oddly specific. This point of the trail is 600ft below the rim, about a half mile walk.

 

Looking back up the trail. The rangers were doing maintenance on the steps. Must be a bitch to bring supplies down that far.

 

You can see the rest of the trail going down to the very bottom–it wraps around the ridge in the middle of the picture.

 

When I zoomed I saw a group of people on donkeys.

 

The first step’s a doozy.

 

 

 

 

Once we huffed and puffed our way back up (it seems twice as far) we got back on the bus and headed down the road to do a short hike along the rim to Hermit’s Rest.

 

 

2 things: Once you’re on the river you’re committing. Second, that rock down there is 2 billion years old. Two. Billion.

 

 

 

With the zoom maxed out I could see the foundations for some old structures that used to be near the bottom of the canyon.

 

 

Hermit’s rest is at the very west of the rim that is National Park territory. The building there, as well as the Bright Angel Lodge, Watchtower and other buildings in GCNP were designed by Mary Coulter. We were both ignorant to her story, which began to unfold as we traveled further into Arizona. But needless to say, what a cool lady! She pretty much defined the look of the Grand Canyon. If you ever get to the Canyon or anywhere on Route 66 you’ll probably run into one of her buildings.

We popped in here for a well deserved post-hiking beer. Dehydration + altitude = drink only one.

We left the Grand Canyon that afternoon headed for Flagstaff. We didn’t have a room booked, but we figured we’d be fine since that was our M.O. for the trip so far and it worked out. When we got into town many of the more budget-oriented establishments were full, including the Rodeway Inn where these biker guys got the last 2 rooms. So we settled on a higher priced place called the Hotel Monte Vista which has an interesting past. Apparently every  room is decorated differently, inspired by whichever celebrity had stayed in that room in the past. Lots of Westerns movie were shot around Flagstaff so they’ve had their fair share. Not too sure why Freddy Mercury stayed there…

 

Bogey slept here.

 

Blackout curtains with cut-out chandelier designs. So kitschy!

 

Remember those bikers I mentioned above? Well…. long story short is that on our 4th or 5th Old Fashioned we ran into them at the hotel’s 2nd bar (they have 2!) and it got really fun. I think I got offered a job on a TV show, there was dancing to karaoke, and really questionable choices being made as to how much alcohol was too much. I’ll never forget that night even though I already don’t remember a lot of it.