Rest day...Grand Canyon and Zion National Park

Marcia:
A well deserved day of rest for Tim. We drove down 150+ miles to the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon because I have never seen it before and when you are that close, it should happen.  When I stepped out of the car and walked to the edge I was moved to tears. After a few hours of hiking about and just being continually awestruck, we climbed back in the car and headed up to Zion, which was almost on our way back to the campsite kind of. Instead of looking down into a vast canyon, we were looking up from the bottom. The pictures are kind of spectacular I think, especially when we know that pics from an iphone are incapable of doing the views justice. That said, let them speak for themselves...

The Northern Rim:

There is a wildfire in progress inside the canyon, and the smoke is visible and smelly. Several viewpoints on the Northern Rim were closed, and fire fighters in helicopters and in trucks at closed intersections were a major presence. You can see evidence of a great fire that took place in 2006 on the drive to the canyon entrance. Many ponderosa pines survived because their bark is so tough, and new growth, aspens mostly, can be seen around them and the charred remains. Historical markers at the canyon tell the story of 59,000 acres burned in that fire.

Zion National Park:

 You go through a 1.1 mile long tunnel carved into the rock as you descend to the bottom of the canyon...

We saw this spectacular wildlife on the way home to our campsite...

I just had to add this one from the other day...coming down from Calf Creek we entered this desert landscape. I stopped to wait for Tim, and unbelievably a hummingbird the exact color of the sand came right up to the car to greet me! He was of course too quick for me to capture in a photo...

Tim will be back on his bike tomorrow and westward ho...!