A grand day out

Another day during the middle part of our holiday where we combined travel from A to B with some pretty spectacular sight-seeing, in this case the Grand Canyon. Rather than the more touristy south rim, where most people go, we visited the North rim. Took us something over an hour before the road started to climb, eventually topping out at nearly 9,000 feet. bit of ear-popping on the steeper bits. AS most days, the scenery was ever changing - sometimes forest ravaged by fire where you only has bare trunks, other times dense woods, or open clearings. In one was herd of (semi-wild) bison!
Finally we reached the rim. Mercifully it was fairly quiet, not too many people around. First up we had our very British picnic - rolls, crisps, stone-cold coffee, muffins and fruit. Basically the best Walmart could supply.
Then it was off on a walk to get the views - although they were already pretty spectacular. We identified a trail which took us out into the canyon, but wasn't too far as we only had an hour or so. Very civilised though - hard path all the way, but with a few rocks for the boys to climb. Very steep drop-offs each side and views to die for - at least if it wasn't for the slight haze. I kept a weather eye out for Californian Condor which are around, but no sightings. Did get white-throated swift and black-throated gray warbler though.

 

Then back out of the park down the way we came, stopping for a few scenic shots, on our way to the next phase of our trip - focusing on the national parks of Zion and Yellowstone - bears here we come!!!