Grand Canyon ... in the snow!

The day dawned, a bit overcast and very cold and refreshing.  We had had a touch of snow last night, as we left the Ranger talk, small round pellets of snow, but it had not settled.  But, the chance was high for more snow today.

We decided to drive along the rim towards the east, to Desert View and the Watchtower that is there.  In about 1901, Mary Coulter was employed as an architect for many of the buildings here at Grand Canyon.  She researched the local architecture and local people, and incorporated many similar elements into her buildings here, and they blend into the surroundings, looking as if they have always been here, and many having pictographs and pteroglyphs inside.  The Watchtower was one of her buildings.  It has sweeping views over the Canyon and the Colorado River, and is also a memorial site for an air accident in the mid-1950s, in which 2 aircraft crashed over the Canyon very close to that spot.  Over 100 people were killed.  It was because of this accident that the Federal Aviation Administration was started.

We then started to re-trace our steps west again, with stops along the way: Navajo Point to listen to a Park Ranger talk on the effect that dams have had on the Colorado River and on the Canyon (there is less water flow, there is less sediment, the river is colder, fish that were blind are changing, plants (many introduced) are taking over riverbanks, archaeological sites are being uncovered and eroded (silt used to cover them up), ...) and the boys completed their Junior Ranger activities and received their Junior Ranger badges; Tusayan Museum and Ruins (including split wood horse shapes from about 12,000 yrs ago and displays on the local Indian tribes); a number of lookouts over the Canyon; the Pioneer Cemetery (there is a memorial to the aircraft accident victims; the grave of Captain John Hance, of the talk we went to last night; a lady (Mrs Bass) who was the 1st white woman to raise a family on the Canyon rim).

We parked the car then explored some of the buildings along the Rim - Hopi House which now sells Native Indian art, Bright Angel Lodge and the History Room (display on the Harvey Girls), Lookout Point, Kolb House (the Kolb brothers went down the Colorado in about 1911 or 1915 and made the first motion movie of such an event - it ran for over 61 years).  We then hopped on the Hermit's Rest shuttle bus and headed further west along the rim.  We didn't get off too often however, as it had started snowing about 11am and continued fairly constantly most of day.  It had started out as per last night - small round balls of ice, but the flakes got bigger and softer, and settled.

We did look out over Orphan Mine, which was originally mining copper then ended up mining uranium.  That stopped by the early 1960s and an act of Government has prevented any further mining in the Canyon.  They are now working on decontaminating the site.  Looking at it from above, it looks no different from any other area in the Canyon, but there are obviously dangers closer to it.

Hermit's Rest (another of Mary Coulter's designs) had a huge alcove area beside the fireplace where travelers could rest and warm up - it was popular today!

We returned to our car, swept off the snow, then drove all of 2 mins to the front of Maswick Lodge, where we are staying, to go and have dinner.  Then, a 1 minute drive to the back of the Lodge where our building is located.  We aren't really lazy - it was convenient, and really cold!!  -2 degrees Celcius!

So, although at times we could not see even the South Rim of the Canyon where we were, let alone the North Rim (over 10 miles distance in places), and we had to cancel our planned trip down part of the Bright Angel Trail, due to the snow and cloud, it was an amazing experience for us to be here, at the Grand Canyon, with snow.  And, it was the first time that the boys have had it snow on them, so they were especially excited.

Tomorrow, we leave this amazing, spectacular place, and head for the bright lights of Las Vegas.  Such an opposite - nature vs what?  Man-made glitz (or kitsch?).