10/27/08 - Grand Canyon!

Have I ever told you all how much I enjoy riding the mountain passes? More on that later, but first...

Sweet Mama, that's a big hole in the ground!

I pulled into the parking lot at the visitor's center and then took the bus to the other end of the park, planning to walk the rim back. I took several photos along the way, including this California Condor that happened by.

At one point, I wanted to get a pic of myself standing by the edge, so I asked this nice gentleman to take one of me. He kept saying, "Back up. Back up." and before I realized, I was standing five feet off the canyon edge. I then made the rookie mistake of looking down. Luckily, I was able to windmill my legs really fast and propel myself to the edge just in time to catch hold.

I did get a couple of me at the very edge. Here, I found a nice ledge of rock sticking out.

Then later, I decided to get one with my legs dangling over the edge. I had such a severe case of vertigo, though, that I could barely snap this one. Yes, the big bad biker is afraid of heights. Funny, I was fine standing right on the edge looking down, but sitting with a body part out in the air freaked me out.
I didn't quite finish the rim walk, since it was getting on and I needed to get to Utah, so I took the bus back to the bike and took off for Kanab. About three quarters of the way there, the sun started to set and I got some great photos of the nearby cliffs. As the sun set, I had a choice to make. I was right at the point where Route 89 splits. 89 would take me up onto the mesa and then straight over to Kanab. 89-Alternate goes over a mountain. If you've been reading my blog at all, you know which one I chose. 89A crosses the Colorado River pretty quick, then it's the long, windy road to Jacobs Lake at the top, where you can also go over to see the north rim of the canyon. It was full dark by the time I started climbing up to about 8,000 feet. At that height, full dark means very cold, too; and so worth it! I tried to get a picture of the stars, as they are meant to be seen, without city lights to fade them out, but my camera wasn't willing to focus on the night sky(and I haven't figured out how to adjust the manual settings for it yet).

Lots more in Photobucket this time.