Susan and I had a wonderful honeymoon trip to Grand Canyon National Park. We left Houston on Sunday morning, June 10. Our flights to Phoenix and on to Flagstaff were on time and uneventful. It felt great to leave Tropical Storm Allison and all of the flooding behind. The weather in Flagstaff consisted of clear blue skies with a light breeze and a high temperature of 75. We spent a little time wandering around the historic downtown area and had a nice lunch there. The drive up to the park was very scenic. Lots more pine trees than we expected.

When we got to the park, we first stopped at Mather Point to get our first view into the canyon. Our first of many awesome views. We checked into the El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim and went for a "warm-up" hike on the Bright Angel Trail. We had planned on doing a six mile round trip, but cut it short at around four miles. It was a good introduction to canyon hiking, and let us know what kind of shape our legs were in.

We never were able to eat at the El Tovar restaurant. Apparently most people made their dinner reservations when they booked their rooms, as it was always booked solid. We had some excellent meals at the Arizona Room and Bright Angel restaurants instead. Not to mention an ice cream break or two at the soda shop on the rim.

On Monday, we went on a fantastic tour of the Havasupai Indian Reservation. It started with a helicopter ride from the Grand Canyon Airport over the Kaibab National Forest into Havasu Canyon and Supai Village. Susan and I, along with another couple (Tom & Alisha), then got on horses and headed down the trail to Havasu Falls. It had been a long time since I'd ridden a horse. I'm glad it wasn't an all-day ride or otherwise I'd have had a hard time hiking (not to mention just sitting) afterwards. The ride was very enjoyable with lots of good views of the canyon and Havasu Creek. We got our feet a little wet when we rode through the creek at one point. Our horses really seemed to enjoy that part. It was all we could do to get them to continue on down the trail.

After we got off the horses, we had several hours to hike and explore the falls. The four of us headed down the trail to Mooney Falls. It was absolutely spectacular. The falls drop almost 200 feet into a big pool of clear blue-green water. To get to the base, you have to climb down the cliff. They have steps cut in and chains to hold on to in places, but it's still fairly treacherous. The cliff is made of lots of travertine formations that resemble stalagmites. We spent an hour or so mesmerized by the falls while wading around in the cool water. It was really hard to pull ourselves away after eating a bit of lunch, but we wanted to spend some time at Havasu Falls before getting back on the horses.

We hiked back up the trail and spent a good bit of time swimming and wading around in the pools at Havasu Falls. I even got up the nerve to swim over behind the falls. Tom had already followed some other guys back there so I figured it wasn't too dangerous. It was hard to breathe back there with all of the spray from the falls hitting the water. It was a little difficult swimming with my left hand balled up in a fist. I was somewhat paranoid about my new wedding ring slipping off in the cold water. The whole area looked like it was built by Disney. We just wish we had known to bring shoes that we could wear into the water, as there were lots of rocks that weren't very comfortable to walk on.

On the horseback ride out, Susan and one of our guides galloped on ahead while Tom, Alisha, and I let our horses set the pace. We had time to enjoy a cold soft drink before boarding the helicopter for the ride back to the airport. Unfortunately, the FAA changed the rules a couple of months ago and flights below the rim into the Grand Canyon are now restricted. Of course, the tour operator won't tell you that unless you specifically ask. It was still an interesting flight, but nothing like what they used to do. The whole tour was a wonderful experience for both of us.

On Tuesday morning we checked out of the hotel and spent several hours hiking and riding the shuttle bus along the West Rim. The views were spectacular. We had lunch at the Maswik Lodge Cafeteria before beginning the long drive to the North Rim. Along the way we stopped at the Tusayan Ruins Museum along with the Desert View Watchtower. The drive through the Painted Desert was interesting, but long. It was an amazing change to enter the forests on the North Rim. We saw several wild turkeys beside the road as we were entering the Kaibab National Forest, along with a porcupine and a few other critters.

After we checked into our room, a very rustic "Frontier Cabin", we were treated to a great sunset. Afterwards, Susan made the mistake of asking the desk clerk if we needed to worry about scorpions in our room. The clerk said not really, but then proceeded to spin some tale about brown recluse spiders taking over the world or something and using the North Rim as their breeding ground. Susan made me triple-check the room with my flashlight each night. A different clerk later told me they hadn't really had any problems with the spiders and didn't know how these stories got started. Not that it helped Susan sleep any better...

The next morning we had a big breakfast at the dining room in the lodge. Had we gotten up a little earlier, we could have seen the snow that fell for about two minutes. We hit the trail to Widforss Point at around 10:00 or so. It was a very pleasant out and back trail that covered about ten miles through ponderosa and pinyon pine trees with a few aspen groves thrown in. There were also lots of flowers that looked like bluebonnets, only they were more lavender in color. The trail ended with a scenic overlook into the canyon. Susan did have one encounter with a gopher snake that she almost stepped on. Both survived unharmed, although with a somewhat elevated heart rate on Susan's part. As the temperature was in the 40's, the snake wasn't moving very fast. There was a great deal of evidence of last year's fire that they had there. Lots of burned trees, but with new growth filling in from the ground up.

That night we had a great dinner at the dining room. The food and service were both excellent. The hard part was getting a table. Evidently most people make their dinner reservations a month in advance. We were fortunate to reserve a table for two nights. The alternative is to eat at the cafe, which serves pizza, calzones, sub sandwiches, and snacks. If you're looking for a cheeseburger, forget it. Stick with the salmon, trout, or any of the other great dishes in the dining room.

On Thursday, we got up around 4:30AM (Arizona's not on daylight savings time) and hiked down to Bright Angel Point to watch the sunrise. It was a little chilly and, without any clouds to speak of, there weren't many good photo opportunities of the sunrise. It was still very pretty.

After eating breakfast and getting packed up for hiking, we hit the North Kaibab Trail. This was another 10-miler, only with lots of elevation changes as you head down into the canyon. The payoff was absolutely spectacular scenery. Unfortunately, you have to share the trail with mules carrying the tourists who are too lazy to hike. We saw plenty of squirrels and lizards. Susan also had another snake encounter on the way out, this time with a fast-moving garter snake. The hike itself provides an education on Grand Canyon geology, as you head down through the different layers. Lots of steep cliffs, both above and below the winding trail.

We hiked all the way down to Roaring Springs, where we took a well-deserved rest and lunch break. As Susan was finishing her granola bar, we heard a rustling sound in the grass behind us. As it got closer, Susan stood up and assumed her "OhmyGodwhatisit?" stance and expression. After a final rustle or two, a squirrel poked its head out of the grass. Susan promptly shrieked and the squirrel took off like his life depended on it. I got a good laugh out of it, but Susan was slightly less amused. I'm not sure if the squirrel thought it was funny.

The hike back out was a lot tougher, seeing as how we were now going uphill for over 3000 feet. It was also quite a bit warmer than the 40 degrees of when we started. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it was probably up around 90. Shortly after Susan had her garter snake encounter, she got buzzed by a big, bumblebee/wasp type insect. I'm not sure what it was but it sure looked mean. As Susan was trying to avoid it, she came way too close to the edge of the trail for my comfort. It would have been about a 300 foot fall had the rocks given way. We had already seen and heard a couple of rock slides earlier in the day. The bugs and hot sun made the hike seem even longer than the 7 1/2 hours we were on the trail. The late dinner we had at the lodge was well-earned.

A couple of times during the hike, we saw a National Park Service helicopter landing in the canyon just below the springs. We found out later that a water pipe had broken, interrupting the water supply to Phantom Ranch. Imagine how all of those overnight hikers who had made their reservations a year or more in advance felt when they found out there was no running water at the ranch resort and the only bathing would be with 53-degree river water. You expect that if you're rafting, but I'd imagine a few people were a little surprised.

The next day we drove back to the South Rim, stopping at most of the overlooks along the way. We weren't able to get it on film, but at one overlook we saw a peregrine falcon and a raven dueling in a dogfight in the sky. It ended in a draw. We checked out the Grandview Trail, which starts out very steep. My knees were grateful I was able to talk Susan into passing it up. Instead, we enjoyed a very nice hike out to Shoshone Point, with a great view into the canyon. After dinner at the Arizona Room, we hiked a little ways on the Bright Angel Trail, as well as along the West Rim a ways. We then headed out of the park to the town of Tusayan to our hotel for the last two nights.

On our last day, we drove back into the park and took the West Rim shuttle bus out to Hermit's Rest. We started down the Hermit's Trail to Dripping Spring at noon. Not the best time to start a hike, as it was already pretty warm. Of course, we're stubborn Texans who aren't dismayed by a little heat. Besides, it was nowhere near as warm as last year's Big Bend trip. Depending on which trail guide you read, that hike is described as either "a moderate day hike suitable for kids" or "a steep, rocky, strenuous hike for experienced hikers". I'd say it was closer to the latter. The spring itself was pretty cool, but it was definitely a long way out there. I kept saying, "it's gotta be just around the next bend...", but was wrong for the first five or six times. The official mileage is somewhere around 6 1/2 miles round-trip, but it felt a lot longer with the heat and elevation change. It was still an enjoyable hike and a good one to end the trip. Susan commented several times that evening that all the tourists crowding the South Rim didn't know what good stuff they were missing by not hiking down the trails at least part way into the canyon.

On Sunday morning, we drove back down to Flagstaff, spending some more time downtown having lunch, etc. Our flight into Phoenix was on a 19-seat Beechcraft. The temperature in Phoenix was somewhere around 112 degrees, or as the copilot said, "So hot it just doesn't matter anymore." Needless to say, it was a very bumpy flight. When we got back to Houston, we found out that America West had lived up to their reputation as one of the worst airlines for having your luggage travel with you. All four of our suitcases were delivered to our house the next afternoon. At least it made unpacking late Sunday night easy.

Hopefully Susan and I will be able to go back in a few years. We certainly enjoyed what little time we got to spend there.

Here are some pictures taken by Tom and Alisha, a couple we met on the Havasupai Indian Reservation Tour: Havasupai Pictures