Fall City area | And a drive through mountains | Washington State

 

This is Snoqualmie Falls - in the fall.  I was told that in the spring, that entire space between the trees would be totally full of water coming over the cliff.  It was quite impressive as it was, but I'm sure it would be amazing when it was larger.

 

 

We found a small gathering of elk in a meadow, but unfortunately, they weren't very close. 

 

This is one of the rivers that meet at the Snoqualmie Falls and you can see by the riverbank that it was low water when I was there.

This is an old railroad tunnel.

 

We took a road trip through the mountainous areas - the scenery was breathtaking.  It was early October, but there was still snow on the peaks.



 

This footbridge is part of a State Park.

 

 

There are many rivers in the Fall City area and they seem quite calm right now.  By the time spring comes, they will be raging.

 

 

 

Moss decorates most trees in the wooded areas, growing conditions are quite good.

  

The Rockies!

 

 



Information (and interesting facts) you need to know before you go to the Grand Canyon National Park

 

 

 

Just for general information, I thought I'd log some of the interesting facts I've learned about the Grand Canyon.  If you want to sightsee the canyon the easy way, you can buy yourself a seat on the red helicopters that can be seen flying over. It only costs $539 per person! Guess who's not doing that?

The Canyon has been a national park for a long time, long enough that they have the transportation efficiently set up. You take your car to a parking lot and then you board a shuttle taking you to the trails and sights you want to see. You are given a map at the entrance which explains the whole thing. They have different routes depending on where you want to go. However, if you want to get a great spot for sunset, there may be a couple busloads filled up while you're waiting to go. But, the light is much better for photos about 5 PM and sunset was amazing.  The late afternoon photos are much better than the daytime ones, since the sun is on the opposite side at that time.

 

They do not sell bottled water, but they have a few water stations along the way where you can refill your own bottle.  It comes from a spring right down at the bottom of the canyon.  If you don't have a bottle, they will sell you a nice souvenir one.  Luckily, I brought my own bottle and the water tastes good. They could use a few more locations though.

 

It's a good idea to bring pretty much everything you need.  They have a little grocery store in the Grand Canyon Village as well as a store in the little village about 2 miles outside the gates.  However, the prices are at least double what you'd find in a normal grocery store.  I felt like I was shopping back in the Virgin Islands because the prices were so high.

They do have a very nice little library with WiFi that you can go in and use.  Wonderful idea for people who spend more than a couple of days there.

One thing I was surprised about was a monument for an airline crash that happened on the east end on the Canyon in 1956. Two airplanes collided, TWA and United, above two buttes in the Canyon. There is a monument in the Pioneer Cemetery in the Grand Canyon Village for 29 passengers from United Airlines who were unidentified. The remains of most of the TWA passengers were buried in a mass grave in Flagstaff. Only 29 passengers were identified and returned home.

 

Back in the late 1800s it seems that everyone in Arizona was mining copper. It surprised me to find out that mining was happening inside the Grand Canyon, 3000' below the the rim. This mine was reached by a 3 mile trail, still in use today by hikers. In order to bring the ore up, they used mules to haul 200 pound loads to the canyon rim. While I was visiting here, the temperatures were in the low 90s and there were signs warning of excessive heat. Inside the canyon, things heat up and temperatures over 110 were predicted during the daytime. The hikes down into the canyon are steep and winding. I went down the mine trail for a ways, but at an elevation of 7000', I didn't want to be on that trail for long.

The Colorado River cuts through the canyon about a mile down.

On the road leading into the park, you're likely to see elk grazing along the road. The first morning I went in, I was able to catch a lazy one who was apparently not hungry.

And this little guy was wandering across the street from my camp site the other day.

And the rest of the photos are just shots of the Canyon.  This Park is so massive there is no way to see the entire thing in one or two days.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Canyon!

While I was in Williams, Arizona, a friend and I were thinking about taking the train up to the Grand Canyon to spend a few hours exploring. Since Williams is over 6000' in elevation, it was quite cool up there, and to add to the fun, we spent two full days with total overcast and rain. My friend decided we should just drive up the next morning we saw blue sky (!) again so that we could have unlimited time.

So, on my last day there, we went up to visit the Canyon. Since the area is so well visited, they have a fleet of shuttle buses that run along the south rim of the Canyon. You can get off at every scenic overlook to take photos and then board another bus that comes along every 10 or 15 minutes. Otherwise, the area would be a mass of vehicles trying to maneuver along the roads. During off-season, when there aren't many visitors, since it snows up there, you are allowed to drive that same route.



   

The Colorado River shaped the Canyon millions of years ago, it now flows through the bottom of the Canyon at almost a mile down - not often seen by people standing on the rim. The Canyon itself is massive, covering over 1900 square miles. It can be anywhere from 5 to 18 miles from the South Rim to the North Rim, which is higher elevation. There are many colors in the rock formations that have been carved out by the river, layer by layer. Although our shuttle bus took us along the rim for 8 miles, we saw only a small portion of the canyon.

 

The last stop on the shuttle was Hermit's Rest, a very rustic building built in the early 1900s with local rock. It now houses a snack bar and gift shop. The most amazing part of the building is the giant fireplace area, as shown in the photo below. There were people relaxing in that area, so I've blocked them off since I didn't have permission to post their photos. Unfortunately, they didn't have a fire going on that day.

There are different tours available, such as helicopter rides inside the canyon, and a pack-mule trip down into the canyon, a 20 mile hike with a couple days of camping. I probably won't be doing either of those. I will most likely go back to visit the Canyon again and camp there, or close by. There is so much more to see than what you can see in a few hours.

On the way back to our park, we saw cars parked on each side of the road, so we slowed down and saw an elk grazing along the road.  He was oblivious to the attention and just looked up a couple times.
 

 

Since neither of us had lunch, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for an early dinner on the way home.  It was a great exploring day!   Thanks to my good friend who did the driving!