Visit to Arizona - Grand Canyon

30 April 2009

We set off early in the morning of 30 April. The drive to Grand Canyon would take about 4 - 5hours. Plus there were lots of people on the bus, so coordination took up some times as well.


We rid through the boulder city and villages and passed by the black mountain...


Our first-stop over was at the Hoover Dam, a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest hydroelectric power generating plant and the world's largest concrete structure.

The clock faces on the intake towers set for the time in Nevada and Arizona, in the Pacific Standard Time Zone or Pacific Daylight Time Zone, and Mountain Standard Time Zone time zones respectively (because Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, but the two clocks show the same time during the half of the year around the northern summer).


The Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge was still under construction at that time. The pictures showed the archway of the bottom-half of the bridge, supporting the 'yet to be built' horizontal roadways across the arch. The main purpose of the bypass is to alleviate the traffic from the top of the dam, where there are sharp turns and narrow roadways.


Never can imagine how a desert is like...so here I am, riding through the dry land with little vegetation, Joshua trees, cactus, scorching sun, dark brown land, clear blue sky...quite an experience for me! :)

Finally we reached Grand Canyon at about 12pm!

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, one of the first national parks in the United States. We entered the West Rim of the Grand Canyon area, which is part of the private land owned by the Native people, the Hualapai Tribe, hence admission fees are also higher. Consisting of approximately 2,000 Hualapai members, the tribe owns nearly one million acres of land throughout the Grand Canyon’s western rim.


The first drop-off point is known as the Eagle Point. The picture showed that part of the canyon walls that resemble an Eagle spreading its wings.

The West Rim is also where the Skywalk is located. Well, definitely I am not ready to step onto the Skywalk and look through the glass floor at the base of the canyon some 4,000 feet below!!! It gives me jellies!!! Remember, no cameras on the Skywalk, but you can purchase your pictures from the shop. Other activities includes the helicopter rides that will bring you all the way down the gorge and up the cliffs! Definitely is an exhilarating experience!


The next drop-off point is the Guano Point, which literally means bat droppings. During the 1950's and 60's, bat guano (dung) was mined from a cave across the canyon and trammed backed on cables. Rich in nitrates, it was used for the production of makeup, fertilizer and explosives. Some of the mining relics still exist and are very interesting.

There are some other drop-off points around the West Rim, but given limited time, we didn't manage to go to all of them, but Eagle Point and Guano Point have presented me with such amazing and breath-taking views that I can never forget for a long time! I don't know how to describe that feeling...but it is definitely a must-visit place, one of the natural wonders of the world! *thumbs up*



Some days, I know I will be back again...