You know when something is soooo hyped and you are so excited to try it but once you do it, it totally sucks? Like La Croix? Now this may be a super unpopular opinion but I think La Croix sucks. Well, The Grand Canyon is the exact opposite of that experience. No matter how many pictures, videos or blog posts you see, nothing can prepare you for the vast beauty that is: THE. GRAND. CANYON. “Grand” doesn’t even begin to describe it. It should be the “Awe Inspiring” Canyon or the “Truly Majestic” Canyon or the “So Beautiful Words Cannot Even Begin To Describe It” Canyon. Yes, it is really that breathtaking!
As part of my first trip to the Grand Canyon I knew I wanted to experience it from every possible angle; the air, the water and the land. So I did some research and found a full day tour that offered all three in the South Rim, as that is the only part of the canyon open at the time of my visit in March. Since no one else on the trip had been to the canyon before either, they all excitedly agreed to the excursion.
We started our day with a 4:00 am wake up call because we had an hour drive to Grand Canyon Airport for a 6am meet up time. The first leg of our trip was a sunrise plane ride over the canyon to the Page Airport. The tour company provided a quick breakfast while everyone checked in. We snacked on apples, yogurt and muffins while we waited for sunrise. Around 6:40 am we were finally ready for takeoff. Each seat on the plane had a headset that played a pre-recorded tour of the flight in different languages. The entire flight lasted about an hour, so we had gorgeous views of the canyon walls changing as the sun rose. This flight was beautiful but definitely something to enjoy with your eyes, not your camera. I was in the front half of the plane and had to photograph strategically to avoid getting the propellers in my shots. Some of the windows in front were also pretty scratched up, to the point you couldn’t really get a clean photo out of them at all, but still had a decent view in person.
The second leg of our tip started around 8:30 am when we piled in the back of a truck and headed to Upper Antelope Canyon with our guide. Typically you want to be in the canyon as close to noon as possible to see the famous light beams and to truly highlight the bright orange stripes carved into the rock walls by thousands of years of sand blasting winds and flood water. However, at 9am we got what out guid called “moody rocks” in some areas, while still experiencing some of the bright orange that the canyon is known for. Something I found really interesting is that you can only enter the canyon with an appointed Navajo guide. Our guide had been giving tours in the canyon for many years and had excellent advice on the best spots and angles to take some incredible pictures of the canyon.
When our time in Antelope Canyon was up, our guide dropped us off for the 3rd leg of our tour, the scenic raft down the Colorado River. This part of the tour was actually in an area of the river called Glen Canyon and started at the Glen Canyon dam (insert corny daaayyyuuuummmm jokes). We had about 20 people in a large inflatable raft with a motor and we slowly and gently floated down the river surrounded by the canyon walls. It is important to note that this portion of the Colorado River is very smooth and gentle, no white water rapids or fast moving water in sight. In fact the tour company even told us, if you see a rapid, something has gone terribly wrong (jokingly of course).
This portion of our tour was also guided by member of the Navajo tribe and she had a lot of really interesting facts about the area and its sights. She also shared a lot of cool personal experiences she had as a guide and as a Navajo woman. For example, at one point she told us about the time she camped on the side of the river with some other guides and climbed up to what looked like a small cave from our perspective on the water, but was, in reality, a spot where a massive amount of rock had eroded away from the cliffside. She then passed around a photo of her in said “hole.” It was nearly twice her height. She shared stories about the Navajo traditions she and her family take part in. My favorite was when she told us about the coming of age rituals her daughter recently took part in that included running several miles every morning for the week leading up to her ceremony, and grinding an entire room full of corn into flour for the celebration feast. At one point our guide stopped the boat entirely and talked about how she feels a particularly strong connection to her grandfather at that point in the river because he was the first person to take her on the river and that spot was his favorite.
After the boat ride all that was left was to hop on a bus and head back the the airport. The trip featured several corny jokes from the bus driver, a few movies about the history of rafting expeditions down the Colorado River, and a stop at a huge gift shop. In all, the drive was about 3 hours long and we napped for the majority of it. (remember that 4am wake up call?). There were several hotels near the entrance of the park, so we dropped other guests off before concluding the trip back to the airport, around 6:30 pm.
This was a FULL DAY tour that offered so much more than the unique vantage points of the canyon walls I was originally most excited for. In the end, I walked away with a greater appreciation for Navajo culture, a greater understanding of the geology and history of the area and a stronger connection to nature.
Cheers,