Williams to the Grand Canyon

Today we boarded the Grand Canyon Railway, riding in one of the dome cars.  Our car is named Kokopelli, a fertility god and a trickster.

The train ride is two hours long, but we are well-entertained by musicians both to and from our destination, great guitarists and comedians, both of them. 

Again there are many nationalities all around us; a young couple from London are directly across from us.  We roll through cattle ranches and then into higher terrain:  Ponderosa pine, pinion pines, juniper.

I remember listening when I was a boy to a recording my Dad had of the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé, and a little search on the internet convinces me that perhaps it was this one, and this cover I may have gazed at while I listened.

I can't even remember very much of the music - perhaps there was the clopping of hooves from the mules as they descend the trail?  Instead, I keep hearing that old Roy Rogers-Dale Evans song:

Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.
Happy trails to you,
Keep smiling until then.

 When we arrived at the Depot, we immediately boarded shuttle buses for a tour of all the best vista points:  Mojave Point, Hopi Point, and Trail Views Point where all the trails converge below us.  We took so many photos here that we are starting to run out of room; I noted in my little journal, "My camera is too small!"

Overhead we see large birds flying - California condors, which have built nests below us in the cliffs.  It is a scary place, too, if you are a little acrophobic; some folks like to stand right on the very edge, or perch on the stone walls along the walkway and dangle their feet, which frightened me more than looking over the edge did.

The Colorado river can be seen way down below us in the dizzying distance, where the Havasupai live - "the people of the blue-green waters."  Their agriculture was based on "the three sister":  corn, beans, and squash, often planted in the same hole and helping one another grow (the beans climbed up the corn-stalk, the squash shaded the ground).  In the distance is a flat mesa called Wotan and a pyramid called Vishnu.  What an ancient place this is!  Every foot we descend at one point represents 400,000 years.  The trail along the South Rim passes right behind the big hotels there, and people are simply walking back and forth, taking photo after photo, trying to fit all this in their cameras.  We see this inscribed in the wall of an old stone building.

Evening comes and we are still walking here, marveling at the earth and its manifold riches.

We are staying at the Maswik Lodge - Maswik is a Hopi Kachina, or spirit, who is said to guard the Grand Canyon.  We sleep soundly!