Sunday, 9/7/97
Grand Canyon: Yavapai Point & The West Rim
"Ours has been the first, and and will
doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this
profitless locality
" ---Lt. Ives (1857)
Five million people annually visit this "profitless
locality," by car, foot, air, and on the Colorado River itself.
And judging by the crowds at sunrise, they *all* get up
early. I was up at 5am, which was made easier by the fact my
body still thought it was 8am EDT. It may seem insane to go
on vacation, and arise long before the sun, but in the Grand
Canyon the show starts promptly at sunrise, and will be delayed
for no one. To miss it seems equally insane.
---CLICK any image to ENLARGE---
When I arise at such an hour, caffeine is my immediate
priority. There was a Mickey D's a few miles from the South
Entrance that wisely opens at 5am. Over several visits chatting
with the shift manager, I found out he's got an entire room decorated in Atlanta Braves souvenirs, including a
$140 authentic jersey. He said he's always dreamed of traveling
to Atlanta to see the Braves play, something I take for
granted. Armed with a jug o' java, I headed to someplace
he likely takes for granted, Yavapai Point.
"Once I traveled about in an old bakery wagon, double-doored rattler with a mattress on the floor, I stopped where people stopped or gathered, I listened and looked and felt, and in the process had a picture of my country the accuracy of which was impaired only by my own shortcomings"
---John Steinbeck, "Travels with Charley"
It was quite crowded, even at 6am, and the portion
of the rim trail that heads west was closed (the direction
of many of the better sunrise views from that point). So,
I headed east away from the crowds, and found little to
disappoint. The shot at the left was taken in the same direction
as the first one on this page. A mere 45 minutes or so is the
only difference between them. Time is a required ingredient
to truly appreciate this place.
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At about 3:30 that afternoon, I got on the shuttle bus
to see the West Rim. The drivers have a microphone and deliver
a running commentary. Ours sounded like he was from somewhere deep
in south Georgia. As was true on my visit to Yosemite, fully
50% (a conservative estimate) of the conversations you hear
are not in English (or at least "American"). The
driver's accent, which I could mostly decode, made for some
interesting exchanges. Driver: "Y'all don't wanna git
off heyuh, honey, it's the next stop." French woman:
"Honey? (struggling with map) Honey Point?" Driver:
"Naw, sugar, this is Hopi Point." She looked at me
in total questioning confusion. After briefly deliberating about replying "Wie geht's" to throw a 3rd language into
the mix, I merely replied "Next Stop" to her obvious
relief.
"Guns have metamorphosed into cameras in this earnest comedy, the ecology safari, because nature has ceased to be what it always had been—what people needed protection from. Now nature tamed, endangered, mortal—needs to be protected from people." ---
Susan Sontag
I got off at Mohave Point, and while waiting for the
sun to get lower in the sky, I hiked west on the rim trail
along The Abyss, a horseshoe shaped canyon with 3000 foot sheer
walls. Even here, the valley walls feature much more wildlife
than I had imagined. During my 3 days here, I saw squirrels,
*tiny* chipmunks, a *tiny* hummingbird with a body no larger
than and inch and a quarter, and even a mountain goat nimbly negotiating a 60 degree slope.
---CLICK any image to ENLARGE---
But most obvious and impressive were the dozens of
large birds: hawks, falcons, eagles, huge crows....
"The day, water, sun, moon, night -- I do not have to purchase these things
with money" ---Plautus
I'm no bird watcher, but I spent an hour marveling
at these creatures, engaging in an aerial ballet/battle on
the thermals rising up the walls of The Abyss. Their power
was amazing, as you could actually hear the air displaced
by their flight and powerful wingspans approaching 6 feet.
When one curls in its wings and dives at 90 m.p.h, the
sound is incredible.
---CLICK any image to ENLARGE---
Smaller birds abound as well (although not as
photogenic). In the Abyss, there were some unidentified
birds (later diagnosed as probably a type of swallow) that
flew with speed I've never seen before, and the ability to
turn on a dime. It was like watching some biological UFO,
as two of them played "tag" on the thermals.
"The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it
is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to
put some order into ourselves" ---Willem
de Kooning
For sunset, Mohave Point is an excellent choice.
With my telephoto lens, I could see that it was wall-to-wall
people along the rails at Hopi Point next door. You'll find
a similar view, and less people. Oh, and if you happen to find
a 52mm lens cap about 3000 feet below Mohave Point, it's mine.
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