End of the Grand Canyon and more

We got up pretty early, did some gift shopping. (Only people who comment are going to get gifts and they are pretty nifty.) Looked at the now familiar views one last time. Then we drove 25 miles to the east end of the Grand Canyon and that gave completely different vistas. Here is the obligatory picture of me so that you know we were really there.







This is a view of the canyon from the east end at Desert View Point. You can see the river here entering the canyon. The canyon is not as deep. We spent several hours looking at the canyon before we left. It was difficult to leave; I was afraid that we were going to get behind on the itinerary!!!






We were driving along on our way to Desert View and saw a sign for the Tusayan Ruins; though not planned, we stopped. About 800 years ago a tribe of maybe 30 Indians lived on that site. They grew some vegetables, did some hunting, and I guess for vacation they walked over to the Grand Canyon. This is not the earliest indication of people in the area. There are lots of caves down in the canyon and many of them were inhabited.



On our way out of the park we saw the park service at work. They had set a quick fire to burn out the underbrush. If the underbrush is not kept to a minimum then eventually a lightning strike will start a fire and it will be a big deal. (Like in Yellowstone at least 10 years ago.) So instead they set small fires and then put them out. We saw lots of evidence of these fires driving into the park. Overall the Grand Canyon park is just wonderfully run. I guess if the Park Service is going to do anything right, it better be this one. (By the way, Andrew, They hire 800 seasonal workers for the summer and there are cabins.)






We spent the next 3 hours driving through Arizona. I had Dad take this picture of the power lines because the power grid is such a prevalent part of the landscape. I don't know if it is just because we spent time at Hoover Dam but it seems so much more prominent than in the east.