2025 Grand Canyon: Thunder River I

 This hike almost did not happen.

Up to approximately 3 weeks before, the fire in the North Rim of the Grand Canyon meant that the North Rim was closed.  The company we went with had planned a route out of the South Rim just in case (which would have been fine, of course) - but three weeks out the North Rim reopened.

(The only picture I grabbed from Flagstaff)

The start of every hike - whether in the meeting place or at the trailhead - consists of a pack check, where our guide or guides see what you are bringing to make sure that it is not too much and that you are not missing anything too critical.  Our guide for the hike, a 5'2" woman with the trail name Rainbow Bright (who for the record out hiked, out carried, and out prepared all of us), went through each of our piles of stuff.  I felt pretty good that nothing I had got culled (although she did ask after the book I was bringing - Did I read every day?) and I had to buy one item (a cheap plastic rain poncho from The Mart of Wal, mostly because they are pretty weightless).

The next morning we rose early and met with our guide and the other members of our group:  3 gentlemen from Pennsylvania and a gentleman (also a Brit, as it turned out) currently living in CA.  3 more pack checks and we were off.

The drive to the North Rim starting from Flagstaff is a pleasant one to begin with; the scenery is that of Alpine region with meadows and stands of pine trees (One of those places I think "I should come back and visit here sometime).  But at some point - about an hour or so in - the scenery begins to change into the treeless, windblown, rocky terrain of a desert.

Deserts that are unoccupied are beautiful.  Deserts that are lived tend to be less desirable to me than other sorts of lived in environments as there is nothing to conceal or hide the starkness of human human habitation.

As you can tell, we had elements of rain and clouds as we drove.  It made for some very beautiful views, the desert and clouds - something which I do not think I have seen.

Our first sight of the Colorado River:

Navajo Bridge.  The original bridge (to the left) was originally completed in 1929 and was the first bridged crossing of the Colorado, replacing the ferry at Lee's Ferry which was located 6 miles East and was (since 1873) the only place the Colorado could be crossed for hundreds of miles.

The original bridge was replaced in 1995 by a new bridge.  The original construction crew had done their job so well that the cleared points left behind from 1927-1929 were used as the base for the ne Bridge.

The Vermillion Cliffs, a relatively new (2000) National Monument.  It is approximately 294,000 square acres.