The Hidden Canyon

Sunday afternoon Janet, Eric and I started the 6,000 foot ascent to Grand Canyon, AZ from Las Vegas, NV. Needless to say, a lot can change climate wise when you climb 6,000 feet. It was dark when we reached the long road that leads to the canyon from the freeway so we didn't get a clear idea of how much snow there was. When we checked into our hotel, however, there was a weather forecast on the front desk that revealed our fate for the next day: 8-12 inches of snow and winter storm warnings above 6,000 feet. We were unsure if we would even get into the park on Monday.

The next morning we woke up to fresh snow and had to borrow a scraper to clean off the car. (Who owns one of those in Tucson??) We were quite thankful that we had just replaced our tires so there was nice new tread for the little Echo to trek through the snow.

They let us into the park and we found a place to catch the bus to the lookout points. It was snowing at a decent rate and the sky was completely cloudy so when we approached the canyon rim, this is what we saw:

Having seen the canyon splendor before, Eric and I could not believe that it was impossible to see even a glimpse of how beautiful it is. Janet kept declaring that she didn't believe there was a canyon there to see! We were faced with a dilemma: wait around to see if it cleared up and drive back to Tucson late, or try to get a hotel room for another night and see the canyon on Tuesday. After all, it would probably be a while before Janet got to fly out west again. We got some hot chocolate to warm up and sat and practiced our Black Jack skills while we discussed what to do.

With a plan in mind, we walked back to the bus stop to get to the car. Janet was trying to book our hotel by researching on her fancy-shmancy cell phone while we walked towards the parking lot. Suddenly we saw a patch of blue sky and the sun was poking through! We found the nearest path towards the rim and started trudging through the snow to see if maybe the clouds were lifting. Alas, we were met with a large gray cloud again. We started walking back but then Janet saw the blue sky again and turned around and ran towards the canyon. This time we got to the rim and started walking east where the blue sky was and our excitement increased as we started seeing little holes in the big patch of fog and parts of the canyon were coming into view.

The clouds were clearly on the move and it would only be a matter of time before they were completely gone! Finally, we came to a spot on the rim where we could see out into the canyon and Janet was leaping for joy. It was incredible to watch the clouds lift out and clear up and the beautiful snow-covered canyon come into view.

That happened around 3:00 and we spent the next three hours until sunset enjoying the view and taking pictures before our drive back to Tucson. (We also had some more hot chocolate because it was SO cold!) Eric and I were especially thankful because the first time we were at the canyon, it was cloudy and there wasn't a nice blue sky for our pictures. This time, between the snow and the sun, we have some great memories captured on film.