Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"

After showers and some breakfast, Diane gets her things packed and we check out of the dorm. What a change from yesterday. It is cool, even chilly (we are at 7,000’ here), but the sky is clear and a deep blue. The morning sun is bright and works away at melting the various ice, slush, and snow from the cars, roads, and roofs. We stow Diane’s bags in DD and get a few things we need for some tourist sightseeing.

After a brief stop at the Marketplace store for some supplies and gifts, we drive to Yavapai Point, our first daytime look together into the canyon. My adjective finder starts to spin. How many times or ways can I say breathtaking.

We leave Essie parked at Yavapai, because the only way to the main visitor center, where we want to go to get our Parks Passport stamped, is via shuttle bus. So we jump on the blue bus westbound, transfer to blue eastbound at Shrine of the Ages, and get off four stops later at the Canyon View Information Plaza. Diane shows us through the Visitor Center and we stop at the bookstore to shop a few things. Then we walk out to Mather Point. A perfect day and Grand certainly describes it.Back to the Information Plaza, where we transfer to a green bus to Yaki Point and South Kaibab Trailhead. This is one of the two main access trails to hike or ride a mule several miles and 5,000’ vertical down to the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon. Diane hiked a couple of miles of this trail on a class field trip, but we confine today’s excursion to a few hundred feet down; there is still some ice and slush on the trail as a lot of it is shaded below the south rim.

Back up top, we check out the mule corral while we wait for the bus.

We visit Pipe Creek Vista briefly on the way back to the Plaza, then jump the blue bus back to Yavapai Point to get Essie. Deciding we need to make sure we have a place to stay tonight, we drive into Tusayan (not Onesie-Ann, but Twosie-Ann), just south of the Park Entrance and Diane shows me to free camping in the Kaibab National Forest. There are some ruts from recent rain and snow, but we find a fine spot for DD and no one else seems to be there. We also check out the movie schedule at the IMAX Theater on our way back to Backcountry parking. Then we split up; I drive DD to the camping spot while Diane stops by the Marketplace store in Essie. When I arrive, the place we picked is occupied, but I find a good alternate a few hundred feet away. Diane brings home roasted chicken and we have dinner.

Afterwards, we take Essie to go see a presentation on ravens at the Shrine of the Ages Auditorium by Senior Ranger Stew Fritts. He is as fun to watch (and listen to) as the ravens themselves. We had seen some of their soaring antics at the various overlooks earlier today. Ravens are, of course, larger than crows, but another main difference is that they don’t flap much—they soar. In the updrafts at the rim of the canyon, they are fascinating to watch. They can do rolls, loops, and somersaults in flight, some of it seemingly for fun and some as mating display. They are a riot. Ranger Fritts, with his hand-puppet, “Nevermore,” fills us with fun stories and is thoroughly entertaining.