A day in the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon National Park is the one of the best scenic places we have ever visited in North America.
Grand Canyon is one of the world renowned tourist places that every traveler yearn to visit. Contradictingly, we didn’t have that in our bucketlist like other travelers. The place looked picturesque but apart from that we couldn’t find any specific birding spots in Grand Canyon. We had visited Niagra Falls and regretted , as the place was very commercialized. Me and Vinod would rather enjoy the hidden falls in Himalayas where we could just enjoy the rainbows and roar of water. We have heard about various constructions in Grand Canyon like the Skywalk, so we concluded that the great architecture by Mother Nature in Grand Canyon also changed. At the same time, I read about various hiking trails in Grand Canyon which gave me a total different perspective about this place. So after being in wilderness of Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park, we decided to pay a visit to Grand Canyon also and we didn’t regret our decision!
The Color Palette of this place is totally different from other natural wonders we have visited. It looked like some big painting was kept infront of us. The gorges and canyons looked very unreal.
Grand Canyon National Park is located in the state of Arizona and spread across 4928 sq.km. The drive to Grand Canyon itself was interesting as the road to the park was almost deserted except for heavy trucks. So we enjoyed the drive through the wilderness and we spotted few interesting flora & fauna on the roadsides. Usually we try to reach any destination by early dawn because the morning sun always gives a beautiful glow on everything it sheds light. Unfortunately, due to logistics we couldn’t reach the Grand Canyon National Park for Sunrise. But we were enjoying the Sunrise while driving and suddenly Vinod exclaimed pointing at a boulder on the roadside. I saw a pair of Bighorn Sheep standing on the rock and they immediately sensed that we noticed them.
Bighorn Sheep merges well with the rocky terrain. So if they stand still, it is tough to spot them in the canyons. They are really gorgeous.
They have to be in constant alert mode because they are in endangered status. They started jumping over the rocks and ran away. Even though we saw them just for few seconds , we felt very energized.
We continued our drive and I was looking out for wildflowers on the roadside. These dry regions have one of the most spectacular wildflower blooms. Like I expected, we saw few beautiful blooms on the roadsides. The bright yellow asters looked more colorful in the contrasting grey colored canyon surroundings.We were discussing about the wildflower, wild goat combination till we reached the entrance of Grand Canyon National Park.
Asters are always beautiful but their bright yellow color was more vivid in the desert terrain. They were a pleasing sight in the barren looking ground.
In India you cannot see any wildflowers except for weeds in the places where country goats graze. At the same time, in Silent Valley National Park you can even see wild ground orchids where the famous Nilgiri Tahr is grazing.
After paying the entry fee at the Grand Canyon National Park South Rim entrance, we walked to the Canyon view point. The view was breathtaking and it was like some multi-layer mega size painting was kept in front of us. The scenery was so perfect that I couldn’t believe it was real. I tried to see the canyon in different angle but in each angle the gorge, color of the canyon and shape of the ridges looked different to me. Vinod was unsatisfied with his pictures as they were not showing the real massiveness of the place. Now I understood why President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to protect this natural monument.
I cannot imagine a location like this in my wildest dreams. Now I can understand why President Theodore Roosevelt made this canyon a protected site. These natural wonders are irreplaceable.
We were pondering on what to do next after we spent some good time looking at the canyon. While I was enjoying the cool view infront of me , I was terrified at the height of the Canyon and carefully trod my steps. But we saw a cute guy who had no worries about the height. The Rock Squirrel was munching continuously and I couldn’t understand why the park rangers were warning about this little guy. The Rock Squirrel is bold and didn’t get scared by the tourists.
Rock squirrel in Grand Canyon are curious animals. I don’t think they are dangerous. Generally in tourist locations, most of the animals are used to humans. Just because they are not scared of us doesn’t mean they are a threat to us.
I think American people have to visit India and see our Bonnet macaques to witness the real aggressive behavior.
While watching the rock squirrel, Vinod saw a flycatcher sitting on a pine tree. Once we started looking at the birds then we could see birds everywhere. So we decided to walk along the pine trees and search for birds.
All the tourists were crowded at the major scenic viewpoints, so we were left alone once we crossed the major tourist points. Even in the world renowned tourist place where millions of visitors come, all are preset to visit the same spots. Now the place was very silent, we heard the loud knocking of the woodpecker. Then the downy woodpecker came into view.
Dark-eyed Junco was a lucky sighting for us in Grand Canyon National Park. They are really very cute and they were pecking their food from the ground.
Most people are oblivious to this birding world, so when my birding eyes are open I feel like I am in 9 3/4 platform. A hunting party was flying at the canopy of the pine trees but we couldn’t see the birds in naked eye. While we were squinting our eyes and searching for the birds in the canopy, we heard a bird sound nearby. We saw a Mountain Jay sitting on a small pine tree and it was talking to us. The Jays are usually very talkative and this one looked like it had a big story to tell. We enjoyed the chit-chat of the Mountain Jay and continued our walk.
Mountain Jays are curious birds and they like to talk very much. We listened to his talk in that beautiful background.
There was a path amidst the tall trees and we decided to walk inside the pine forest. Sadly, after few moments we saw big open patch where logging was going on. So we returned back to the trail.
We sauntered around the woods for sometime and decided to return back to the viewpoint for Sunset. On the way back, we saw a herd of Elk. They were used to tourists it seems, so they didn’t run off immediately like they usually do. We had seen Elks only at distance and this was the first time we were seeing them very closely.
Antelopes always look elegant with their antlers. So I was searching for the elks with big antlers but when I saw these two , they looked elegant as well even without antlers. I loved their fluffy hair.
They were once in millions but hunted down mercilessly, so there were just few scattered populations. We watched the beautiful creatures and walked back to the viewpoint. The place was crowded now and everyone were eagerly waiting for the Sunset. We sat in a quiet corner and just enjoyed the shades on the sky which looked more beautiful with the Canyon view. That was one of the best Sunset we had ever experienced ! Grand Canyon was the one of the tourist spots where we had great experience with wildlife.