GRAND CANYON, USA - Let The Grand Journey Begins!

18:49 Travel Bunny 4 Comments

Souvenir shop inside the terminal building.



A giant fan at the waiting hall.



Every passenger must be weighed so that they could arrange the seatings based on weight. Then we were divided into groups, differentiated by a coloured sticker on our shirt. The pilot and co-pilot are both very friendly.



Woohoo helicopter tour. Well...... I wish. They also offer helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon.



I'm actually taking the plane. It's cheaper.



Its a small plane and has three seats per row. The window panels were larger than normal plane allowing passengers to get a good view of the scenery.



The co-pilot explaining the rules and regulations to be followed during the flight.



If you want a window seat, you need to top up another USD 10 but it is not guaranteed that you’ll get one. It all depends on the weight distribution of the plane. If you didn’t get the window seat, they will refund your money.



Buckled up and put the headphone on. I had butterflies in my stomach as the plane took off and soared to the sky. Grabbed my camera and started taking pictures as the plane flew across the desert highlands of northern Arizona.





View of Lake Mead.





The sight of Hover Dam from the sky. Simply magnificent.
Completed in 1936, Hoover Dam is a National Historic Site and Civil Engineering Wonder of the Modern World. The dam impounds Lake Mead and provides hydroelectric power to Nevada, Arizona, and California.



The Colorado river.



After a 45minutes flight, the Grand Canyon is finally in sight!



Getting down from the plane. Grand Canyon here I come!



The site map of Grand Canyon West.

Welcome to Grand Canyon West, the land of the Hualapai Tribe. The Hualapai, meaning 'People of The Tall Pines', are native people of the Southwest. Only in 1988, did they open their land to visitors, thus creating Grand Canyon West.



Waiting for a shuttle bus to take us to the view points.
Hop-On-Hop-Off shuttle bus operates very frequently (like every 5 minutes), giving me the freedom to choose the sights and the time to spend at each one.



Beautiful view on the way to Eagle Point.



Eagle Point, The Grand Canyon Skywalk and Native American Village.



Eagle point is home to the Skywalk, the glass bridge that suspends more than 4,000 feet above the Grand Canyon.
I skipped the tour to the Skywalk. Their admission fee was quite expensive, USD 25 per person just to walk on it. You are not allowed to take pictures on the Skywalk itself. Visitors can only purchase photographs of themselves at the gift shop.



Why walk on the Skywalk when you can pretend to serve it on a platter or eat it? Hehe.



Eagle Point. A panoramic views of the canyon walls where the Heaven and Earth meet with such magnificence.



The main attraction of Eagle Point is not the Skywalk! The eagle image on the canyon wall is what brings us all here.



The art work of Mother Nature is simply amazing! You can literally see a gigantic eagle spreading its wings in the canyon.




A girl sitting on the edge enjoying the view.Who needs the Grand Canyon Skywalk?



My beau getting a better picture while walking near the edges. I kept reminding him to be careful. Over 50 death has occurred as result of falling over the canyon walls because of overly zealous photographic endeavours.






The Native American Village.

Various Native American dwellings depicting multiple tribe.



Large cactus plants can be found around the area.



One last look at the Eagle Point, before proceeding to Guano Point.



Next is the Guano Point. “Guano” means bat droppings. The U.S. Guano Corporation mined the Guano by utilizing cable cars until early 1960. The cable was later damaged by an Air Force Jet’s tail and never re-opened.



The remnants of cable head house.



All I need is to get from here to the highest point there.




'Highpoint Hike' offers breathtaking panoramic view of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River.




Beautiful scenic overlooks while hiking up to the 'Highpoint'.


A soaring eagle in the sky.









I felt like I was at the top of the world! The view from up here is just beautiful.


It began to drizzle near noon.


I didn’t notice it at first until someone pointed out that all our hair tips were “standing” up on its own!


A guide explained that we were standing at the highest point and as the differences in electrostatic charges continue to increase in the thunderstorm cloud, positive charges move up to our body causing our hair tips to defy gravity. This is nature's way of warning you that lightning can strike very soon near you!



It was funny to take pictures while our hair was sticking up like that. But the possibility of being struck by lightning was not so funny. So we got down soon after.

 




Such a spectacular view of Grand Canyon and Colorado River.



Making my way down from Guano Point. Luckily for me there were not many people at the highpoint while I was there. Look at the people crowding at that highpoint.




Having lunch while enjoying the view.





Home of the Hualapai.

After lunch, the rain started pouring causing all flights to delay departing from the canyon. I got stuck for 2 hours in the airport before the pilots were confident the weather was clear enough for them to fly again.

 

After the heavy rain, rainbows appeared.



The golden ray of sunshine and fluffy white clouds made the scenery all the more spectacular. I couldn’t help but kept snapping pictures on the journey back.




Goodbye, Grand Canyon. I feel so privileged to be able to witness the beauty of Grand Canyon on land and from the sky. After pondering the vastness of this place, Grand Canyon truly is a natural wonder of the world.

With that, I strike off another item on my bucket list. Next posting will be on Las Vegas! Stay tuned.



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