Breakfast at 7, bags at 8, bus leaves at 9am.
Desert View Lookout, East Rim:
Leaving the Grand Canyon Village, we drove along the east Rim for a short while to the Watchtower
It was built in 1932 and designed by the architect Mary Coulter, who also designed the interior of El Tovar. It's an observation station now for visitors, but was also intended to bring about a better understanding of the American Indian and his life. It is a re-creation of the strange towers scattered all over the Southwest. These towers were used for the storage of food and also for protection. Inside, there was a ladder to climb to upper levels, and under attack this ladder was removed to foil attempts to storm the tower. ......All very similar to keeps in medieval castles.
As we climbed we entered the kiva, the sacred ceremonial chamber. Modern-day Indians still have kivas as meeting halls and places of worship.
The wall decorations were modern Hopi artworks based on their ancient culture.
- The large circular painting tells the SNAKE LEGEND: the story of the beginning of the Snake Dances, It is also the story of the first man to navigate the Colorado.
- This is the LITTLE WAR GOD, distinguished by his bow and arrow.
We hadn't been able on this tour to go to the foot of the Grand Canyon, but Becky, our guide, had promised us a surprise. As we got back in the bus screens descended and we sat back for a showing of 'The Mule Train'. It is a great film using lots of early 20th century film footage and still photography depicting the terrifying ride on mules along tracks to the innermost parts of the canyon. It gave us a great idea of what such a trek would be like, and also made us vow NEVER to go on one!
The Glen Canyon Dam:
After a lunch stop at the Cameron Trading Post, our destination was to be the Glen Canyon Dam. Built between 1957 and 1964, and producing its first electricity in 1966, it flooded the once-spectacular Glen Canyon and irrevocably altered the Colorado river's character and ecosystem by changing the ancient cycles of flood and drought into a predictable, constant flow. Controversy still rages today between those who argue that the benefit of the electricity it brings outweighs what has been lost.
The Dam created Lake Powell, America's 2nd largest man-made lake. The lake is 186 miles long, with more than 1,000 miles of meandering shoreline.
We were staying in the Lake Powell Resort, right on the lake shore, and with rooms looking out onto the lake.
The balcony of our room gave us a good view of the many houseboats on the lake. These floating mansions for up to 12 people come with every home comfort and are a popular, and very expensive, holiday choice here.
A boat trip had been scheduled for soon after our arrival, and for 90 minutes we meandered through Antelope Canyon with its magnificent rock formations.
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