Mexican Hat to North Rim Grand Canyon

This first lot of photos are from the blog written the night we arrived at Mexican Hat, unfortunately the internet system wasn't strong enough to download them.

At the border of New Mexico & Arizona One of the shops at the Indian Village on the border

& a few others - beautifully decorated

& another

The view from below our room

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Yesterday - From Mexican Hat to Grand Canyon North Rim

What an absolutely incredible country. The scenery changes from one corner to the next, it's truly amazing.

We rode out closer to 8.30am than 7am, not so many miles to travel. Up the steep driveway, staight over the bridge & we were away. To start with there were still masses of high outcrops one side, vast plains the other. We continued through Monument Valley & headed towards Kayenta. We stopped at a beautifully painted shop for coffee just before Page. This town has a large power station and Lake Powell. A number of vehicles with large boats were headed that way.

We continued on, with very strong winds again our constant companion. Climbing up through the mountains we came thru a very sharp cutting & saw way down below the road snaking along, with vehicles the size of ants. A little way on we pulled into an Navajo Indian roadside stall. Lovely items , beautifully crafted.

Our next stop was the Marble Canyon information Centre which has the history on the bridge etc above the Colorado River. Saw some rafts & kayaks way way down there!

Again the scenery changed, much smoother mountains with bigger boulders/rocks. We started climbing, long curved corners leading into sharp hairpins. Once we got to Jacob Lake, fuelled and coffee'd up, we continued up through the pine forests. We reached an elevation of 8857 feet at one stage, and it was cold. It was quite sad too as a large amt of the pines had obviously been in a fire, but there was no regrowth at all. (Found out later the fires were about 3 yrs ago and the burnt pines do not regrow like the ones at home do). On the top of the escarpement we had masses of meadows with lagoons (fenced), and we were wondering where on earth the canyon was. Suddenly we started a steep incline again, and before long could see the canyon through the pines. Breathtaking!

We were in a cabin close to the main lodge, little squirrels running all over the place. The views from the lodge are just fantastic. The photo's do not do justice at all.

** Left there this morning to come to the South Rim - arrived this afternoon and will be here tomorrow night as well so will do a blog with photo's then*

Grand Canyon South Rim, and our Log Cabin 201