Grand Circle day 11 Grand Canyons

***Chinese Version at the bottom***

A nice little place well known among nature photographers is just south of Page, the Horseshoe Bend. It is a U-bend in the Colorado river in the shape of a horseshoe. The river cuts through about 500 feet of sandstone cliff. From the parking lot, there is a short trail that walks up to the top where you can look across over the U-bend in the river. There is a big warning sign that says the trail has no shade. So make sure you cover yourself to avoid sunburn. Carry water. There is no railing on the canyon rim so watch your step. Don't slip and fall into the 500 hundred feet deep canyon, etc, etc.

It was windy that day. Halfway up to the rim I found a large pergoda with some benches. There is already a steady stream of people coming and going. We found a good vantage point and sat on the edge to take pictures.  For this spot you need a wide angle lens to capture the whole horse shoe shape. We saw a small float down in the river. We walked around the top for slightly different angles. When we have enough we head back to the parking lot and continue south to get to Grand Canyon.

Take US-89 South and turn to AZ-64 West for a total of about 130 Miles.
After about two hours drive, there is a small pullout for a small viewpoint where some locals sell souvenirs made of beaded color stones accessories. Labels says the beads are imported and design and assembled by locals. We got to stretch our legs and let the car cool down a bit.

Entering Grand Canyon from the East Entrance 

Another 2 hours later we arrived at the east entrance of Grand Canyon, Desert View. There is a stone tower here. We went inside and walked up to the top. The lower floor is a gift shop.

Then we start on the park road towards Grand Canyon Village. We stopped at the different viewpoints along the way, Navajo Point, Lipan Point, Moran Point, Grand View Point, Yaki Point, Mather Point, Yavapi Point. We checked into Maswik lodge and had lunch at the cafeteria there. We head to Bright Angel trailhead where the shuttle bus starts. Along the park road we stop on each viewpoint, Maricopa Point, Hopi Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss, Pima Point and reached Hermit Point. We spent too much time there resting and looking for gifts. We took the shuttle bus back to Bright Angel Point directly. We had hoped to catch the sunset. but when we arrived at Bright Angel Point, the sun already set and we missed the golden sunset and the orange red colors of the canyon. Too bad.

Day 12

Last day of the trip we followed a ranger for a short walk along the canyon rim. But we found that they moved too slowly. We then checked out and drove back to Phoenix for our night flight back home.

***Chinese Version below***

當日風大，我們走到一半見有個亭，裏面有長椅子，上次來這裏好像沒有這個亭，此時已經陸續有人來回，我們找一處可見整個河彎的地方影相，這裏要用上廣角鏡才可把整個馬蹄彎攝入相中，望進河中有隻小小的浮艇向下游漂去，我們沿崖頂邊緣找幾個不同角度影相，夠了就返回車上向最後一站大峽谷進發。

車子駛了一段路見一個小小路牌指出一個景點，決定停一下休息，沒有甚麼好看，只有幾個小販賣紀念品，又是彩石串。

Entering Grand Canyon from the East Entrance