Grand Canyon Caverns

 

“You know where I’d like to explore?” There were so many possibilities. “Mars.”

I could actually hear Laureen’s eyes roll. “Really, Mars?”

“Venus?”

Turns out, the correct answer, for five hundred Alex, was the Grand Canyon Caverns.

“You tend to be a bit claustrophobic.”

“True,” Laureen replied.

“You know, the caverns are dank, dark, dangerous, and are about thirty thousand feet below the surface of the Earth.”

Laureen nodded. “I need to face my fears.”

“Then, by all means, let’s face your fears together,” I stated. Facing fears together – it is a good thing for a married couple to do.

The Grand Canyon Caverns are some of the largest dry caverns in the United States.

That actually did not sound like fun to me. I have been to some dry counties within this wonderful country of ours, but nowhere to wet ones whistle with an adult libation.

“I’d like a cold draft with that pizza.”

“Oh, this is a dry county,” the waitress would reply. “You’ll have to eat your pizza with a glass of finely silted sand.”

Dry caverns, such as Grand Canyon Caverns, constitute only three percent of all the world’s caverns. Most caverns contain water, which creates those marvelous stalagmites and stalactites -- those are the pointy thingies that either hang from the ceiling, or the reach up from the floor of the cavern.

Scientifically speaking, a stalagmite is a rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material on the floor from ceiling drippings. They are typically composed of calcium, but may consist of lava, mud, peat, pitch, sand and sinter.

No idea what sinter is, but it sounds religious, and not in a good way

I suppose, a stalactite is the opposite of a stalagmite.

A trip was planned; we were packed, gassed up, with reservations confirmed. We were on our way to the Grand Canyon Caverns, so Laureen could face her fear. I would be there to watch.

Traveling Route 66 is a special moment – or a lot of moments if you are driving for seven or eight hours in a day. But, it is always worth the time: seeing things that speed along the typical routes such as Interstate 40, Interstate 10, or fill in the blank of Interstate X, that drivers never get a chance to experience.

On our outing, we passed through the towns of Hualapai (not to be confused with the next town), Walapai, Antares (home of the Giganticus Headicus), Hackberry, Valentine, Truxton, and Peach Springs.

The Grand Canyon Caverns are thirteen miles east of Peach Springs, a small town that has a lot to offer the thousands of people visiting each year.

A person could spend time at the Hualapia Ranch, and learn how to quick draw and other cool cowboy kinds of stuff. And then in the evenings, listen to cowboy stories and songs around a warm and bright campfire, while stuffing your gullet with s’mores.

That sounded like fun – but I’m not much of an artist, and so quick drawing something did not make sense to me.

The area is also near the Glass Canyon Skywalk, the glass-bottomed bridge that is suspended over four thousand feet above the Grand Canyon.

Beautiful, but no thanks

That also sounded like fun, if someone wants to walk out into thin air on a piece of glass while peering down between their feet at a nearly three-quarters of a mile drop to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Don’t count me in on that adventure, since as hard as I might, I don’t believe my arms would act like the wings of a bird if that glass floor shattered. I didn’t feel like facing that particular fear today.

All the small towns along the route have their own mystique and unique qualities. And, they all deserve a respite to explore, but we were on a mission.

There were caverns awaiting, and a phobia to conquer.

While driving, I was keeping my eyes on the road, but also looking right and left for any signs of wildlife. This was beautiful country. Thousands upon thousands of acres of grasslands hugging Route 66. It was magical – if one enjoys the solitude of empty roads and beautiful scenery.

There were highway signs warning drivers to watch for deer, elk, cattle, and Sasquatches.

Laureen was busy reading a touristy sort of magazine.

“The Grand Canyon Caverns are only two hundred and thirty feet below the surface. You told me thirty thousand.”

“Must have been a misprint,” I stated. Looking to the left, I could have sworn something about ten feet tall and very hairy had just disappeared behind a large boulder.  I think it was also wearing a bowler hat. But I didn’t want to interrupt Laureen, so I kept quiet.

“This article also says the caverns are dry, with wide well-lit pathways throughout. You said they were dank, dark, and dangerous.”

“I’ll never believe a thing that magazine publishes again.”

Turns out, about three-hundred and forty-five million years ago, the southwest was covered by oceans. This was during the Mississippian Period, and there were a lot of fishes and other ocean critters swimming around here and there. When the waters dried up over the eons, those little skeletons of the fishes and other critters settled to the bottom of the oceans. Through millions of years the calcium in the bones mixed with the mud, creating a limestone bedrock.

Another bunch of time passed, and the bottom of those now empty oceans moved up to over five thousand feet above sea level.

Then, thirty-five million years ago, rainfall flowed into that limestone creating caverns down below, the same rainfall which carved out the Grand Canyon itself.

I have no idea why – geology is complicated.

Since the tours of the caverns are so popular, reservations are a must, along with a guide.

“Without a tour guide, you could get lost down there forever,” the young woman at the reception desk informed us.

“Then a guide is fine with us,” I replied.

Our guide, Dino, was a fount of knowledge when it came to the history of the caverns, from the past to the present. He also had a sense of humor, which I would label – corny. Funny, but corny.

“What do call being in a cave disaster? Caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Turns out, the caverns had gone unnoticed until 1927, when a local miner, Walter Peck, was riding his horse across the area and nearly fell into a large hole in the ground. After exploring this unsuspected cavity in the earth, Peck learned there were labyrinths of caves below the surface. And, being a miner, he thought there may be untold riches within those cavernous tunnels.

Do not get lost in these caverns

Unfortunately, for Peck, there was no gold or silver to be found, but being the entrepreneur he was, he came up with another money making venture. For twenty-five cents, tourists would be lowered into the darkness of the caves to explore for themselves. They were lowered over two hundred feet into the earth by sticking their feet into a rope harness.

This became known as Dope on a Rope.

Some of the things found while searching the caverns

This enterprise went on for decades, and then in 1962, a new entrance was created and the installation of an elevator reaching down two hundred feet was installed.

No more dopes on ropes.

As we followed Dino, he explained this rock formation and that rock formation. Very interesting, but then a sad moment with the discovery Peck had made of a Paramylodon Harlani back in the early days of his exploration of the caverns.

This giant sloth Peck had found, is believed to have fallen into the original hole in the ground around eleven thousand years ago and died there. The name given the huge mammal was Gertie. A model of her is along the winding path in the caverns. What a sad ending for poor Gertie.

Gertie

One huge cavern contains thousands upon thousands of provisions left there by the federal government during the Cold War.

Left over Cold War supplies in the caverns

“These caverns were designated a fall-out shelter,” Dino said. “They wanted supplies to be placed here, just in case. The only thing they forgot were lanterns. Gets dark down here with no lights.”

In fact, when the dozens of lights along the walkways are turned off, a person cannot see their hand in front of their face.

Also, within the caverns there is also a suite, which can be rented for the night – rather pricy but could be a wonderfully dark experience. Ozzy Osbourne spent the night there – a great place for a guy who likes bats.

Sleep where Ozzy slept with his dog, Rockhound

I looked over at Laureen. “Nope.”

You could also choose to have your lunch below the surface of the earth, in the Grotto. This restaurant is situated over two hundred feet below the surface, and serves spectular food with your choice of beverages, including the adult variety.

John and Laureen enjoying a beverage at the Grotto

We met fellow diners, Jake and Lisa, who had traveled from Phoenix just for the experience of the caverns.

“We had to eat here, and not just walk through the caverns,” Jake stated. “Not that they are not impressive enough alone.”

“And who gets a chance to eat lunch two hundred feet down in a natural cavern?” Lisa said.

“The four of us,” I replied.

The Grotto at the Grand Canyon Caverns

It may have been the wine from the Grotto, but Laureen had no claustrophobic complaints.

Are the caverns worth a trip? Most definitely yes, and a great way to experience new adventures and meet awesome people, like Dino, Jake, and Lisa.

For more information: https://gccaverns.com/

 

 

 

 

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A Grand Canyon

 President Theodore Roosevelt first visited northern Arizona in 1903. And what he saw impressed this world traveler, and he’d seen some pretty interesting things in his life. He was looking at the Grand Canyon, and marveled at this long curving geologic wonder. The canyon wounds its way 277 miles through the high desert of Arizona, reaching sometimes a width of 18 miles, and nearly one mile deep in some spots.

Truly an awesome sight to behold.

“Humph, that is one grand canyon,” the President stated.

A guide nodded, “Mr. President, it is known as the Grand Canyon, after all.”

“Bully – simply bully.”

The president was so impressed at what he was seeing, he declared the area a national game preserve on November 28, 1906. But that declaration turned out not going far enough to protect all the wildlife that resided in the canyon. On January 11, 1908, Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a U.S. National Monument. 

According to the National Parks Conservation Association, ‘national monuments are nationally significant lands and waters set aside for permanent protection’.

The rough riding president surely loved the outdoors, and with the creation of the Antiquities Act in 1906, he was busy setting aside federal lands right and left and left to right. The 26th President created 18 such U.S. National Monuments.

From the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming in 1906 – made ever so famous in the film, Close Encounters of Third Kind, to his last one in 1908, a portion of the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado – also made more famous by the beautiful outdoor scenes in the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

But, the Grand Canyon is GRAND! It’s rugged, raw, romantic, scenic, and just plain cool to experience. Anyone who will see the Grand Canyon for the first time is apt to state the following – “That can’t be real. It must be a painting or photograph. I think I’ll just walk out into midair and prove it’s not real.” 

The Grand Canyon - no place to take a step off a cliff

On one trip to the Grand Canyon, I purchased the book, Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon, by Michael P. Ghiglieri. In it are lots of stories of people doing dumb and risky things near the edge of the canyon.

Unfortunately, most end in tragedy. A person taking a selfie and forgetting that one too many steps backwards will be their last selfie. People ignoring safety fences along the edge of the canyon – and their last words are, “Precaution signs are for wimps, yiiiiiikkkkkeeeesssss!”

No, the canyon is indescribably majestic, but it is a place that respect to Mother Nature must be in the forefront for any visitor.

So, when Laureen and I boarded our train ride to the south rim of the Grand Canyon from Williams, Arizona, we listened to our PSA – Passenger Service Attendant. 

“Welcome aboard, I’m your PSA for the trip to and from the Grand Canyon,” stated Dee, our PSA.

Sounds so snobby. 

We were in the Luxury Dome car – the two story one, with the plushy roomy seats and large rounded glass windows, so we wouldn’t miss anything outside passing by. Below us was the lounge car, with even roomier and plushier seats. 

Actually, any seat on the train has awesome views

Anyway, Dee, was telling us about what was open for eating, shopping and all the other things to do once we reached the south rim of the Grand Canyon. “Pretty much everything is open, but if you want a lunch at the Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon Village, the wait may be long.”

We didn’t care about lunch, we came prepared with enough snacks and sandwiches that we could have gotten lost in the canyon itself for two months and never missed a meal.

Laureen’s motto – why pack light when heavier is better. Of course, I was the designated Sherpa for the trip.

“We’re not spending a week in the wild you know,” I stated, just before clambering aboard our train car. I could only clamber, since I had a satchel the size of Montana hanging across my shoulders.

“Oh, it’s not that heavy,” Laureen said, as she bounded up the steps of the train. I’ll leave it at that.

One of the things stressed is safety at all times while visiting the Grand Canyon. Especially, at the time of year we visited. It had snowed the previous evening, and through the night in Williams and the sidewalks were icy. I could just imagine what the trails around the south rim would be like when we arrived about mid-morning.

“The trails may be icy and caution must be taken. One slip, and it’s a long way down to the bottom,” Dee warned us.

The canyon was created, per the geologists, by the Colorado River, and its tributaries, eroding away at the ground for the past five or six million years. Through those eons, the erosion has ended up painting a geologic timeline for the earth.

One walkway, along the rim, is referred to as the Trail of Time. Every yard or so, is a marker depicting a certain time during the earths creation. 

Every few steps is a geologic history lesson

According to the National Park Service, ‘The Trail of Time is an interpretive walking timeline that focuses on Grand Canyon vistas and rocks and invites visitors to ponder, explore, and understand the magnitude of geologic time and the stories encoded by Grand Canyon rock layers and landscapes.’

In layman’s terms – you can learn a lot walking that path and reading the descriptions of what has been uncovered during the millions of years that it took to create the Grand Canyon. The age of the various strata in the canyon can range anywhere from 200 million to 2 billion years in age.

That’s a lot of eons.

Taking a train is a very leisurely thing to do. No driving, no worrying about directions, and no unnecessary distractions. Sit back, relax, and take the time to look out the windows and enjoy the natural wonders slipping by.

Elk, deer, porcupines were just some of the wildlife we saw on the trip.

Dee made sure that we had an early morning snack, actually a breakfast, and if one so desired – a grown up beverage could be purchased.

“Yeah, all I need is a Bloody Mary, and then I’ll be slipping and sliding down the canyon with this anchor around my neck.”

“It’s not that heavy,” Laureen stated. 

Another thing about taking the train is that you meet interesting people. We met a couple of fellow travelers, Craig and Jenn from San Diego. They were out and about, and made the trip to the Grand Canyon on a just a whim.

“We had some time off, and thought we would visit Williams and then the canyon,” Jenn stated.

“Traveling, we just really enjoy the adventure and meeting new people,” Craig replied.

I could not have agreed more.

Craig, was nice enough to shoot this for us

Dee was accurate when we reached the south rim. Freshly fallen snow from the previous night had left really slick and icy walkways.

Wearing hiking boots, I knew there would be no slipping or sliding with this guy. Oh, how wrong one can be.

Walking from the train depot at the south rim, I felt like a poor try-out for an Olympic ice skating team. My left foot went right and my right foot went left.

“You okay?” Laureen asked.

“Dandy, just practicing some moves I saw on YouTube the other day.”

The sky was clear and blue. The weather, a bit chilly as we wandered the village with the ever present gorgeous view of the canyon to the east. 

Weather was cold, but the views outstanding

We did some short hikes and wanted to utilize the Bright Angel trail, but after seeing a few people fall and slide down the non-roped path, we decided to ‘just say no’.

“That guy nearly went airborne,” I stated, after seeing a woman grab onto a man, stopping him from flying into the canyon.

“He’s wearing flip-flops,” Laureen replied.

Wonder what chapter he’ll be in Ghiglieri’s next book?

Be careful on the trail during winter - it's mighty slippery

The best time to visit the Grand Canyon? Anytime, is what I would say, but according to Bill, who works the train ticket office in Williams, “I’d say fall, less people and the changing of the colors are beautiful. Winter, the least traveled time due to the weather. Yeah, fall would be my choice. But, every season here is worth seeing.”

Bill could not have said it better, and it surely is a Grand Canyon.

Spend some time and visit the unique buildings on the rim

Summer Travel with CHILDREN!

In 1972 the thespian Alice Cooper released one of his biggest hits, School's Out For Summer. A bit goes like this: 'School's out for summer, School's out forever . . . '

Mr. 'Patriotic' Cooper

The very talented musician had it wrong since even when that summer bell rings releasing smiling and screaming children school is not often over forever sadly. Nearly 60 million of those running, jumping, and squealing adolescents will be returning to the 'hum-drum' of classroom life in late August or early September. The lyrics should have read - 'School's out for almost three months . . . ' But then again, those words wouldn't seem to carry a tune so we'll let Mr. Cooper have the final word on his monster release from 42 years ago (where did the time go?).

Some school districts have ended for the year and some will be ending very soon but no matter the exact date parents, grandparents, care givers, and others are excitedly planning trips to entertain those little munchkins who have been pardoned for the summer.

We at J and L seriously hope, being mainly a travel blog, that these tens of millions of children do have plans with family, friends or camps to get outside and do some exploring. Adventure is what inspires and young people need this activity from getting sedentary, obese, or simply bored.

Sitting on a couch texting, watching the same movies over and over again, having ear buds glued into the depths of canals, and playing violent video games is not what summer is all about. No, it's a time to pack up lunches and head to the beach, take hikes in the mountains, swim in rivers, visit museums, or take a road trip to explore.

Having experience raising four children J and L know perfectly well the 'trauma' that is often times associated with taking children on trips, either nationally or internationally. Every moment was nothing short of wonder - okay, back to reality. We had fun but some simple rules do apply so the driver and co-pilot do not end up in prison for something they did after hearing "are we there yet?" "Why can't I sleep the whole way from California to Canada?" "She's touching me!" and other lines over and over and over and over again. Annoying, yes to the umpteenth degree.

We argued about some simple enforceable rules at first which but once the trip started those tantrums seemed to drift away as the asphalt melted into the rear view mirror. It also works when the tarmac slips into the jet stream.
1. No electronics or they will miss Arizona or the Atlantic Ocean.
2. Look out the window - L was forced to do that as a youngster while traveling with her family and now understands why she can tell which part of the country we're in by just seeing the vegetation or rock formations.
3. Discuss/communicate where you are and why you are there.
4. No sleeping in the car or RV all day - plenty of time to sleep when the sun goes down and they will miss a lot.
5. Plan some stops at parks, museums, historical sites - a bright child is a wonderful thing.
6. In the hotel or campsite play board games - reconnect with the children.
7. At night review what was experienced during the day.

These are just some tips from travelers who have experienced the wonderment of traveling with children. It truly is fun to watch your child's eyes widen when they see the Grand Canyon for the first time or watch them as they actually touch the Eiffel Tower.

Travel in your own back yard or a back yard thousands of miles away. But travel with your children and they will appreciate it as they become adults and look back on all those trips and 'silly' rules with relish.

Our children do and that was one of the points of being parents - to explore and to have them explore in turn.

Summer is here - start exploring as a family.