This paved trail was under 1.5 miles with several stops to look out over the Grand Canyon. It was here I noticed an interesting phenomenon, one that had slightly registered on the Bright Angel Trail but was painfully obvious here. People come to the Grand Canyon, take a quick picture, and mark that off their bucket list. Mather Point is perhaps the most crowded place at the Grand Canyon. It is billed as the "First View" of the Grand Canyon, and it is only a short walk from the Visitor's Center to this spectacular view. Hundreds of people are there at any given moment, and without a question thousands of people look over it every single day. So we pushed and shoved our way to the lookout, took a few pictures and elbowed our way out. Mather Point is also the start of the Grand Canyon Rim Trail (although, not technically the beginning of the trail, since it goes in both directions, it is where most people will begin whether they decide to hike west to Hermit's Rest or east to Kaibab Trail). However, immediately upon leaving Mather Point, the crowds drop off. One could hardly call the 0.7 miles to Yavapai Geology Museum a hike, but halfway between the two points of interest there are surprisingly few people. More on these observations later. The geology museum was smaller than I had hoped (nearly half was a gift shop), but it did have one neat exhibit, a large topographical model of the Grand Canyon.
The hike was the perfect length for Violet, and given all the stops we made to take pictures it took a rather extended amount of time. Once it was over we drove to Hermit's Rest for lunch. Hermit's Rest is at the end of the Rim Trail and also marks the start of the Hermit Trail into the Grand Canyon. Hermit's Rest itself is a gift shop and had the second biggest fireplace I have ever seen.
Next we drove from lookout point to lookout point on our slow drive from Hermit's Rest back to the Visitor's Center. These spots included great picture-taking opportunities such as Pima Point, Monument Creek Vista, The Abyss, Mohave Point, Hopi Point, & Powell Point. We stopped at most of the points and took many pictures. Parking became a problem as you got closer to the Visitor's Center, so we skipped the last couple. Each stop offered unique views of the Grand Canyon and we took many pictures at each one. At our last stop Stacy and I got to go off by ourselves and take a few pictures. Stacy was nervous about the sheer drops from some of the lookout points and outright refused to take my picture at one of them. So I roped Dad into taking my picture. After he took my picture, a Chinese lady and her mother saw what we were doing. She asked that I take her picture at the same overlook. Her mother was hilarious. She spoke no English, but it was still very easy to understand exactly what she was saying. It was the exact thing my Dad was saying to me, "You are going to kill yourself, you crazy kid".
It was sometime after 3:00pm when we got back to the Visitor's Center, and unlike 10:00am, there was no available parking anywhere to be seen. Cars were parked in the grass, on sidewalks, and anywhere they could possible fit. Aunt Ann said this was nothing compared to the summer. I shudder to think what it is like then. As we left the park, there was a car line about a half-mile long trying to get into the Grand Canyon. That is something I didn't understand at all. Why would you want to enter the Grand Canyon at 4:00pm? I understand that nothing compares to a sunset at the Grand Canyon, but there is so much to see all day long that it seems a waste to arrive that late.
Special thanks to Mom and Dad for the extra pictures.
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