Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is an impressive gorge carved into the landscape by the Colorado River. While the plateau into which this gorge has been cut lies at an altitude of 2100/2200m, the river is about 700m above sea level - it’s a drop of 1500 meters down.

From the rim of the canyon, there are beautiful views over the gorge along perhaps 50km, although the Colorado River is rarely visible.

The female M was eager to descend to the Colorado, but that wasn’t possible ... all pathways into the gorge - except for one - were closed due to 'Extreme Heat' (at the rim, it was always around 30°C during the day, while in the canyon it was around 40°C; additionally, there were smoke pollutants from a large forest fire on the north side), and the one permitted trail only allowed access to the first 900 meters in elevation, but not all the way to the bottom. We wrestled with this for a while and then hiked this one (the Bright Angel Trail) as far as we were permitted ... it was already strenuous enough as it was, we certainly didn't need an additional 600 meters of elevation.

Otherwise, we took in every viewpoint at the rim, walking the entire western part - 22km - entirely on foot. And finally, on the day of our departure, the weather was still good enough for a helicopter flight ...