This is our last full day at the Grand Canyon before we head out tomorrow to Holbrook. It’s an incredible sight (no matter how many visits, the colours and views are constantly different). You just cannot imagine the scale. Mr Fogg is stood right on the edge at approx 7,000 feet above sea level, the very bottom of the canyon is approx 2,400 feet above sea level where the Colorado river flows through. To reach the north side (we are on the south side) is a mere 10 miles across as the crow flies, and yet to cross you need to descend about 6 miles to the first plateau at Indian Gardens. In total to hike to the river bridge at the bottom it’s an 8hr trek, and a total of 21 miles to walk down, across and up the other side.

The area around the Grand Canyon is classed as high desert. We are camped in it. Around the rim there are Aloa Vera plants and gnarled trees of fir and juniper. Teeny chipmunks run between the trees, squirrels loiter around all the tourist food areas and mule deers (big things that are not shy) roam freely around.

Since it’s coming into fall here ( autumn to you) the deer are rutting. We saw two males last night with fab antlers and plenty of females. As we bbq’d last night a stag ambled past our grill, had a good look and a sniff then ambled on.

This really is wild country, populated by plenty of tourists, the major benefit of camping is that you can always find that quiet spot and listen to the wildlife all around.

Many of the park workers live in the RV park in big rigs- must be a nice existence each night to just be able to sit and watch the stars with no light pollution.

Next stop for us is new territory as we’ll cross into New Mexico on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ll post a pic of our campsite before we leave here.