Happy Thursday, and welcome to part four of my March 2019 trip around Arizona! (To start at part one, click here.) This week’s installment is the grand finale, the one place in Arizona where all of the world’s tourists want to go: The Grand Canyon!

I have to admit, I wish I had planned this part of the trip much better than I did. I had planned to be there for two days, but I had not planned what I would specifically be doing over those two days. I ended up exploring the south rim of the canyon, from the East Entrance through Grand Canyon Village. I had assumed that the famous glass-floored Skywalk was at or near Grand Canyon Village. It isn’t. It’s 240 miles away. Yeah…it’s a BIG canyon. I also didn’t realize there are multiple tempting hiking trails going down into the canyon, so I was not equipped to undertake any of these hikes (though I had no problem with the “hike” along the Rim Trail and the various mini-hikes to the co-various lookout points). My final lament is that I didn’t book an aerial tour of the Canyon. I saw the occasional little tourist plane flying out over the canyon, and I’ve got to think it would be an amazing experience! But hey, even just walking the rim and going to the overlooks was an amazing experience! But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself.

As you may recall, I was last seen at Monument Valley. Upon leaving there, I returned to my hotel room in the town of Kayenta. When I woke up the next morning it was still cold outside, but less windy, and the Grand Canyon East Entrance was 130 miles away. As I headed west on U.S. Highway 160, I was surprised to see an electrified railroad running alongside the highway. I did some research later (i.e., just now) and learned that this was the Black Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad. This railroad existed solely to transport coal from a single mine to a single power plant 78 miles from the mine.

Despite my curiosity about this out-of-place electric railroad, I pressed onward. I was, after all, headed for the largest of the Colorado River’s many canyons. Just before I got there, I encountered one of its tributaries. The Little Colorado River Gorge is much steeper and narrower than is the Grand Canyon. It reminded me of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. See for yourself:

As I was taking the photographs above, I couldn’t help but think that if folks around here named this the Little Colorado River Gorge, then the thing they had named the Grand Canyon must be even bigger than I had thunk! And so it was…

And that, gentle reader, concludes my visit to Arizona. Between Bisbee, Jerome, Sunset Crater, Monument Valley, and the Grand Canyon, this was probably the most visually striking trip I’ve ever taken. And I say that having lived in Colorado for 22 years, and having spent an entire week in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

There will be no ThrowBack Thursday posts for the next two weeks, as I am hitting the road again! I will be reporting in semi-realtime from the South Carolina coast. Ahhh, yes…a destination that’s close enough to drive to…just in time for record-high gasoline prices!