Carolyn's Various Travels: Grand Canyon Day 1

We got to stay at the Albright Training Center which provides training for rangers across the entire National Park Service. They had five buildings with suite-style rooms and a nice industrial kitchen, dining and lounge space. We had a crew of 3 chefs that we hired locally to come cook for us for the week. When we stepped off the bus, they had a hot breakfast waiting for us. It was wonderful after being on the bus for so long!

Dining space. We had to bring dishes from our rooms each meal and then take them back and wash them ourselves (I'm guessing they didn't have an industrial dishwasher in the kitchen).

We got to meet Ranger Todd Nelson who is the coordinator for volunteers in the park. He was with us throughout the week and was wonderful! He provided the group with background info on the history of the National Park service and told us his story of how he came into the NPS. He had worked in several different parks including Zion and had served as an interpreter in the past (this is the label for 'guide'/storyteller).

After lunch the group hiked through South Rim village to the rim. We passed the train station. It dates to 1910. The park was first accessible by train rather than road.

We lined the group up inside the lodge and then walked them out with their eyes closed to get their first view of the canyon. It's always powerfully moving.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a first view of the canyon!

The canyon is so big! It's 1 mile deep, about 18 miles wide at the widest, and has 277 river miles winding through it. The park covers 1900 square miles and is the largest park in the NPS.

This is Bright Angel Lodge, completed in 1935 and designed by architect Mary Colter (like many buildings around the south village). It still looks just like the historic picture (above)