Day 3 - Snow on the ground

6 days ago Flagstaff had 2 feet of snow!

Flagstaff is the main town at the Grand Canyon. At 7,000ft it is quite high and is surrounded by mountains and hills. A desert town most of the year it's altitude also means it gets winter weather and turns into a ski resort in the winter months. We transitioned quickly from the 75*  + weather in Vegas to 54* in Flagstaff with snowball fights to help ease the transition.

 

Up early at 6.30am, thanks to the 8hour time change. Today was a super busy day. First thing was a trip to Ceiba where I picked up my new Jackson Fun Runner kayak and we met the outfitter team who would be kitting us up for our trip. Ten it was a quick (2hr) trip out to the South Rim, through the settlements 'No Trespassing, Trespassers will be shot!' to the Canyon Rim! What an absolutely awe inspiring incredible beyond explanation place! 'massive, orange, incredible, unreal'... There aren't really words to describe the views. I expected a canyon. A gap in the ground. But not the perfectly level plateau tops, the varying gradients, the plateaus on plateaus, the river deep down below, the tracks of meandering channels cut at each level cut into the sandstone rocks. To see it was incredible to know that for the next weeks we would be paddling at the bottom of it made sense of the enormity of what we were about to do. The scale of this adventure, the reality, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.