Grand Canyon East Entrance - Desert View Watchtower

Monday, April 27, 2015

We decided to go to the East entrance of the Grand Canyon today since we are taking the train to the South Rim tomorrow.

As we walked into the east entrance this elk was grazing.  She was totally unaffected by the people around.

Desert View Watchtower, also known as the Indian Watchtower at Desert View, is a 70-foot high stone building located at Desert View, more than 20 miles (32 km) to the east of the main developed area at Grand Canyon Village. The four-story structure, completed in 1932, was designed by American architect Mary Colter, an employee of the Fred Harvey Company who also created and designed many other buildings in the Grand Canyon. Wikipedia

 

The tower was designed to resemble an Ancient Pueblo Peoples watchtower

This is a view from the top of the tower.  The Colorado River and the canyons are so majestic!!

The view is awe inspiring and humbling.

Tic zoomed in on the river.  Awesome!!

This is the outdoor viewing area just outside the tower.  Tic took this picture from the top of the tower.

Here we are on the second floor looking up two stories.  

This plaque was posted on the outside of the tower.

Here is a panoramic Tic took from the top of the tower.  Camera pictures don't capture the grandeur of this place.

It is about 3:30 pm now and we wanted to be back to Williams no later than 6pm so we could pick up out train tickets for tomorrow.  It was strongly suggested that you pick them up the day before because the line would be so long on the day of the ride.  We are about 1.5 hrs from Williams, home, so we headed that way.  We passed the train along the way and actually beat it back to Williams.

WOW another full and wonderfully blessed day!