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We left the hostel at 06h30 this morning to make it in time for our helicopter ride from Grand Canyon airportwww.maverickhelicopter.com.We checked in for our flights, paid our money and were weighed.There 8 of us who were taking the helicopter flight.The rest went to the village to watch the IMAX movie of the Grand Canyon.Dawn, Charlotte, Rachel, Dawn & I were in one helicopter with 2 other German travelers and our captain John.Hokee, David & Marc were in a second helicopter with other people.John went through the safety briefing with us, hooked us all up with the head gear and we were off!!So exciting!!!We could hear John's commentary through our head phones, and these also blocked out the noise of the helicopters blades.We first headed out over the Kaibab forest, and then were struck by the incredible awesomeness of the great Grand Canyon!!!What a sight!! No photos in the world can actually bring to life and do justice to the vastness of this great canyon!!!The flight in total was just short of an hour and I'd already taken 400 photos!!!Wayne was back to fetch us with the others, and we headed out to Bright Angel Lodge where most of the hikes started from.The mountain goats headed down to Plateau Point - an 8 hour hike down the canyon to the end of the plateau and overlooking the Colorado River.The non hikers decided to hike out over the west rim to Hopi point where we could take the shuttle bus back to Angel Lodge.What a truly amazing sight!!It was also so amazing to be in a place that my mom had been in years before ~
We stopped for lunch at Hopi point, elevation 7071.I had felt the effects of the increase in altitude from the night before when we arrived in Flagstaff, and found I couldn't take in enough air.Our elevation was approximately 8500 feet above sea level.The hike took us approximately 2 hours and we caught the shuttle bus back to Angel Lodge.We all enjoyed an ice-cream and sat overlooking the canyon enjoying our ice creams in the sun!!What an amazing day!!Finally I had made it to the Grand Canyon - one of the natural wonders of the world - and one of the must see things on my list of things to do before I die!!!Felt really great!!!The mountain goats made it back around 5pm ish!!!Wow!!What a great accomplishment for them.What a hike!!Martha's toes had torn through the front of her trainers!!!Took photos of their shoes & socks, covered in the red dust from the canyon!!!We met up with Wayne again and he took us out to a great spot to view the sunset.Wayne had picked up pizza for dinner which we all devoured.We all wrapped up and huddled on the side of the canyon for the sunset.Again more group photos!!!LOL!! JWhat an amazing end to another incredible day!!!So awesome!!We headed back to the hostel, showered and met up for a few drinks in the common room.Our last night on tour!!!We all contributed to making a card for Wayne and had a few laughs!!Got to bed around midnight, and had an early start in the morning, as we had the longest drive ever all the way back to Los Angeles, and we had to make the deadline of 6pm, as some people had flights to catch.
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