Grand Canyon… WOW!

The facts: 277mile long, 4 – 18mile wide, 3.5miles deep… a gigantic hole on any scale. However, after the initial WOW the overwhelming sensation for us was sadness. Sadness that where you travel on Planet Earth from now on the WOW doesn’t get any bigger than this. If you have been there you will know what we mean. OK, you may consider other wonders more interesting, beautiful or rewarding etc. but nothing, nothing lays bare the fabric (creation or evolution) of Mother Earth like this gapping chasm.

If you haven’t been there yet – put it on your list – last maybe : ). Every picture tells a story but no picture can do this one justice.


After spending three days there we have walked much of the developed / accessible bits along the South Rim (North is still closed due to snow – later maybe), witnessed two sunsets and even walked down into the Canyon (1,000 ft below the rim) along the South Kaibab trail. Unfortunately you need better knees than we have to do the full 13 mile round trip. The trail was good (safe) but muddy or snow / ice in sections and a killer on the way back to the top but does give a fantastic perspective that you can only get from being able to look up as well as down. WOW… … WOW.

The reality of the Grand Canyon is a strange one to take in. To begin with it comes from nowhere… mile after mile of uneventful desert like plateau and suddenly the edge. The sheer scale and scope – all the senses suggests its not for real - like a vast theatre curtain painted by a drug crazed student just hanging there. Colours, layers, angles, shading, lighting all change continuously so you can just stand and stare (with your mouth open) all day without a hint of boredom… if there wasn’t another amazing vista around the next bend to keep you moving. Even in the US – land of the dramatic landscape (we have seen a few already) and Disney like augmented reality the scene laid out before you defies definition… “So that peak over there is 70 miles away… Ipswich to London… no can’t be, surely not?” Enjoy the photo’s : )

As this is a blog – our diary - and not just a travelogue some interesting observations after a few days and restless nights chewing it all over. It was clear, blue sky and sunny (20+C) but snow was all around and as I write this it snowing there again. God knows what this place is like in a snow or thunder storm.
Rumour (confirmed by a ranger we met today) around 6 people loose their lives here every year? With most of it free of barriers, polished rock cliff edges and sheer (500 – 3000ft) drops we are not surprised. People with the parenting skills of a lemming [We had to leave one section as a small girl in oversized snow boot tripped and stumbled around in the little crevices only 2 feet from certain death while her parents watched the ravens soaring overhead. Er Lady…]

Japanese students hanging by their finger tips for a photo to out do their friends only being saved by the arrival of the shuttle bus bringing an end to the madness. [The Japanese are always in a hurry and would never miss the bus to the next stop.] Even though over 20 people are treated for heat exhaustion on a hot day and there are warnings everywhere we see people jogging down the South Kaibab trail and perhaps even more galling that classic Californian dude with shades and flip flops strolling down with no visible water. [remember - muddy or snow / ice in some sections ] Don’t even think about the rapids rafting trips at the bottom of the Canyon, after all the whooping and hollering we witness today (next blog), drowning may be too good for some of them : ).

OOps... as Jane has just pointed out - you even get some idiots sitting on the saftey rail for a photo opportunity!


The developed areas are awash with cars etc, people and shuttle buses – literally 1000,s of people yet the footpaths are empty and only half a mile from the stop you are totally alone. Even that raven you spotted in the distant sunshine continues to grow in size as it comes closer until it’s like a flying sofa bed soaring in the updraft at the edge of the Canyon.
A frighteningly big bird the Condor – 7ft wing span and bloody ugly!





Finally before the Canyon?… for the record…

Dead Horse Ranch State Park (don’t ask) Cottonwood, Arizona, (Busy as Spring Break holiday) and Sedona, Arizona both fantastic ‘red rock’ areas and deserve a page on their own - amazing sculptured red sandstone scenery all around. We walked into Cottonwood along the river. Americans love these quirky little western towns… hippy, artsy, antique, shabby sheik ‘historic’ old towns that always have a town jail. Taryn, you would love the clothes shops : )

Now we are at Lee’s Ferry, Arizona again on the Colorado River not far from the Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell)… but that is another blog.

Take care,

Jane and Den X