Grand Canyon - Out of this world

The Grand Canyon is something that has to be really seen to be believed. It is unlike anything that you have seen before, even the Canyon de Chelly from the day before. The landscape has an almost alien quality about it, the outcome of millions of years of erosion. The scale of it is vast. To give an example, a new attraction for the Grand Canyon is a glass viewing platform where you walk over the canyon. It is 250 miles away from where I am today!

Visiting the desert view point on my way into the park from Chinle was with hindsight a very good thing, as it is over 25 miles from the main visitors centre. Here there was a lookout tower (see below) which looks old but was only built within the past 100 years (and is currently undergoing repairs).

Today I didn't drive for once and took the bus into the park. Within the park there is a good network of free buses to take you around this part of the south rim. Having watched a movie on the canyon I went to take my first look of the day out at it. From there I took a succession of buses further up the side which gave some different views, including clearer views of the Colorado river which is the key driver of the erosion that has caused this. I also, despite the heat, did some walking along the rim (not too close!) between different viewpoints.

Having gone back to the hotel for a cool down I went back in the evening to watch the sun set. This nearly caught me out as Arizona (alone in all the states) has no summer time and therefore the sun set a little earlier than I was expecting! However, I was there in plenty of time to see not only the sun go down, but the impact on the rocks of the different light as it was doing so. A real privilege to see it.