Day 9, Grand Canyon

No greater place on Earth, the Grand Canyon, at least in my humble opinion.  It's one of the few natural wonders of the world you can see from space.  The museum tells us it's very old material shaped in very modern times.  Formed initially but the collision of continental plates, layers were then added by the seas that invaded the area for millions of years. Layers of sediment in many different forms were deposited, reflecting teh vegetation and animals life of the time.  And the carving occurred through major floods, oceans of water cascading out of the land over the milenium.  And the Colorado River today continues to put finishing touches on the landscape.  One can easily image snow sitting on all the sloping surfaces of the upper canyon walls, melting and causing millions of tiny rivulets, each carrying a few grains of sand towards the canyon bottom, to be carried further away by the river.

It’s the most fascinating place.  Many of you have seen it.  You know that the lighting is different every day, and every mnute of each day.  And each configure of light, of sun and shadow and clouds, causes, each in turn, a unique view of the grand wonder.

We sat for an hour on the rim, just absorbing the grandeur in silence.  After Labor Day crowds week minimal.  At a few viewpoints I felt that this was my own park.  We had the wonderful opportunity after dinner to sit on the rim near Grand Canyon Village with a few dozen admirers of the canyon, watching the sun go down.  This time the Canyon did not flood with light. There was more activity in the clouds nearby, but it was still a special evening, sunset on the Grand Canyon.

A treat of Elk on the roadsides and later in the evening, walking on the terrace in front of our cottage.  It was a special day and I shall treasure it long after this trip is over.

And we end this chapter with a couple of human interest shots.