Lisa and I got away for a few days in January to visit my grandparents in Phoenix. We also did a little overnight jaunt to the Grand Canyon. (I would highly recommend visiting mid-week in January, we almost had the place to ourselves.) I don't think "grand" is a big enough word to describe it. How do you describe something of such vast relief and immense size? It's 10 miles from the south rim to the north rim, and over 5000 feet deep.
Words are wasted and pictures might as well be fuzzy- it can not be described or captured. And I felt like such a tourist/cheater as I looked in from above, not willing to plunge in and experience it up close. Sure, I got off the paved trail a few times to venture out on a rock ledge to try and take it in, but it wasn't enough. I felt as if I couldn't really experience it's fullness without a trek to the river at the bottom- oh how I wanted to swim in that river.
But one thing I'm sure of is that if I had wandered up river and happened to find myself in the bottom of the enormous canyon, I would have felt the same feeling about reaching the top. "How can I ever appreciate its vast expanse from below? I must reach the top!" - I would have said.
Draw your own conclusions.
talon
