The Grand Canyon

Across to the middle of Arizona and again on lonely roads in a vast, barren landscape we were Grand Canyon bound and very excited to be seeing this natural wonder.  The Painted Desert was very colourful with many shades of russet and pumpkin in the rocks, the silvery green of the sagebrush bush and dusty red sand.  We stopped to view the Little Colorado River as it cut through its gorge before it meets the Colorado River deep in the Grand Canyon.  The railing which was located fairly close to the edge made us a little hesitant about peering over the side but it was safer than the areas that just had plastic tape as a barrier! 
Our first stop in the Canyon National Park was at Desert View on the eastern side of the rim.  It had been a rainy evening in the area and the mist hung low in some places in the canyon.  Nothing had prepared us for the sheer awe inspiring view before our eyes.  This powerful landscape displaying beautiful rock layers was stunning and we were blown away.  At 29km wide and 1.6km deep with the bottom rocks being nearly 2 million years old, the processes played out over unimaginable time spans to expose these unique combinations of size, colour and dazzling erosional forms was amazing.  Earth’s history was truly a gorgeous sight.
As we moved along the rim to the southern viewpoints we were lucky to see elk and their calves grazing in the woods along with plenty of cheeky squirrels.  The Colorado River (446km long) continued to wind its way out to Lake Mead, the reservoir for the Hoover Dam. 
Unfortunately our photos don’t really show the colours we saw but they will give you an idea of this remarkable canyon.