Grand Canyon, AZ

If I were a condor high above the Grand Canyon, I'd imagine it looks like a huge fissure running through the barren desert. As I swooped lower, I'd see that the yellow rock and green pines on the rim give way to cliffs of deep red hued sandstone, shrubs, and fine dust. As I fell deeper into the crack, I'd feel the temperatures building and that thousands of cacti dots were replacing bigger bushes, the reds giving way to white sands. Then as I approached the bottom of the slit, I discover an emerald green sliver snaking its way along the canyon floor. The Colorado River! That tiny trickle created this mess?! Extraordinary!

The Grand Canyon is one of those hard-to-believe natural phenomena which is difficult to comprehend even once seen. The views from the rim across the 10 mile gap and down into the 4000 ft chasm are stupendous. Its rock walls glow softly blue during sunrise, melt into a stark white after midday, and give off a golden glow at dusk. Condors circle on thermals whilst desert squirrels burrow into the juniper trees.

Hiking down into the canyon is a serious feat. Descending the popular Bright Angel Trail to the Indian Garden oasis takes roughly 2.5 hours. It's another hour to the river and about 30 minutes out onto Plateau Point. As you descend it gets gradually hotter; it's not unknown for it to be 15-18 degrees at the rim and 35+ degrees in the canyon's bowels. But going down is the easy part. In a cute inversion of Newton, the Park Ranger's quip: "what goes down, must go up". From the bottom, the canyon walls look like an impenetrable fortress. It's impossible to see where to exit. The heat is debilitating; I could feel the moisture evaporating from every pore in my body. Plodding up the dusty mule trail is sadistic - a sandy version of Stair Master. It seems never-ending.

But of course back on top some 3+ hours later as the ice cold brew slips down my throat, it doesn't seem so bad. I can brag about the standing on the edge of the 600 ft cliff staring at the gorgeous Colorado just a stone's throw below - a place few of the ice-cream-gobbling day trippers in the Rim Zoo can imagine visiting. Of course, I'm pathetic compared to the "desert hikers" who hump giant backpacks of gear into the canyon to camp out beneath the stars. But I'm happy to have been to the bottom and back. Being so small and so insignificant in something so monumental and so large, is magnificent enough for me.