29th May 2012

---

Off before breakfast this morning for a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon.

A bit chilly this morning so had to put a fleece on, probably because we are still at 7,000ft altitude. The sun is out however and by 10am it will be mid 70's in the shade.

We were supposed to be at the airport for 7-30am for an 8-00am flight, unfortunately our pilot did not turn up until 8-30am. We did eventually get going and after 10 minutes in the air we went over the rim of the Grand Canyon.

A helicopter flight is the best way to view the Canyon (if a little expensive) but it is impossible to describe the scene.The Canyon is 250 miles long 14.5 miles across and a mile deep. It just leaves you awestruck at the scale of it all.

It is as if a million years worth of the river's erosive power is laid out as a mindblowing time line which makes us all seem very insignificant. It would be good to walk down into the Canyon and see the rock strata at close quarters but time and our age makes this impossible.

We have watched the video in the visitors centre which explains how the Canyon was formed

and also the life of the Indians who first colonised the Canyon.

We are planning to go back to the rim later this evening to see the evening light at Desert View.

Tomorrow we will set off to Bryce Canyon, where we will be at the base of the canyon for a change.

---

Comments

[rosemary060]

nice article
hi very nice article, I thank u for sharing an excellent article. My hobby is to travel the places of North America, studying the environment and writing articles, . And I prefer corporatestays.com for accommodation.My favorite food is Smoked meat and Poutine.

[Lucy]

Wow
Grand Canyon looks amazing, I would love to see it, it's so vast! Don't know about the helicopter ride though, was it scary?