The most stunning sight in North America - the mighty GRAND CANYON

Grand Canyon from Hopi Point
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How can you put the Grand Canyon into words?

Its close to impossible.It doesnt look real. It looks so immense. You find yourself saying on first glimpse "S***, look at that!" and running to the edge. Its the bright red colouring which is the most striking. Its scarlet swathe is laid out before you like a rolling ocean of red mesas, small mountains and and even deeper canyons. The whole thing looked like a moonscape made of russet red. And the silence? At Niagara you had constant noise and motion...but here its an eerie silence. An almost solid silence - as if the entire canyon has never been travelled by man. The last great wilderness left in America?

Bright Angel canyon is more prominent and visible from this point. You can even see the Colorado river snake its way through the maze tens of miles away.

Yavapai Point
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These are thoughts that are crowding me at the end of an epic day. Truly the last seven months in the US could just be justified by my first look at the Canyon this morning. Everything else was a plus. Last night I booked my place on the Navi-Hopi mini-bus which leaves at 8.00am. The Canyon is eighty miles from Flagstaff takes about an hour with the last stretch through a gorgeous area of mountains and ponderosa pines. The Grand Canyon NP is next and we pulled up at a set of stone buildings and told we were picked up at 6.00pm. The buildings are called 'Bright Angel Lodge' and are owned by one man - Fred Harvey. He owns the land around here and built hotels with the best view in the world.

The impact of seeing the Canyon for the first time is mindblowing. But there is plenty to do as you stroll along the south rim as the view keeps changing the further you walk along. The Kolb studio is a precarious looking building on a promontory overlooking the vast expanse. From here you can get a good view of the adjoining promontories and their red-streaked cliffs. Not far away is the Bright Angel Trail which snakes down nine miles to the bottom. I will do that tomorrow I will just explore the rim today. At the top of the trail is a whiffy mule corral and alot of exhausted hikers. Its a dangerous hike - 26 year olds have had heart attacks on the way up.

Then I headed eastwards along the nature rim trail where there is no wall between you and the drop into oblivion. Not far away is Grandeur Point which gives another stunning panorama of another part of the Canyon. The views get better and better the further away you get from Bright Angel Lodge. This part looks like a canyon within a canyon. Bright Angel canyon is more prominent and visible from this point. You can even see the Colorado river snake its way through the maze tens of miles away. The furthest I got was Yavapai Point, a full two miles from Bright Angel Lodge. The eastern part of the canyon is visible from here and it is a full mile vertical straight down from here. Gulp!

For most of the afternoon I took the western trail of the south rim of the canyon. I watched a mule train up - six pack animals struggling under the weight of lazy tourists. For a few hours I just wandered eastwards where there were practically no people except lone motorists who got out of the cars, took a picture, and then got back in and drove off.Hopi Point was my favourites and there is an excellent view of the Bright Angel Trail wriggling its way down to the bottom. The western section seems even bigger - with vistas expanding to accomodate even more sheer walls and vertical ledges.

At 5.00pm the sun goes down and covers the bottom of the canyon in darkness while lighting the rim in a golden colour. I stayed and watched the sunset until the minibus collected us.

Where has today gone? It has sped by...