God’s Creation: The Grand Canyon

As mentioned in my posting Traveling-  Las Vegas & Sedona on 22 August, Rich and I took a day trip to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  I was very excited to make this trip because when I was a young girl growing up in England, many of my friends wanted to go America.  There were those who were enthralled at the thought of visiting New York City, others who wanted to see the White House and the nation’s capital, and yet others who were attracted to the bright lights of Las Vegas or Hollywood.

But my only desire re-the USA was to see the Grand Canyon.  I had seen it in a couple of movies, read about it here and there, and I believe I saw it featured in a National Geographic article at least 40 years ago.  (I know, I’m dating myself here!!).  From those experiences I knew it was something hugely majestic, but I had not retained much descriptive detail about it from them.  So this trip was almost like visiting it with no pre-information about it at all.

As we approached the area of the Grand Canyon, I remember being somewhat puzzled, or maybe perplexed would be a better word.  I think I expected the landscape to begin to change dramatically to prepare me for what I was about to see.  But everything was amazingly “normal”, fairly flat country with quite a few trees.  We entered the visitors center, acquired our tickets, and watched a great informative documentary. 

Even as I watched the movie I wasn’t particularly struck by anything special, and we headed out afterward on the road that led into the National Park in Arizona where the south rim is located.  Again, I was puzzled/perplexed because the countryside did not change.  I’m not quite sure what I was expecting and I was quite surprised when we eventually saw the sign for the first “viewing zone”.  We parked and I got out of the car and looked around.   Nothing, just the road we had been travelling and a line of trees. But the arrows pointed toward the trees, so off we went. 

I don’t think it would have mattered if I had seen a thousand photographs or hundreds of movies, nothing would have prepared me for my first view of the Canyon.  As I passed through the trees and stepped out the other side, my jaw dropped, my mouth gaped. I was absolutely speechless.  My eyes tried to come to grips with what I was seeing and I was somewhat aware that my mind was scrambling for words to describe it.  Some of the words that came to mind were: spectacular, majestic, awesome, awe-inspiring, amazing, stunning.

But even as I tried to put the words together in my head, I realized that none of them would do justice to the landscape unfolding in front of my eyes.  I was aware of tears welling up inside me.  I felt completely choked up with emotion, my heart was racing and my breathing had definitely quickened.  It felt like my soul was seeing a touch of home, and in that moment I knew that one word, and only one word, could describe the view that lay before me – God.  I could imagine Him during the days of creation, eyeing this particular piece of the earth and, feeling the inspiration, reaching His hand down and slicing a two hundred and eighty mile long wavy line through the State of Arizona.

Just as words do not do justice to the majesty, the size, the total “stunningness” of the Grand Canyon, so too pictures cannot capture it’s breathtaking awesomeness. But I am including a couple that my husband took as we went from viewing point to viewing point along the south rim.  The picture of the raven is included for a couple of reasons.  My adopted Native American name is Raven Woman.  When we first got out of our car at the condo we stayed at in Sedona, a raven flew onto the roof, and every viewing spot in the Grand Canyon had several ravens hopping around.  I felt especially welcomed in both places. 

As I stared at this miracle of God and nature, once again I found myself thinking of the first pioneers, those courageous men and women who set out from the eastern settlements of America to explore what lay beyond their known territories.  I tried to imagine a lonely cowboy riding across new and unexplored country, galloping along on his horse and coming through the tree line to approach the edge of the canyon.  I’m sure he must have experienced feelings similar to those I described above.

For those of you who are interested, here are a few facts about the Grand Canyon.  Even as I write them I find them hard to digest and fully take in.  The Canyon is nearly two hundred and eighty miles long, reaching from Marble Canyon near the Utah-Arizona border to Grand Wash Cliffs in Mojave County near the Nevada-Arizona border.  In some places it is eighteen miles wide – yes, eighteen miles!! And it reaches depths of up to one mile.  At the south rim the width of the chasm is about ten miles.

All I can say is, if there is nothing else that you do, no specific location that you have a desire to see in the USA, plan to go to the Grand Canyon.  I do not think you will be disappointed and I am sure you will be at least a little bit changed afterward.  Happy trails!