Grand Canyon National Park 5

(10/2) Pima Point and sunset.

For our last outing at the Grand Canyon, we went out to the best overlook on the western part of the south rim, known as Pima Point. 

Here we had great looks both at the colorful formations in the higher part of the canyon and at the Colorado River flowing through the inner gorge below. The longer we were at the park, and the more we looked into the canyon, the more we sensed the vastness of this place. It's not hard for the eye to take in the whole view from top to bottom. However, as we discovered earlier today, when one takes binoculars and looks down to the trail below and discovers a mule train that seems microscopic in size, the true scale of the scene becomes apparent.

In the Grand Canyon, as John Muir observed, "one's most extravagant expectations are infinitely surpassed."  Not just by the sheer size of the canyon--5 to 15 miles wide and 5,000 to 6,000 feet deep--but by its walls "elaborately carved into all sorts of recesses - alcoves, cirques, amphitheaters, and side canyons."

And as Muir noted, "the vast space these glorious walls enclose, instead of being empty, is crowded with gigantic architectural rock-forms, gorgeously coloured and adorned with towers and spires like works of art."

Muir observed that, at sunset, "shadows, wondrous, black and thick, fill up the wall hollows, while the glowing rocks ... stand submerged in purple haze, which fills the canyon like a sea."

As the Grand Canyon was the last of the national parks we visited on this trip, a view of the sunset over the canyon seems a fitting way to end our blog.  This has been a wonderful trip for us.  We have enjoyed sharing it with you!