← All articles · 2026-07-26

Grand Canyon

Two June days on the South Rim: first sight of the Grand Canyon, the Bright Angel tunnel, Maricopa Point, the Powell Memorial and evening light in the gorge.

We came up from Route 66 country in June 2013, walked the last few steps to the South Rim, and there it was: the one hole in the ground the whole world agrees is worth the drive.

First look

Layered red and cream rock buttes of the Grand Canyon stretching to the horizon under a hazy blue sky — The first proper look from the South Rim. No photo is big enough, but June 2013 us had to try.

Inga in a straw cowboy hat sitting on the stone rim wall with the canyon dropping away behind her — Inga on the rim wall. The far side of that wall is a very long way down, so this is as far as she leaned.

Dileep in a straw hat standing at the stone rim wall with a camera, canyon buttes behind — One of us spent the whole visit glued to a viewfinder. The canyon did not seem to mind.

Inga standing on a rock outcrop jutting over the Grand Canyon, canyon walls glowing behind her — Every ledge here looks like the end of the earth. Solid rock, nervous photographer.

Below the rim

You have not really met the canyon until you drop below the edge, so we walked the first stretch of the Bright Angel Trail.

Inga walking through a rock tunnel carved into the cliff on the Bright Angel Trail — Through the tunnel on the Bright Angel Trail. Going down is easy; the arithmetic about coming back up starts later.

Selfie of Inga and Dileep in straw hats on a dusty trail below the canyon rim — A little way below the rim, already grinning like we had climbed out of it.

Working the viewpoints

The second day went to the overlooks along the rim, each with its own angle on the same impossible thing.

Selfie of Inga and Dileep at a railed overlook with an interpretive sign and the canyon behind — Working through the viewpoints one selfie at a time.

Maricopa Point sign with the Grand Canyon dropping away behind it — Maricopa Point, where the sign is briefly more photographed than the view.

Bronze memorial plaque honouring John Wesley Powell and the crews of his Colorado River expeditions — The Powell Memorial, for the crews who first ran the Colorado through the canyon in 1869. We arrived by rental car and still felt brave.

Dileep leaning on a viewpoint railing with canyon walls behind under a deep blue sky — Contractually obliged railing photo.

Grand Canyon buttes in low evening light with long shadows filling the gorge — The canyon saves its best trick for the end of the day, when the shadows pour in.

From here we dropped back to Route 66 at Seligman and rolled on to Las Vegas. We gave the canyon two days; it deserves twenty.