_ we arrived at mather campground late at night and slept out under the stars. the next morning we hiked to the south rim of the grand canyon and looked out. though plenty of people have tried, it is impossible, i repeat, impossible to correctly convey the size of the thing.
_ though it is amazing to look at, the true experience of the grand canyon is not visual, it's more the feeling of standing on the edge of it, the wind and the sense of a void. you can't photograph that at all. so, really, these pictures are lame redundancies, and we apologize.
_ yeah, sorry again. however, if you want to play some kind of game, the top three pictures are all of the same spot in the canyon, photographed from different vantage points around the rim. if you line them up next to each other and squint repeatedly and in sequence, we guess you might see some kind of 3d effect....
_ walking down from the main path by the tourist center, there are outcroppings providing unobstructed views. on the edge of one, we found this gum tree. countless visitors had colorfully vandalized this poor stump, though the artificial coloring had faded artfully to fitting pastels.
_ to impress their friends, some wandered further than the others. over 600 documented fatalities have occured in the grand canyon since the 1870's, many due to (allegedly) "over-zealous photographic ventures".
_ some people had come prepared. unfortunately we didn't (for reasons of taste) get a snap of the japanese tourist pretending to fart into the canyon, pained expression and all.
_ adventurers, absorbed in contemplation of earth's magnificence.
_ though the rim was busy, the canyon itself is so large that thirty feet in either direction there are wide open views without people or railings.
_ views eastward toward the painted desert. we apologize again for the uselessness of this picture, but come on, if you see mick jagger you get him to sign a napkin.