The G.C.

The Grand Canyon: that incomparable 277 mile long, 18 mile long, 6000 foot deep, 2 billion year old rift in the earth's surface. It's impossible to take it all in from the rim, even the 8800' elevation of the north rim where we stood. Words can't do it justice, and neither do my photographs. Not that I won't try!

The 40 mile drive through the conifer forest gives no sense of anticipation that an end-of-the-world-like dropoff lurks ahead. The trees suddenly open up to reveal the absence of terra-firma - a surge of adrenaline heightens the senses; the pulse quickens. No matter that we know that it's there, and know more-or-less what it looks like, it still provokes a feeling of discovery.

It's so deep and wide that our brains can't estimate the distances. The far wall is so many miles away that the haze in the air blurs all features but the high contrast of red and white layers of rock. All we can do is stare and try to imagine the great forces of nature and time which created such an awesome spectacle.

Insomuch as photographs fail to capture what our eyes perceive, I have chosen for display several which also include our own persons, in the hopes that if one object of beauty fails to impress, perhaps the other will suffice: