An all day's
stage ride from Flagstaff to the canon was tiresome, but the two
hours' drive through the pine woods from Bright Angel to Grand
View is only pleasant recreation.
Seeing the Grand Canon for the first time does not necessarily
produce the startling and lachrymose effects that have been
described by some emotional writers, but the first sight never
disappoints and always leaves a deep and lasting impression.
As immense as is the great chasm it is formed in such harmonious
proportions that it does not shock the senses. But as everything
about the canon is built on such a grand scale and the eyes not
being accustomed to such sights it is impossible to comprehend
it - to measure its dimensions correctly or note every detail of
form and color at the first glance. As the guide remarked, "God
made it so d - big that you can't lie about it."
To comprehend it at all requires time to re-educate the senses
and make them accustomed to the new order of things. But even a
cursory view will always remain in the memory as the event of a
lifetime in the experience of the average mortal.
Distance in the canon cannot be measured by the usual standards.
There are sheer walls of rocks that are thousands of feet high
and as many more feet deep, but where the bottom seems to be is
only the beginning of other chasms which lie in the dark shadows
and descend into yet deeper depths below. The canon is not a
single empty chasm, which is the universal conception of a canon,
but consists of a complex system of sub and side canons that is
bewildering. Out of its depths rise an infinite number and
variety of castellated cliffs and sculptured buttes that
represent every conceivable variety of architecture. They have
the appearance of a resurrected city of great size and beauty
which might have been built by an army of Titans then buried and
forgotten.
A trip into the canon down one of the trails makes its magnitude
even more impressive than a rim view. The distance across the
chasm is also much greater than what it seems to be, which is
demonstrated by the blue haze that fills the canon. The nearby
buttes are perfectly distinct, but as the distance increases
across the great gorge the haze gradually thickens until the
opposite wall is almost obscured by the mist.
The myriads of horizontal lines which mark the different strata
of rocks have the appearance of a maze of telegraph wires strung
through the canon.
A ride leisurely on horseback along the rim trail from Thurber's
old camp to Bissell's Point, seven miles up the canon, and back
is easily made in a day.
