CANYON

GRAND CANYON: A FEELING THAT ONE SHOULD EXPERIENCE

There is no camera, that can capture its realistic image of the Canyon and there are no words that can explain it. For, Grand Canyon is a feeling, that one has to experience.

It was a long cherished dream to visit Grand Canyon and I wanted to walk down the Canyon, exploring the valleys there. A year ago, the dream of Colorado River was added to it. I had not idea how it worked and when it worked, I could not explain how it went off.

On the way to Canyon, I knew that the best photos were possible only in Canyon. However, I could not resist taking photos of small hillocks, formation looking like Canyon walls. After three hours of journey, we entered the Western Canyon area, where we could see just the edges of the valley.

Our first stop was at Haulapai Reserve resort, run by cowboys. I presumed that the people would be dressed like cowboys. Alan said that they were real cowboys and they are now running the resort there.

Alan told us how to greet a cowboy -- `heeee haaaa’, which sounded much like horse noise. When the bus stopped in front of the resort, the owner of the resort, a big man walked inside the bus. Everyone greeted him `heee haa’. Some voices were so dramatic that even the cowboys burst into laughter.

After an hour, we set out in a horse driver cart for a small ride. A native Indian was driving it and he did not forget to remind us time and again that we were in India nation. India nation is native Red Indian Reserve, which is often termed as a `nation within nation’. Here the law is different for the natives.

He stopped the cart by a stone, which had some marks on it and asked us to identify it. No one could, but he said that it was footprint of a dinosaur. ``Few years ago, a team of scientists visited here and confirmed that it was footprint of a dinosaur. They wanted to take this stone to a museum, but could not as it is in India nation,’’ he said proudly.

He showed us a cactus called prickly peer and Indians ate its berry. A shrub called Indian tea and also a shrub with pointed leaves called Banana Yakka, which were integral part of native Indians’ daily life.

Soon, we boarded the bus and reached the skywalk. We took a short walk near the Canyon edge and as I approached it, my legs trembled. I was surprised, as I was never scared of heights. I realized that I was standing on top of a wall, 12,000 feet tall.

It took sometime for me to get adjusted to the situation. I slowly walked towards the skywalk. An American Chinese businessman David Jin built skywalk, which was opened in 2007. It is a 27-meter arc that hangs in the air over the canyon. The middle part of the skywalk is transparent and one can see the gorge under directly. It creates an illusion and many people are scared of walking in the middle of the skywalk.

The Canyon wall facing the skywalk is called Eagle Point. The shape on the top of the Canyon resembles an Eagle taking off. It was awesome.

Time was up for the sunset now. We rushed to another spot – couple of miles away. I could see a hillock and Alan told me that the sunset would be the best on top of the hillock. It was over a mile from where the bus had stopped and there was a tower, which once housed a ropeway station.

As I started climbing the hillock, I could feel the difference from Eagle point to here. I was surrounded by Canyon and deep down in the valley, Colorado River was flowing. For the next half an hour, the time passed like a second. Sun was slowly setting and its shadows were falling on various parts of Canyon walls. Canyon looked different every second. While one portion glittered, another portion looked dark by the shadow. No word or a photo can do justice to this experience.

Next day was much-awaited day for me. I was going down the Canyon and would be sailing on Colorado. A chopper in Canyon airstrip took off and started descending between the Canyon walls. In the next six minutes, we had hit the bottom of the Canyon. While coming down, I could imagine different shapes formed on the Canyon walls.

I was just half mile away from Colorado and started walking down. We were taken in a boat a mile upstream and floated back to the place where we boarded the boats. The water was red and the experience was amazing.

Within next 20 minutes, we were airborne again. This time, it took less than six minutes to reach the airstrip. The pilot had stopped in the air for two minutes so that we could have better view of the valley, but entire thing passed like a dream.

The Grand Canyon national park is spread over 1.2 million sq mile and I had not even touched tip of the iceberg. I can not even imagine how it would be to cover entire Canyon.