At 277 miles long, 10 miles across and 1 mile deep, the Grand Canyon is vast. And while we knew there was no way to see all of it during our stay, we thought a helicopter tour was a pretty good way to get an overview of the vistas, valleys, peaks and hidden landscapes we wouldn’t fully experience along our hikes.
So we splurged and boarded a Papillon Helicopter for a bird’s eye view. After the dull roar and a thump thump thump that lead to very suspicious looks from the kids, we were airborne and en route to the edge of the Grand Canyon. As we crossed the rim, the earth plummeted away leaving us with a breathtaking, awe-inspiring flyover of one of the world’s largest canyons.
Our words and pictures simply won’t do it justice. As John Wesley Powell, the leader of the first expedition to successfully transit the Colorado river through the canyon said:
“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.”
And that was day one of our own Grand Canyon expedition. More to come!
