Grand Canyon

Ever since I watched movie, 'Grand Canyon', I've expected that a visit to this giant gouge in the desert would be a spiritual experience, like it is in the movie. When I finally got there, it was a little different.
The bus took us from glittery Las Vegas out into a sort of nowhere place, a flat brown landscape dotted with scruffy bushes that seemed to stretch on forever. There were mountains in the distance, but bare and red, devoid of plants.



We kept a safe distance from the edge. I kept trying to imagine how this giant empty crack in the earth came to be. The story I was told was that a loooong time ago there was a giant flood and it got carved out by water. Right.

My experience of this place was one of wonder, but also one of curiosity. What really caused this? Was there a giant mining machine that carved it out? The pointy mountains dotting the surrounding area resembled piles of mining waste - tailings. Surely all that material had to go somewhere.
I was left with the impression that perhaps no one has a clue how this came about. It's impressive, though.