Today was a day to visit one of the great wonders of the world . Waking up at around 7 in the morning in the Las Vegas city we headed towards the north rim of the great Grand Canyon . Spreading across a massive area of 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters) , Grand Canyon is formed over billions of years of continuous erosion and cutting of the rocks by the Colorado river .
It was around 350 miles (560 km) journey which took us around 5 hours to reach( thanks to the American freeways) , and all I could see during the drive was barren land with negligible vegetation and extremely low population .
Crossing through the Glen Canyon Dam we made our way to the Horseshoe Bend (named after the shape it has taken) , It was about 1 km walk from the parking lot and was a tiring one because of the strong sun . I had heard of its beauty in the past and wanted to explore it and trust me on this one i haven’t had such a mesmerising view in my entire life.
It was like that perfect view to which i would want to wake up every morning . The water looked so different, the air too clean to breathe and I was amazed by the fact how the Colorado river had molded these rocks .The river enters from the right side and exits on the left side of the Horseshoe Bend . I clicked like a thousand pictures of this place but still wasn’t satisfied by the beauty it holds and to my disadvantage i had limited time and still one more place to go.
Next on the list was the Antelope Canyon which is a slot canyon and is a paradise for photographers. The rain water falling from these slots into the canyon has resulted in permanent imprints of flowing water over the rocks which makes it look like the water runs through rocks .
Beams (shafts of direct sunlight radiating down from openings in the top of the canyon) falling upon these rocks transcends the shape and beauty these rocks take , like in some cases rocks acquired the shape of dragons while in others it seemed like a flying bird and polar bear ( quite visible in pictures).
To reach this place special permits are given to organisation and they charged us $45 each for the transportation and they also sent in experts and guides along . No advance booking was required . We reached the parking lot and paid there directly and then their tour guide came along and drove us for a 20 minutes of sandy journey to reach Antelope Canyon . The walkway in the canyon was very narrow in some cases and one person at a time was passing by and i would strongly recommend to wear shades because of the strong wind , mud was constantly falling from the top in the canyon.
At the end of the day I felt lucky to have witnessed these prodigious elegance of the mother nature and I hope to travel to such amazing places in the entire world , at least Not Until I die .
This article was first published at www.notuntilwedie.wordpress.com