Towards such a point we now direct our steps. The supreme views are to be obtained at the extremities of the long promontories, which jut out between these recesses far into the gulf. The scenery of the amphitheaters far surpasses in grandeur and nobility anything else of the kind in any other region, but it is mere by-play in comparison with the panorama displayed in the heart of the cañon. Of course there are degrees in the magnitude and power of the pictures presented, but the smallest and least powerful is tremendous and too great for comprehension. It is such a point to which the reader has been brought in the preceding chapter. If the approach is made at random, with no idea of reaching any particular point by a known route, the probabilities are that it is first seen from the rim of one of the vast amphitheaters which set back from the main chasm far into the mass of the plateau. In the Kaibab the forest reaches to the sharp edge of the cliff and the pine trees shed their cones into the fathomless depths below. As the final march to that portion of the chasm is made the scene gradually develops, growing by insensible degrees more grand until at last we stand upon the brink of the inner gorge, where all is before us. There we are notified that we are near it a day before we reach it.

Seldom is any warning given that we are near the brink. Wherever we reach the Grand Cañon in the Kaibab it burst upon the vision in a moment.

Spirit faces cloudplay