Flying the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a long meandering maw that splits the desert by over a kilometre and a half deep and 16 kilometres wide.  Known to be one of the deepest gorges on the planet, it's no wonder that the Grand Canyon is listed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and also makes it the perfect destination for our very first helicopter ride.

Shortly after a very smooth take off, we fly over the massive man-made lake, Lake Mead.

After a fly around Lake Mead, we continued onwards and upwards.

Our pilot gave us a little geology lesson and told us the high iron content in the rocks causes the beautiful red hue.

Just the top of another in-active volcano...

The Hoover Dam...note the car on the bridge for scale.

We got to sit right up front with the pilot, who was ex-Apache military.

Smile!  Our helicopter sat 2 (+ pilot) in the front and 4 in the back. 

Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon.

The Colorado River winding its muddy way through the centre.

There were a number of helicopters zipping through the canyon looking very much like metal dragonflies and many of them have designated landing areas.

Our little picnic spot, surrounded by stepped rock and blue sky. 

We had about 40 minutes to eat, walk around and take photos of the stunning views.

Back in the helicopter again, heading back.

Rising up and over the canyon walls.

It was mostly desert on the way back.  There are supposed to be wild donkeys living in these parts, leftovers from gold prospecting times.

A bird's eye view and not a road in sight.