I ask myself why folks react in their individual ways to a structure like the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. Not everybody thinks it the greatest thing in the world; moods and opinions differ. It suffers from its reputation and from its prolific representation in film and still imagery — it is hard to actually see the place through this forest of remembered and imagined pictures in our heads. Twenty-eight years ago I took my son, then twelve years old to the edge of the abyss. He said: “Dad, it doesn’t look real.”  I could understand. The overwhelming breadth and depth of the canyon seemed less real than the hyperrealistic IMAX movie we had watched on our way into the park, and that illustrates the problem.