Like most others have commented, it’s pretty friggin’ spectacular. In my younger days I hiked down and back in the same day (I couldn’t get a wilderness permit), and I’m glad I did it then, because I sure as shit couldn’t make it today.
I’ve been to a couple of famous “Big ol’ canyons”: Colca Canyon in Peru and Fish River Canyon in Namibia and neither is anything close to as amazing as the Grand Canyon.
But Bryce Canyon, Zion and Canyonlands are spectacular in their own way.
I’ve only been to the North Rim of the GC, but it was pretty damned spectacular. I’d be walking along the rim, and every ten feet the view would change. It was the best. fucking. kaleidoscope. ever.
Yes, Grand Canyon is a biiiiig hole in the ground. It’s the sort of big hole in the ground for which various religions have prayers or blessings regarding majestic works of nature.
I was there once, on 1 Jan 2000. Our tour flights into the Canyon were grounded by a snow storm and thick fog. Still, I went on a South Rim ranger walk that afternoon, and the weather broke enough for me to take incredibly stunning photos. A friend once commented that my photo of Battleship Rock looked commercial-postcard grade.
Take your camera. Take your time. Get away from the tourist-centric parts of the South Rim.
Dammit! Did I dimension-shift again without realizing it?
The fact that just reading about the Sky Walk makes me dizzy (let alone looking at those pictures) tells me I probably should just stay home. I mean, what the hell keeps you from falling over the side?