Starry Starry Nights

The desert climate makes the night skies around the Grand Canyon perfect for moon- and stargazing and now it’s cheaper to get there than ever before

- Tamara Hinson

Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, I feel very, very small. It’s hardly surprising. The canyon is 277 miles long, 18 miles across at its widest point and was formed six million years ago, although erosion continues to alter its contours today. I try to forget this latter fact as I peer into the canyon’s depths from the observation points dotted along the South Rim. One of the most fear-inducing is a finger of rock that extends out over a steep drop, and there’s not a barrier in sight. I observe from a distance, admiring the meandering valleys and the contrast between the rose-red stone and the bright blue of the cloudless sky.

Sunset hikes