Wild horses wade into the inviting Lake Mead, 2,500ft below, barely breaking its still turquoise waters.
Behind us the Colorado river wends its way though the West Ridge of the Grand Canyon, one of the Natural Wonders of the World, on its way to Mexico.
Ahead of us is the glittering Las Vegas skyline.
Miked up we sit in a hover of helicopters whirring our way through the valleys, turning and twisting above the Hoover Dam.
But nobody speaks.
The majesty of the scene speaks for itself.
In my pocket I have a collection of stones older than the dinosaurs themselves.
I am bringing the Grand Canyon home with me.
Minutes before, we had swooped down to its lower plains with pilot Toon, of Maverick Helicopters.
The Grand Canyon is a valley of unimaginable vastness… If you want to get some kind of handle on it, Toon tells us that it would take a chopper, spinning at 180kph, two and a half hours to traverse it.
And yet he is able to float down like a feather to our landing spot.
Champagne moment
We open the Champagne quietly, respectfully, muting the pop.
There is a rush for mobile phones to capture THAT selfie, that exact exposure, that perfect vantage point.
But no smart phone has been invented smart enough to capture this.
I sit and scan the Canyon trying not to blink in the early-morning glare of the Nevada sun for fear of missing a thing.
And then our half hour is up, ours has been but a nano-second in time, we have not made a mark, not an impression.
Somewhere below we ar told, spots in the distance, are hikers, campers, swimmers, waders. Toon tells us that he set up tent one weekend down there only to be awoken by the unfamiliar braying of a Grand Canyon donkey by his pole – no Dobbin him.
Wild horses
Like the Wild Horses and 90 other species indigenous to the Grand Canyon.
Including the Big Horn Sheep they are a hardier, sturdier mammal.
They call this unforgiving, spectacular environment, deathly cold in the winter and prohibitively warm in the summer, home.
For all our great hubris there are some things greater, grander than us.
Some things that only HE can craft, some that can be seen still even up there in space, the heavens
This is the Grand Canyon and we are but guests.
I flew out to Las Vegas with British Airways… http://www.ba.com, stayed at the http://www.ventian.com and was flown out to the Grand Canyon by Maverick Helicopters http://www.maverickhelicopter.com.
And for more on Vegas and rates read https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/vegas-strip-the-light-fantastic/ and visit http://www.lvcva.com.