THE GRAND CANYON, USA THE USUAL: THE ALTERNATIVES: ALSO TRY:

Some sights are so iconic that you feel you know them before you see them for the first time. Arizona’s Grand Canyon – 446km long and millions of years in the making – is one such. But familiarity can have a downside: more than six million people visit each year, and if you head to the busiest viewpoints and routes of the South Rim, such as the South Kaibab and Bright Angel trails, it can feel like you’re meeting most of them.

The North Rim is further from the nearest city than the south, and its North Kaibab or Nankoweap trails far less crowded. Remember, too, that there are lots of sub-canyons to explore. For example, try Havasu, with its five impossibly blue cascades accessible via a 16km hike down switchbacks into the redrock canyon and past a Native American village to the campsite near the falls. Book your permit and campsite place as far in advance as possible.

For a truly immersive canyon experience, though, you’ll need to get wet. Rafting the Colorado River (trips run Apr–oct) gets you up close to those sheer canyon walls, gazing up at condors soaring overhead, taking side treks to magical grottoes and sleeping out on sandy beaches under a canvas of stars. Day trips are possible, but most floats last three to eight days, starting at Lees Ferry or Phantom Ranch; it takes two weeks to traverse the whole canyon in a non-motorised boat.

Arizona isn’t short on impressive canyons. The hike into candy-striped Antelope Canyon is Instagram gold, while Canyon de Chelly is home to Puebloan dwellings built into the cliffs almost a millennium ago; take a trek with a Native American guide, on foot or on horseback, to explore even older relics dating back 5,000 years.

70 wanderlust.co.uk March 2019

( It took over five million years for the Colorado River to carve the 1.6km-deep Grand Canyon; ( earn your stripes on a hike into Antelope Canyon