Sandstone Pillar and Cloud Bank Over Grand Canyon

A weathered sandstone promontory fills the left side of the frame, its pale tan and cream layers stacked in rounded ledges. A small group of visitors stands at a lookout on its flat top, tiny against the drop. A few green shrubs cling to the rock in the lower left corner. Beyond it the canyon opens into a maze of buttes and terraced walls in rust, brick red and muted purple, fading toward a level rim on the far horizon. Above, a band of white and grey-edged cumulus sits low over the distant rim, with thin cirrus streaking a deep blue sky.

The view is from Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, often the first stop for visitors arriving at the canyon. The layered walls record a long sequence of sedimentary rock, and the colour changes from one band to the next reflect different rock types. Summer clouds like these can build into afternoon thunderstorms, which are common on the rim from July to early September. The wide, detailed scene suits a widescreen desktop monitor or an ultrawide display, where the distant ridgelines keep their depth.

More like this: Storm Light Over the Canyon's Red Buttes.