Walking in rain can be fun. Just be ready to get wet, cold and aggravated by slogging through mud. Indeed, it can be most unpleasant for mud to cling to boots.

But so what? You’ve been cold and wet before. You’ve walked through mud before. Walking in rain isn’t pure misery. There are benefits.

You walk in rain because cold outside your coat contrasts nicely with warmth inside your coat. So what if a tiny bit of water seeps in? You’re still dry enough. You won’t freeze.

You do this because the whole world is different under rain. What you normally see is now wet. All visual stimuli become shiny. All sensory stimuli become more interesting.

Like the sound of rain. It’s cozy like pattering on a tin roof. Now it’s pattering on your raincoat and the world around you. So, walk onward. Again, you’re not going to get soaked. It’s an experience unique to most of your days.

After all, how often do you walk in the rain? If your whole life exists within climate-controlled boxes, the answer is not much. Perhaps it’s never.

Nonetheless, I’m not exaggerating when I say it can be fun to don the right clothes and walk in rain. A warm chest balancing out cold fingers with all Creation wet makes you feel more connected to the elements. It makes you feel more alive.

Raindrops on ponds; leaves cascading water; ephemeral streams; mist floating above trees and even mountains; black rain streaking down here but not there – you feel more connected to these stimuli because their shiny wetness is on you too. But all sights, sounds, cold and even the smell of mud makes you feel more alive!

Yes, sometimes I have no desire to walk in the rain. That’s probably more often than not. But sometimes it’s almost irresistible. I think it could be for others too. (I think it should be.)

I know this: with the right clothing, to me, it is bascially irresistible at Grand Canyon. Rain along the rim can be photogenic bliss. The blend of light, color and other elements is often indescribable.

But I’m gonna’ try to describe the full experience. And if you think what I’m saying is exaggerated nonsense, it’s my hope that the photos below show I’m not full of it. It’s literally like nothing I’ve seen on Earth, or at least America – and I’ve been to 46 states and 41 national parks.

Sometimes you can’t even see Grand Canyon. You’re trapped in clouds along the rim. You look beyond the edge and know the cold fog is hiding something big and dangerous. But you can’t see what’s out there. Grand Canyon is almost scarier here.

Then yonder appears the outline of some rocky spire that seems to float. Where is its base? Is it connected to the rim your standing upon? I can’t… I can’t. ..

Be patient. The wind always blows. The clouds move. On a day like today they’ll break and you’ll see down to the bottom. You’ll see the other side. The sun will shine through a hole from above and render a radiant light which saturates colors and forms of the inner canyon amid a milky vignette of moisture. Views go from ghostly to ethereal quickly.

Then it happens. Then in light between clouds a rainbow forms. But you are above that rainbow. How often does that happen? You’d better take 10 million photos from a bunch of different angles and zooms. It won’t matter how cold your hands get. It won’t matter how hard the wind blows. You will feel exhilaration. You should.

And did you know the rainbow was introduced to the world after the Flood in Genesis 9:13? Did you know it represents a covenant between God and all living beings? That the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh? That’s the real meaning of the rainbow – not the gay stuff. Read Genesis 9. Heck, begin at 1.

And know that there is no better evidence on Earth to the truth of the Noahic Flood than Grand Canyon. That’s what I believe carved it. I can be quite detailed in my justifications, and I don’t care that people with PhD’s would mock them. They’re sinners too. They’re fallible too.

I can mock them too.

But I don’t want to. I just want to you to believe me when I say that rain along the rim at Grand Canyon can be an ethereal experience you will remember for the rest of your life. I speak not with exaggerated prose that wannabe poets conjure for romance. God knows my romance is real. God knows my love of Grand Canyon is real.

It is especially real when you see a rainbow arching at 270 degrees below and above you, as opposed to the mere 180 degrees most will only see on flat ground. When you see a rainbow circle at Grand Canyon, I think that is God having fun with you. It’s such a phenomenal use of his covenant. It’s Creation’s most perfect match!

I took photos of this phenomenon a couple of weeks ago. It was sunset at Yavapai point. Snow was falling amid rain. The winds were howling. My windbreaker wasn’t enough, and my icy hands had difficulty controlling the zoom on my phone.

But this didn’t matter. My chest was warm. My camera remained dry. All the world was perfect. Had this first dose of wintry conditions remained for hours, I would have gladly spent every second in it viewing the radiant kaleidoscope God was displaying on the 24th of October in the year of our Lord 2026. The experience was uplifting.

And that is why rain along the rim will always excite me. Every American who visits Grand Canyon should be excited to brave rain for the glory it reveals. I know the climate-controlled boxes most people spend their lives within don’t dispose them to think and act like this. But that is their loss. If I could conjure the right words and images to create a desire to expose themselves to a walk in the rain along the rim, well, maybe this post will.

But I’d consider it a success if, one day, some dude in Des Moines decides to get off his butt and walk city streets in shiny, cold wetness because of words here.

I’ll never know, and that’s fine.