What I think Percy is getting at in this section is that people do not know how content they could be if they don't take the less beaten path. If they stick to the tours, and lookouts, they may be blindly limiting their experiences.

I see this sentence as very ironic, why can we see the canyon better when the trails and lookouts are gone? However, I think it makes perfect sense, without the trails and lodges we can see the simplicity of the canyon, the raw and natural state of it.

The image presented in this passage, the man awakening and seeing the canyon for the first time, is a reflection of Cardenas discovering the canyon for the first time. The man, like Cardenas, is seeing the canyon without having planned to see it. He was not expecting it to look one way or another, therefore he was able to see it exactly how it was, in the moment. I think this passage is also saying that sometimes seeing something or doing something that is not planned, can be more meaningful than if it was planned.

In this sentence Percy is saying that "our complex friend" uses what the other tourists aren't seeing, to gain a more holistic view. He watches them snap a picture and move on. He learns from them, and takes in what they are missing. I think this also demonstrates being aware of ones surroundings. While the other tourists are only focused on the Canyon itself, the man stands back, and takes in the whole scene.

In this section of the essay, Percy is saying that there are many ways for tourists to see the Grand Canyon for what is it, but they will not see it if they compare it to the expectation, or assumption of what they were expecting. Or if they only look at it how the tour guide tells them to look at it.

This is an interesting question to think about and reflect on, because while the view from the lodge may be very similar to what Cardenas first encountered, even the mention of the lodge is describing how the scene is different. Where there was once only wilderness, there is now infrastructure and buildings.