In addition to what Mike says, I would also try to avoid that time of day for photographs like these. While it makes for a good holiday snapshot, daylight is really difficult to use in a more artistic manner.
Another way of handling trees in the foreground and canyon in the background, is to step further back and use more of the canyon, or to step forward and use the gnarly tree branches as a kind of frame. The latter may be difficult to get right, far from all trees make good foreground frames in that way, and you have to consider very carefully how you want that frame to appear (silhouette, partial silhouette with shadow detail and structures that play well with the structure in the framed subject, etc.).
And, as I always seem to be eager to point out, it appears that the horizon isn't straight; I doubt that the mesa (or whatever it is) in the background isn't near level, and that's distracting.
But you have found a classic subject, which can be very appealing.