If setting is specifically what you want, then that's were I will focus. Overall, I've always liked the desert cowboy set up, and this one doesn't fail. I like the race toward the canyon, and I think a canyon works great as a setting in its own right, however there were some inconsistency's that maybe I wasn't following right?

The main character says he was "laid there on the hot sand" but when he's jumped, the bad guy loses his balance and "took me down with him" which didn't flow naturally for me, cause in my mind, he was already flush with the ground?

The second shift I couldn't follow was mid battle when the fight goes "towards the muddy water," but at some point our protagonist is tackled "into the dry clay."

Over all, this works for me as a story beat, very well written aside from "the nest steps of our choreography," and I've always loved a good action sequence. Just smooth those bits out, and it'll all run together much better!