Southwest Road trip - Grand Canyon

We arrived at the Grand Canyon east entrance just in time for the golden hour but missed the sunset as we were busy checking in at the lodge.  

Panorama from the east rim

These ravens were very active in the canyon

The watchtower at Desert View near the East Entrance

A long stretch of cliff wall seen from Desert View

You can see the colours intensify as the golden hour started

The Colorado River can be seen from this viewpoint

The rocks turned purple as the sun set behind us

Moonrise over the Canyon

The following day, we woke up to a snowy, windy morning so I took a break to regroup my senses .  My friends braved the weather and took the shuttle to the Upper rim trail.  After seeing their photos, I wish I had gone even though I enjoyed the mid-trip break.  Well, one can't have everything even though I should know by now bad weather is often the photographer's friend!  Thanks to my friend FT for this photo which gives us a picture of the Grand Canyon in bad weather - still beautiful.

We were lucky that it was just half a day of bad weather, things cleared up in the afternoon and we enjoyed a brilliant golden hour and sunset on the same day.  

The golden hour captured the different colours on the west facing canyon walls

I wish I could remember the names of all these buttes and points but there are so many it was almost impossible to track.  But these are familiar forms that we saw every day we were there, at sunrise and sunsets in different colours as the light changed.  This is the same perspective of Chuar Butte and Temple Butte but at golden hour and then the blue hour that followed sunset.

Looking west at sunset

Southwest Road Trip - the Road to the Grand Canyon

Our original itinerary was to continue on to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park.  But while in Page we heeded a winter storm warning for the two National Parks and made a change in our itinerary to go south to the Grand Canyon instead.  We were lucky to able to make last minute room bookings in one of the Park lodges. I have been to the Grand Canyon more than a few times but it has been more than ten years since my last visit so I was glad to revisit.  I knew I would find the scenery just as awesome if not more so because of changing perspectives.

Before we left Page, we visited the Wahweap Overlook to see how low the water has become on Lake Powell,  continuing on our quest for yet another golden hour with bonus moon rise in the process.  

Lake Powell from the Wahweap Overlook - the water has become so low the boat cruise had to be cancelled.

Not much of a sunset but a gorgeous moon rise...

We missed Marble Canyon on the way to Page so made up for it on the way out.  This is the version of Marble Canyon for poor souls who can't do too strenuous hikes and missed out on the lottery to visit the Wave, so don't be disappointed by the photos.  We lucked out though with a sighting of two baby condors, a rare sight for us.

89A south of Page

A scenic drive to Marble Canyon

The Navajo Bridges over the Colorado River - the one on the right is the older one built in 1929 which is now a pedestrian bridge.  The wider one on the left was built in 1995 to allow vehicular traffic over Marble Canyon to the Grand Canyon North Rim.

Marble Canyon is part of the Grand Canyon

One of the two baby condors sitting on one of the canyon walls

We managed to make it to the Grand Canyon for the golden hour, when the rocks are at their most spectacular.

Cedar Mountain from the east entrance to the Grand Canyon

Golden hour on the eastern side of Grand Canyon

 

Hiking the Grand Canyon

The one thing I remembered from our last hike into the Canyon more than 30 years ago was the bolded caution from the rangers to allow double the time for the hike up - if you hiked for an hour into the canyon, it would take you two hours to come back up the same distance.  With that firmly entrenched in our minds and the understanding that we are now older and that it could possibly take us longer than double the time, we hiked into the canyon on the Kaibab Trail, starting off from Yaki Point.  We found that going down was not as easy as it looked - it was quite steep, there were many switchbacks.  We felt it mostly in our knees.  Meeting breathless older people coming up the trail was enough of a reminder to not overdo it. We took our time as there were lots of photo ops - it was a scenic trail.

Note the switchbacks downs the side of the canyon

A mule train coming up the canyon

We found out from one of the riders what was in the cargo - garbage hikers left behind in the canyon!

This was where we stopped for lunch - the point was aptly named because there were indeed a lot of oohing and aahing at the view

  

And more than one species admiring the view...

Looking back at the trail going up, we decided it was time to go back.  We were only 780 ft. down but it felt like a long descent because of the switchbacks.  We expected the ascent to take twice as long but it turned out to be not too bad - we were pleasantly surprised - apart from our knees, our lungs were in better shape than we thought.

An artist at the top - I too wish I could paint this...

Catching the sunrise at the Grand Canyon

Catching the sunrise was quite different from catching the sunset.  With the sunset, it was just a matter of checking your watch and making sure you get to the right spot on time.  The sunrise was a whole different battle - setting the alarm, even going to bed earlier the night before, packing your gear ahead of time, the struggle to get up when the alarm rang, stumbling out of bed, putting on warm clothing, then driving through the darkness when you're still half awake.  The mild surprise when you saw a crowd already assembled at your chosen location, then angling for the perfect spot, settling for second best if you're not early enough... there seemed to be a whole set of unspoken rules and protocol around this, not blocking someone else's view but asserting yourself if necessary.  It all made for a very complicated exercise in striking the right balance when your mental faculties are still groggy with sleep.

But the cold dawn would soon take care of that.  As you stood waiting in the cold, hands frozen, but still snapping away because there was nothing else to do while you wait, you caught every shade of rock as the sun inched upwards.   So what if you're wasting disc space - there's plenty.  When the sun peeked through, there was a sudden sense of everyone for himself, because there were only precious seconds before the whole blinding star came up and you couldn't point your camera at it any longer.  And almost with a collective sigh of relief, everyone went off for breakfast.

The light and the view is very similar to sunset - only in reverse (from Yavapai Point)

The sun was seconds away from popping up

and finally it's up - just swing the camera to the other side to watch the lengthening light

Spots lit up as the sun crept higher

And slowly the magic wand lit up the canyon - see how each lighted patch lengthens with every passing minute

 TIme for breakfast...

Sunset at Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon

I remember my first view of the Grand Canyon in 1979 - the lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. The magnificence and enormity of that landscape touched me deep where words failed.  That must have been what conversion felt like.   But I was a believer then so it was more an affirmation of the presence of God.   I remember going to the village book store and looking for a book of poetry that might adequately express what I couldn't.  I didn't think I found anything I wanted to buy.  But that experience remained through the decades, back and forth between conversions and faith-busting "de-conversions" - it was like a candle that someone had kept burning for me all these years in some dark chapel.  Something to be cherished because that first impression was difficult to recapture...

I brought with me on this third visit, a better camera and a better lens and I like to think I took better pictures although the former two things  may have no bearing whatsoever on the latter.  But I was unable to recapture that first impression.  On reflection, I think what I needed was more time for contemplation.  It requires a state of mind quite different from what I brought with me this time - the search for the perfect photo spot, the search for the right aperture, the search for the perfect light.  It clearly calls for a fourth visit, one where I just sit there and watch the sunset instead of trying to figure out which f stop to use.

Sunset at Yavapai Point

The light changed very quickly.  Sunset took less than a half hour.

Amen!