Woke at 2:30am, so snook around the room, checking camera was charged, phone charged, tripod and connectors at the ready, in advance of a 5:29am sunrise.
It’s a 30 minute walk down the trail to Yavapai Point, and I really wanted to be there 30 minutes beforehand, so a half-four set off.
Next thing I knew, it was 4:50, I’d nodded off and I was behind schedule! Bugger. A quick round up of my gear, and out the door.
As I walked through the woods to the Canyon rim, a large brown fox-like thing stood and watched me hurry by. I presume it was a fox. And not a coyote. Either way, I was too slow to get a photo, as the moment I lifted the camera he legged it.
Once at the rim, I knew I’d missed the pre-dawn sky colours, but the pictures and views I wanted to see were going to evolve over an hour or so, as the sun starts to rise and the sunlight swings down into the canyon, slowly lighting up the different layers.
Well, I got a few nice pictures, but more importantly, I was so relaxed and enjoying the moment.
Back to the lodge, and then once Jane & Charlie we’re up, we packed our day gear, went for a quick breakfast (and an abuse of the WiFi, posting yesterday’s blog), and then a drive west to the Bright Angel Lodge.
Ditched the car, a quick bit of gift shop browsing. Charlie bought himself the least sharp “baby” pen knife, but I think it was the inscription that swung it for him.
“Whos that for?” I asked. “Me”, he replied. “So why does it say ‘SEXY’ on it?”, I asked. I got a shrug and no further answers.
(Btw, it’s still “hotter than a snakes ass in a wagon rut” here, and still in the high 30s).
The plan was to take the bus (no cars past certain points), to Hermits Rest, at the most westerly point and then work back. We got to the bus queue though and nearly turned back to home. I reckon at one bus (70 people) per 15 mins, you were looking at at least an hours wait. No thanks!
Despite Charlie not being full of beans about the plan, we decided to take the rim trail to the next bus stop (and viewpoint), just short of a mile on. Although hot and hilly, we took it easy and got there within
20 minutes plus stoppage time for those moments when Jane & Charlie realised they had 4G!
I’ll not bore on about each of the many vantage points we stopped at. Suffice to say it’s a big hole 5000 foot deep, with some 3000ft vertical drops from the rim. It’s incredible, but words and pictures won’t convey just how incredible it is.
We got back to the car after lunch, and drove to Yavapai Point, watched an IMAX film about the canyon formation and growth of tourism, and then came back for a rest!
After a massive pizza tea, Jane & Charlie caught up on Internetty things, and I buggered off on my own to photograph the sunset, dusk and then the night sky. Nerd alert!
First thing I saw however were a group of elk, just roughing down in the evening sun. Bless ’em.
Not my best photos, as I tried mucking about with a few setting and experimenting. Some worked, some didn’t.
Must find out about the huge fire that’s burning over on the North Rim. As the sun went down, it was incredible to see how big and bright it was, given its probably 15 miles wide at that point.
On the walk back, despite it being an almost full gibbous moon (which makes deep sky astrophotography more difficult, due to its brightness), so had to be a bit more “creative” and use that to my advantage.
A keen start tomorrow, as we’ve a fair drive, and would like to see some of Lake Powell before we go and meet Navajo Chief Tsosie, who’s taking us down into Antelope Slot Canyon.
Catch you later!
Looks amazing have a Great time 👍