Slickrock and Shadow

Stone Creek Waterfall:  Highlight of the Grand Canyon Stone Creek is the best hike from the Colorado River. Stone Creek is my favorite place in the Grand Canyon. Stone Creek is a dream come true. Stone Creek has two waterfalls which are a short distance from the beach.  They are beautiful but better things await the explorer.  Simply bypass these lower waterfalls and keep climbing up.  The third waterfall is a pleasant 2-tier drop.  On our hot climb up we each put our back on the wet wall and let the shower drench us.  On my return trip later that day I took photos with the waterfall in the shade.   Natural shower at Stone Creek Waterfall Lovely Stone Creek Waterfall Stone Creek waterfall and wildflowers.  Trying to capture these without excessive wind motion was difficult.   This third waterfall is quite beautiful but only midway up the canyon.  Easily bypassed, we continued upwards as we followed t...

Hatch River Rafting Expeditions:  2 S-rigs tied up at Blacktail Camp Life on the Colorado River is part of the wonderful experience of the Grand Canyon.  Although this deviates from traditional landscape photography, the river runners seem to be part of the landscape here and photography of such can be rewarding.  Although the rafts are not particularly aesthetic, the background more than makes up for that shortcoming! Above is a photo of our camp at Blacktail Canyon.  Below are some pictures of Blacktail Canyon and other images from the river at various locations. Blacktail Canyon:  sandstone layers upwards to the top.   Hatch River Expeditions at Granite Rapids!  Exceptional Adrenaline! Gordon Smith at Lava Falls Rapid (I'm quite happy here!)

Full Moon Setting as seen from Phantom Ranch Beautiful moment of the full moon setting between peaks and reflecting off the surface of the Colorado River.  This moment happened half-way through the trip.  I'd photographed continually but I was not expecting to do any night photography.  But when something this beautiful happens, the photographer deep within jumps within me and I must answer.  Picture this:  early morning, quiet, slightly cool with the river sounds bouncing off the canyon walls.  I wake up to this but it's still dark, except it's not that dark because we have a full moon.  I see it.  I put on my glasses and I see it  better.  The moon is setting, it's beautiful and it'll be over in a flash.  I spring to action:  open pelican box, grab camera, grab remote cable release, grab tripod and begin running to the edge of the river to capture the reflected water.  The moon moves quickly and I got this one...

Yoga Pose Silhouette from the massive Redwall Cavern Yoga, photography, limestone, water and sand all mix together nicely at Redwall Cavern, Grand Canyon.  Here in the largest sandbox on the planet, the sound of the river permeates everything.  Sand between my toes gives off warmth.  It feel like the center of a natural perfect universe.  These feelings inspire contemplation and some personal stretching to reach towards the natural within.  MyKaela assumes the Natarajasana, Lord of the Dance, pose with grace and understated power.  Beautiful.  Peaceful. Photographing silhouettes is easy if you follow two simple rules: 1.  Expose for the background. 2.  Focus on the foreground. Easy, right? It is, in manual mode.  Camera modes automatically assume you want to expose and  focus on the same object.  You as a photographer need to take over the exposure part and let the camera still do the focusing.  This is a...

The Tabernacle:  a panorama from the top of this monument! From left to right the formations are Cape Final, Jupiter Temple, Venus Temple, Apollo Temple, Unkar Delta (the Colorado River), South Rim, Solomon Temple.   J.P., our hiking trip leader, a seasoned veteran of the Colorado River, said he hadn't done the Tabernacle hike in many years.  He'd done it just once before, maybe 10 years earlier.  With our Hatch hiking-focused rafting trip, he wanted to attempt this pinnacle again.  We got the talk the night before:  2,200 feet elevation gain and then loss, no water, hard, no shade. "Some people might want to skip this one and stay at the boat," he said to the group, "especially if you found some of the other hikes difficult." J.P. pointing to the tiny peak in the middle of the photo:  that's the Tabernacle.  This is 1/3 the way up the trail already. We started at the river at a nice sandy beach.  We'd return to this beach ...

Redwall Cavern:  fun big magic sandbox! Redwall Cavern is the biggest sand box in the world.  I know.  I've been there.  The size is huge and comparable to a soccer field, a football field or a giant parking lot.  Except this is nature made and much prettier.  We pulled up on day 3 of our rafting trip for a lunch stop.  Everyone broke out their favorite toys:  frisbee, soccer ball, bocce, etc.  We played and played for an hour.  Then ate lunch.  It's great to explore here by walking from one end to the other but it takes a long time .  Then go from the back to the front.  It also takes a long time .  This is just so big and wonderful that walking in sand feels fun. Redwall Cavern dwarfs these otherwise huge rafts and people.  It's so big and beautiful.   Photographing Redwall Cavern is no simple feat.  It's too big.  With my 16mm lens I took several shots and then had to stitch them ...

Saddle Canyon Waterfall and Chockstone Saddle Canyon is one of the best river hikes of the Grand Canyon.  Period.  The curve in the Colorado River allows an easy pull in for rafts.  The hike begins with a steady climb up an excellent trail.  Blooming brittlebush flowers were everywhere.  The beauty of Grand Canyon spring was on full display this year. Brittlebush flowers blooming in the Spring Trail higher up towards Saddle Canyon Gordon Smith in the flat plat of Saddle Canyon After the initial assent, the trail levels off for an easy saunter through the redwall canyon.  Photographically I found a few submerged stepping stones to be a colorful subject. Stepping Stones of Saddle Canyon The hike ends with a serpentine waterfall.  The thin silver strand of falling water made for a pleasant and satisfying end to this wonderful hike! Waterfall at the end of Saddle Canyon Gordon's hike rating: Hike Difficulty:   ...

A small human figure sits near the edge of Toroweap looking down into the deep canyon. A sitting woman in the distance caught my attention as sunset approached.  She was backlit and the sun was far enough north in the sky to be out of frame.  The sun sent some amazing orange rays of light on the far canyon cliffs which then bounced off the redwall where I stood.  The dark greens of the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon separate the two dramatic sides.  Rock with a View

Toroweap:  That's a 3,000 foot drop, sonny! Toroweap scares the *#%@ out of me!  It's straight down 3,000 feet and there's no rail to protect anybody.  You can walk all along the ledge and everywhere the danger is just right there to the south.  I worry about wind tipping someone off balance and then it's too late.  Some guys were throwing a football to each other by the edge when I was there.  Another couple were sipping some beer while sitting 6 feet from the edge. That's not me:  I am a bonafide chicken when it comes to edges that lead to certain death.  I may peer over but I keep my center of balance over my back foot and don't dwell very long.  I think this shot shows why I'm so scared of Toroweap.  There's the edge and what's that just over the edge?  Yeah, it's the giant Colorado River.  It looks small because it's 3,000 feet straight down!  I go because it's a beautiful landscape but I leave because of a gut...

Black Canyon of the Colorado River:  Adventure Report: Cactus and the Colorado River:  The morning photography here was awesome  with so much contrast in light, dark, texture and time. The Colorado River must be one of the most amazing natural creations.  I saw a new face of this complicated river when I visited Black Canyon of the Colorado, the section of the river immediately downstream from the Hoover Dam.  The requirements for such a journey are: 1.  Permit from US Government 2.  Canoe or kayak 3.  Transportation to the launching and pickup points 4.  Camping gear and food 5.  Waterproof bags for hydrophobic gear (camera) Transportation to the launch site is limited to a few outfitters who have clearance from the US Government to visit the river just below the Hoover Dam.  Keeping the dam safe is the major concern of the government here.  Photo ID is required at check in with the outfitter.  If you ha...