Slickrock and Shadow

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...

Carbon-Lava Loop leads through some beautiful terrain in the Grand Canyon Carbon Canyon leads up to an elevated valley which then connects nicely with Lava Canyon and then returns to the Colorado River.  This loop hike lets you see 2 canyons for the price of one.  Carbon Canyon is muav sandstone and boulders.  The connecting valley reminded me of Death Valley and its' "painted hills."  Then Lava Canyon consists of a beautiful clear stream flowing down red, sharp lava rocks. This loop is sometimes called the Carbon Chuar Loop. This a pretty easy hike with only 2 boulder-rock pile ascents total.  The rest is pretty easy with near-level walking through either dry or wet washes.  The narrow section of upper Carbon Canyon is shown above is is lovely.  My personal favorite section is hiking down the cool clear waters of Lava Canyon stream.  This area is absolutely beautiful but difficult to photograph.  It's one of those places that is am...

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 ...

Nankoweap Granaries and Grand Canyon: iconic landscape photo of the Grand Canyon Nankoweap Granaries are a classic, iconic image of the Grand Canyon.  I knew we'd stop there on our 12-day river trip because it's a great hike and I signed up for the hiking trip.  Lots of camps dot the river at this location and this is the first place we found neighbors:  two other groups were camped here.  A fourth group came in late in the day. We hiked here in the afternoon.  We set up camp, ate lunch, got lots of water and took off.  Ascending steep steps, I was thankful it was April and 70 degrees instead of July at 112 degrees.  Our group came across a beautiful but very threatening rattlesnake. Rattlesnake on the trail. Do not disturb. As we ascended further, the ruins came in sight.  These are beautiful in such a spectacular setting.  I will let the photographs do the talking. The group enjoying the scenery. Wildflowers and Nankoweap...

Buck Farm Canyon narrows and chockstone My hiking book said Buck Farm Canyon had some pretty sections near the end but I'd seen no other pictures of trail reports of this canyon.  When our guide said Buck Farm was our hike, I wondered what we'd find.  Our camp was at the base of this canyon so we took off after a nice lunch at our beach. The going is pretty easy here.  Hiking further up Buck Farm Canyon, I noticed more ferns and then a cottonwood tree.  The temperature dropped a notch and everything felt nice.  Unlike Saddle Canyon and North Canyon, Buck Farm is pretty easy, short and quick.  We reached the end and had a little geology talk before heading back to camp.  Getting my feet a little wet, I walked up the narrows and found a chockstone wedged in the muav limestone.  A pretty fern grew where the water seeped out.  I started clicking. Geology talk about Muav Limestone in the Grand Canyon's Buck Farm Canyon Photography note...

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:   ...

Yoga in the Inner Sanctum of North Canyon, a river hike from the Grand Canyon North Canyon is the first river hike for many Grand Canyon trips because of beauty and its' isolation.  In the upper Grand Canyon there are not as many canyons to explore as the lower section.  North Canyon is a great introduction into the beautiful canyons to come.  One must climb significant rock rubble on creek left.  Nothing technical is required to reach the end but I hiked a full 30-45 minutes before reaching the end. A steep hike up the creek wall allows one to explore further up canyon. The reward at the end is an inner sanctum of molten sandstone that forms a natural bowl near its' terminus.  A tree grows in a room just before the water-filled end. Layers of Sandstone and small tanks of water in North Canyon, Grand Canyon A single tree in a natural shallow pocket within North Canyon Many photograph this location emphasizing reflections on the water's surface...

Mud Cracks and a Glowing Canyon Wall in Rider Canyon Rider Canyon is a short but lovely narrow canyon.  Most river trips pass by this gem but our group stopped for a quick exploration.  We hiked through a little mud and along a ledge before coming to the natural ending point.  I found the mud, water and glowing canyon walls to be the most photogenic elements.  Inverting my tripod allowed me an extra low angle to get this shot.  

Rock Creek Canyon with Scenic Small Waterfalls Rock Creek Canyon pierces the Hurricane Cliffs just south of the town bearing the same name.  Water flowing in Fort Pearce Wash several weeks after any active rain made me question where this originated.  The main tributary to this was Rock Creek.  This canyon goes back about 2 miles before a pouroff.  From satellite images I figured I could explore back at least that far and then see about further exploration. Another big storm forecast on my hiking day gave me hope for some waterfalls.  Mud and slippery rocks would be hazards.  I parked my car above the wash, not liking the rocky slick mud section with a storm coming.  I didn't want to get stuck with no help nearby. The trail up-canyon has clearly been used by cattle.  Once past the canyon mouth, the scenery closed in around me and I did find flowing water.  Plenty of enormous boulders had rolled far into the canyon.  They rested...

Stone bench with a fabulous winter view! Another fun picture from my snow storm in Zion.  Above the lowest of the Emerald Pools I explored in the deep snow.  There were no footprints so I felt like everything was virgin land.  A rock slide and plenty of ice had closed a portion of the trail.  I went a little beyond the "closed" sign to see the view from a point across from the grotto.   Up at this higher viewpoint I found two benches covered deep in powder snow.  Careful to not put my footprints in the powder, I took several photos from a distance and slowly got closer and closer for additional photos.  This photo captures the bench and its' view. Another snowy bench view The trail through snow Trail Closed sign