These are photos taken mid-day Monday at the North Rim. Bright sunshine as opposed to the heavy overcast in the pictures I took at this venue a few days earlier. These were all taken with my smartphone camera. I did take some closeups from here today, as well as some wildlife photos, which I will post in the future.
Looking down an exposed embankment. Careful, JohnBoy….
As is the case in many National Parks, and even out and about on local roads and scenic overlooks, you must be VERY CAREFUL where you step, and how close to the edge you get.
After walking out to one of the viewpoints I walked back up the steps towards the Lodge and saw this tree, which I thought made an interesting picture.
I took one photo, then another from a little further back.
I still wanted to get further away and looked behind me before I took yet another step back. Good thing I did. This is the ledge I would have dropped off of.
And would then have fallen down this embankment.
You have GOT TO pay attention to your surroundings at all times. Many people have literally fallen to their deaths, or suffered severe injuries, trying to take that perfect selfie.
These are all photos taken Tuesday at the Grand Canyon (South Rim) using my smartphone camera. I’ll post closeups taken with the digital camera at a later date.
These pictures were taken between 1000am and 1130am local time. Colors change slightly throughout the day as the sun changes position and as I move to new vantage points. It also depends on whether I am standing in shade or sun, and whether I am looking down into the canyon or shooting across it with sky included.
This was my vehicular mode of transportation once I got to the Park (the Grand Canyon is a National Park). The Park is incredibly well organized and they do a fantastic job of schleping people around with a minimal amount of aggravation. Parking is very limited, and many of the viewpoints are only accessible by shuttle bus, so better to park and let them do the driving (and not worry about parking or pulling out in traffic). Plus it reduces pollution. The view from the North Rim was noticeably more hazy (no buses used up there). Also, North Rim is higher and the viewer is looking more in to the sun than from the South Rim vantage points.
South Rim has 4 basic areas of exposure to the Canyon itself. I parked the car in one of the lots adjacent to the main Visitor Center (after around noon they encourage people to park in a nearby town and take a free shuttle bus, the purple route, in, as the lots inside the Park fill up). I took two bus routes (blue to red) to get as far west as they allow vehicles to travel. I then started working my way back east towards the Visitor Center. The red route services the viewing points at the extreme western area of the accessible part of the Park (which is only a fraction of the true southern rim of the Canyon). The blue route traverses a large area which contains many of the lodges, restaurants, lecture and entertainment venues, administration buildings, medical, search and rescue, maintenance, etc. East of the Visitor Center is the orange route. And finally, there are about 25 miles of viewpoints which are accessible only with your own vehicle. That takes you out to the East entrance, which is how I will go in tomorrow (and I’ll do the orange route viewpoints).
Today I used the Main entrance (from the south) and left via the East entrance.
The majority of the South Rim, the western portion between where I was today and Las Vegas, is only accessible by hiking (or off-road vehicles where allowed, and they don’t allow many!). Also, commercial (tourist) helicopter traffic is no longer allowed over the Canyon (thank goodness!!!). It was stopped in the late 80’s after too many accidents occurred. There are still helicopter service providers (a dozen or so helis buzzed over as I was waiting at the entrance to get in) but they aren’t allowed to fly over or into the Canyon itself (or only at the areas far away from the South Rim viewpoints). So it was very quiet and peaceful once at the actual viewpoints.
Enough talk! Let’s get to the pictures…. I started taking Canyon pictures around 1030am local time. You will notice that the colors get richer as the day progresses and the sun gets higher.
These are all photos taken Tuesday at the Grand Canyon (South Rim) using my smartphone camera. I’ll post closeups taken with the digital camera at a later date.
These pictures were taken between 1130am and 1220pm local time. Colors change slightly throughout the day as the sun changes position and as I move to new vantage points. It also depends on whether I am standing in shade or sun, and whether I am looking down into the canyon or shooting across it with sky included.
Enjoy!
Another paint artist at work. I asked if I could take his picture and he said yes. You’ll be seeing more of him and his work-in-progress when I post closeups in a day or two.
These are all photos taken Tuesday at the Grand Canyon (South Rim) using my smartphone camera. I’ll post closeups taken with the digital camera at a later date.
These pictures were taken between 1220pm and 1245pm local time. Colors change slightly throughout the day as the sun changes position and as I move to new vantage points. It also depends on whether I am standing in shade or sun, and whether I am looking down into the canyon or shooting across it with sky included. I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many pictures. I took more pictures between 1245 and when I started heading back to get my car at 2 o’clock, and even a few more after that. I’ll post those pictures tomorrow, plus some of the ones I’ll be taking from a different part of the Canyon on Wednesday.
Enjoy!
Ok folks, here is the lamest excuse yet. I left my computer in the car when I arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona last night. At least I hope it’s in the car or else I’m in even bigger trouble.
I woke up at 2am local time (now Mountain Standard Time) which is 3 hours later than my normal midnight bathroom break time. That is my body telling me I need sleep.
Add to that the fact that I gained an hour yesterday crossing in to Arizona (which doesn’t play along with Daylight Savings Time) and I neglected to consider that back-timing a 730 arrival time meant I actually arrived at 830 Utah Time, which meant it was dark.
Lastly, when waking up briefly earlier in the evening (there are train tracks nearby, with lots of traffic and horns) I heard what sounded like a pack of coyotes or wolves (or perhaps feral Schnauzers) fighting right outside my window, which means that I am absolutely NOT marching out to my car unescorted without a firearm and without my Safety Sam vest (also in the car) at 2am local time.
I am going back to bed.
When it gets light enough to see predators I will go get my computer out of the car and will post one picture that I took yesterday at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with the American flag at half staff in honor of the 9/11 victims.
Taken on the 16th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks against America.
Before I get to Saturday morning’s activities I forgot to post two pictures I had taken the morning before on my way to the Grand Canyon North Rim.
Not exactly sure what is going on here. As I was driving down the road I noticed these four birds just standing there with their winds extended. At first I thought they were just air-drying their wings, but upon further review I think perhaps these were four males showing off to attract the lone female.
All I know is they knocked it off after I started taking pictures.
********
When I left Kanab Saturday morning for a big scenic drive to the east, the weather looked pretty dismal. Lots of rain had moved through overnight and the cloud deck was still very low.
Fortunately, the weather would improve.
********
I saw a Historic Marker sign and was intrigued by what it said. When I stopped to read the actual marker I was interested to learn that a short drive away sits the ghost town of Pahreah, near the Paria River (not sure why the different spellings). The ghost town is often used as a movie set when filming westerns and such. The sign next to the dirt road warned that driving on it should not be attempted when the road is wet. I would have liked to have seen the little town but it had rained a good bit overnight so I didn’t chance it. I’d like to get back to Durham without having to call AAA again!
I drove about 10 miles or so further east over nice, but nondescript terrain. Then I went through a series of turns which dropped me a fair amount in elevation. The scenery on that portion of the road, as well as what followed, was more dramatic.
Why the orange barrel, you ask? Evidently someone started making the next right-hand turn a tad early and had an oops.
Maybe they were distracted by the scenery.
It would be behind these formations that I found the “Toadstools” (yesterday’s post).
These were taken after I visited the “Toadstools” formations, about a half hour east of Kanab.
When I got out to where I had parked the car a light rain had started to fall. Actually, before I got to the car I should mention that something ran across the path in front of me, scaring me half to death. I think it might have been a jackrabbit (a rabbit variation with very long legs and very big ears). Either that or it was a kangaroo.
Anyway, when I got to the parking area two trucks were pulling in with UTV’s on trailers (no longer just all terrain vehicles – these are utility terrain vehicles thank you very much). These vehicles can hold four people properly strapped in, plus a two-martini lunch (for those who like theirs shaken, not stirred).
I told the two couples who got out of the trucks that the UTV’s were way too clean. They said they had just driven through some heavy rain which washed all the fun-mud off them. They were driving west towards Kanab, and I would be driving east and into the rain they had just experienced. They weren’t planning to use these vehicles here, they just stopped to see the Toadstools.
I continued on east and soon came to the recreation area they had been at earlier in the morning. This huge rock sits in the middle of a lake. It is called Lone Rock, and is part of the Big Water Recreation Area. The lake (actually, it is part of the Colorado River) continues east towards the Glen Canyon Dam, and there is a marina with larger boats and other pleasure craft further downriver. Lone Rock is next to the Big Water Campground.
If you look closely at the photo above you will see someone jet-skiing on the river. Here is another photo from a slightly different vantage point which gives you some idea how big Lone Rock is.
I continued on towards the Glen Canyon Dam. Once I passed over the dam I came to an overlook which offered some pretty dramatic views. The dam itself wasn’t all that impressive, in my opinion, plus there were lots of power lines and such so it wasn’t a very good photo op.
I took advantage of my newfound spy status to take some photos of people without their knowledge.
After leaving the Dam area I moved on to the next venue. While walking up the hill to that viewing area I caught these folks candidly as well. At first I thought the guy in the photo below was proposing, but after examining another photo which was zoomed in more he was just taking her picture.
These folks (different from the “proposal” couple) were using their dog, Suki, as a prop. Evidently Suki isn’t afraid of heights, and fortunately they weren’t offering her for sacrifice…
Suki is SO cute….
After proceeding over the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge I arrived in the town of Page, Arizona. Here I found something I had already bought a picture of the day before.
The picture I bought was taken by a professional photographer, either using a special lens or after being hoisted by a crane. I have neither of those items in my repertoire so you’ll have to settle for a two-part picture, given the size of the object and my proximity to it.
This is a bend in the Colorado River as seen from 1,000 feet above (yikes!). Believe me, it took all the courage I could muster to get the shot of the actual bend in the river, achieved pretty much by walking close to the edge (I SERIOUSLY considered crawling out but already looked silly enough in my Safety Sam vest, and there were lots of people around) and holding my phone WAY out in front of me, hoping I was holding it at the correct angle. I’m relieved these came out fairly well because I don’t care to go back.
I looked around for another sturdy spot and thought I’d better try again, just to be sure.
johnboystravelblog 