Tag: Grand Canyon North Rim

Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 4

After our first morning shoot at a North Rim overlook, we drove to other view points and hiked short trails to scout for other sunrise and/or sunset photo locations.

A Native American Granary, iPhone Photo

Remnants of a Native American granary is just a short distance from the trailhead for the Cliff Spring Trail.

Cliff Spring Trail Photo, GC North Rim, iPhone Photo
Wildflower on cliff wall, iPhone Photo

There were very healthy plants thriving on nutrients obtained from the rocks or minimal soil in crevices in a cliff face.

Wildflower on cliff wall, iPhone Photo
Wildflowers on cliff wall, iPhone Photo
Angels Window, iPhone Photo
Hazy Canyon, iPhone Photo
Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo
Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo
Pondering, iPhone Photo

There is a short, easy trail to an overview at Roosevelt Point.  The 4 photos above were taken from what may have been the end of the most commonly hiked and easiest portion of this trail.  There is a steep step down at one point and a second less steep step down beyond that on the final portion of the trail.  It is not actually clear whether the trail beyond the first big step down is part of the official trail or if hikers have extended the trail.  I hesitated at the first step down, not sure whether it was wise or allowed to proceed.

After deciding I could make the step down and get back up safely my son and I proceeded along the path.  In the photo just above, my son is seen pondering the next step down and trying to decide, if an official trail extends past this point.  We noted trees that had been cut beyond this point, suggesting trail blazing, so we proceeded.

Hazy Canyon, iPhone Photo
Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo

The end of the trail at Roosevelt point is in the photo above.  There is a gap in the narrow rock ledge (the one with the rock perched near the end) that one has to carefully step over to get to the end of this ledge.

Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo

The photo above gives a better indication of the sharp drop off on either side of the narrow ledge at the end of the trail.

Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo

The photo above is made from as far along the narrow ledge as I dared go and it is probably not safe for anyone to go any further.

GC NR, iPhone Photo

The last image in this post is made from an overlook at the highest view point on the North Rim.

The next post will be for our sunset photo shoot on our second day here.

Until then,

Ken

Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 3

I continued shooting at an overlook of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim, as the sun rose higher in the sky and peeked through breaks in the clouds.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

Note that some of the compositions in this post are similar to those in the previous post, but with varying light conditions.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Clouds over the Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

This semicircular feature is called Wotan’s Throne.

Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Vishnu Temple and Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

The blocky peak in the upper left is called Vishnu Temple.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

The Vishnu Temple feature is in the upper right of this black and white conversion.  I like the way this black and white version brings out the layers in rocks, making those layers effective leading lines into the scene.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

The color version above does not have the contrasting “pop” of the black and white version.  I’m sure I could edit the color version to brighten the shadows more, but I still think I’d prefer the black and white in this image.

That is all for this morning’s shoot.  Stay tuned for the rest of the day’s activity.

Ken

 

 

Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 2

We drove to an overlook area on the North Rim for sunrise photos the first morning of our visit.  The sky was overcast and the canyon air was hazy.  The overcast resulted in intermittent sunrise light.  I struggled with how to best present my photo sequences.  Should I group them by compositional variations from one spot and show how the light varied from one photo to another, or present them in chronological order.  After playing with various scenarios, I decided that chronological order would be the simplest method.

I began taking photos before the sun rose and continued for awhile after sunrise at this first stop of the morning.

Grand Canyon North Rim pre-sunrise, July 17, 2021

The canyon was dark in this pre-sunrise image and I excluded all of the nearby foreground, which from this vantage point consisted mostly of the overhanging rock on the edge of the canyon overlook.

As I alluded to in the previous post, getting interesting foreground in the canyon images was problematic.  I had to experiment much with the foreground objects that were available.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Morning Light, July 17, 2021

Pivoting to my right, I included part of the rocky ledge overhang just in front of the overlook.  I have mixed feeling about using this foreground and how much to include, so I experimented with compositional variations with the rock ledge as foreground.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

I moved to the far right side of the overlook for this next image, including some of the rocky overhang in the foreground and part of the rock layer a few feet below the rim.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

Moving around a bit more on the far right of the overlook area, I included a small tree in the left foreground.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

Moving back to the left front of the overlook, I included more of the rock ledge in the image above.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

Then moving to the right a little, I’ve included the end most part of the overhanging rock ledge with a gap between portions of the ledge.  I think this might work a little better, but it still looks like these foreground objects are more of a distraction than an interesting part of the photos.

Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021

Finally, the very end part of the rock ledge in the foreground.

I think by now it is clear how I struggled with the foreground objects here and the compositional variations are limited at such overlooks.  I’m not highly pleased with any of these images, but these do look much better on a large screen.

The sunrise light was still mostly muted in these images.  The next part will have some break through sunrise light bringing out more of the features and colors in the canyon rock layers.

Until next time,

Ken

The Grand Canyon, North Rim, Arizona, Part 1

Leaving Holbrook, Arizona, I traveled I40 west to US 89 near Flagstaff.  The drive on US 89 north is scenic with views of mountain ridges in the distance for long intervals.  The scenery gets better on US 89 A with good views of the Vermillion Cliffs.  I stopped by the Navajo Bridge over Marble Canyon, walked across the pedestrian bridge and made a few mid-day photos, none of which turned out very well.

The drive westward from the Navajo Bridge has good, close up views of the Vermillion Cliffs.  I did not take time in the mid-day to stop for photographs.  I hope to get back to this area in the future and have more time to linger and perhaps get a few photographs, when lighting conditions are more favorable.

About 30 miles from Marble Canyon, Arizona, US 89A begins to climb into a mountainous area.  The road becomes steep and curvy, requiring reduced speed.

I arrived at Demotte Campground in the Kaibab National Forest early,  but my reserved site was empty, so I was allowed an early check in.

There are no electric or water hookup in this campground.  There is potable water available in the campground, so one can fill water containers via those water spigots, but not RV tanks.  I had plenty of bottled water and a full water reservoir, so I had no reason to use or to check out the local water.

Since there was no electric, I installed my solar panels on my roof rack, mounting them flat this time, rather than trying to angle them in any particular direction.  It was cloudy and rainy much of the time that I was there, so the solar panels did not keep the house batteries fully charged all the time.  A few times, I had to resort to running my engine either early in the mornings or late in the day to top off the batteries and/or to run the inverter for short periods of time.  My batteries are also several years old and I suspect they do not hold a charge as well as new ones would and I will probably have to invest in new batteries within a year.

The campsite hosts were friendly and helpful, they kept the campground looking good and the restrooms (no showers, just pit toilets) were perhaps the cleanest and best maintained that I have seen.  Although, I have to say that all of the campsites at which I’ve stayed in U.S. National Forest have been well maintained.

The campsites are closer to each other than I like, but the campsites on either side of mine were often vacant.

The weather was mild during our stay in this area with cool nights and warm, humid days.  The nighttime temperatures were mostly in the upper 50s (degF) and the daytime high temps in the 70s to low 80s.

My son and DIL arrived not long after I got set up.  After they settled in and had dinner, we drove into the park.  The campground was about 12 miles outside of the park boundary and the park is large, so it required fairly long drives to get to anywhere in the park.  Staying within the park would have been preferable, but one has to reserve the park facilities far in advance, as this is a very popular place.

Our first stop was at the visitor center area, where we took a short, steep hike down a trail from the parking lot.  I made several photos during the hike, but only one looked worth sharing.

Dead Tree and Cloudy Background

This bare, dead tree with sunlight highlights made a stark image with the background clouds.

My experience along this short trail revealed that  getting good photographs of the canyon would not be easy.  One would think that something as grand and scenic as The Grand Canyon would be an easy place to get great photos, but the vastness of the canyon and the limited, accessible places for getting a clear view of the canyon with interesting foreground, makes it difficult to photograph well.

More later,

Ken