The Grand Canyon - Arizona
This place needs no introduction, it was part of our planned trip to Las Vegas for christmas 2013 and we executed that plan perfectly. We began by rising early (about 6am) and getting off without breakfast. Our first port of call was the 'Famous Las Vegas' sign that had been filled with queues a mile long every time we passed. We planned to get our shot en route to the Grand Canyon before others had got out of bed.
I'm not really sure why we did it but we did.
I'm not really sure why we did it but we did.
We stopped for fuel and had breakfast at a diner before continuing on the 4 hour journey across the beautiful desert highways to Arizona and that famous first view of the Grand Canyon.
Sarah hadn't seen the Grand Canyon before and was really blown away by the scale of it (as is everyone on their first visit) We were very fortunate to get a day where the haze which hangs over the canyon was gone and I was able to get some nice sharp shots.
The guy in the red coat is providing a sense of scale for the photos but the images still fail to do justice to the sheer size of the place.
Even when not zoomed in (Yes the guy in red is there in the same spot) the photograph doesn't capture the true scale though this one does seem to get closer to it.
I had a little scramble down to a ledge that provided a nice overview but couldn't convince Sarah to come with me, she stayed up top and took this shot of me at the end of the point, the person walking toward me was a guy from Sheffield who was in Arizona for a wedding!!
While on the overlook I took a self portrait using the rocks as a tripod as the guy from Sheffield said "mind tha dunt fall kid" .... it made me laugh and was the reason we came to be talking. I told him we could rename the point 'Yorkshiremans Ridge' now two of us have been there, we talked of home for a little while before I scrambled back up.
Back up on top Sarah decided she would be brave and stand on a little point......though I'm surprised it wasn't a blurred shot as she was shaking so much
We took the trail that runs west along the rim and enjoyed the views along the way (though they don't change much due to the distance involved!!)
I really like this shot of the canyon showing the tiny 'Bright Angel Trail' on one of the ledges below, this is a day hike of about 12 miles and a descent and reascent of 3000 feet which goes out to plateau point where it clearly ends in the photo.
I wish I had taken my tripod along as finding a high ledge to get a shot of us and the canyon proved to be impossible though this one didn't turn out too badly.
Sarah became a little more brave as the day wore on allowing me to grab this shot which I really like
We saw very few lizards along the rim as there was still snow on the ground in the shaded areas keeping the temperatures below those favoured by reptiles but we did at least see a Mountain Bluebird along the way.
This shot shows some of the snow still sitting in the shaded spots, only a dusting but at least it added a little light to the shadows as the sun began to dip.
Before we knew it 4 hours had passed and the sun was setting throwing a long shadow across the canyon, we felt the temperature dipping as we made our way back to the truck at the end of a really enjoyable day.