Yesterday we ate lunch in the truck while driving 25 miles east to scout out the Desert View Outlook. This outlook marks the east entrance to the South Rim. We found locations there we each wanted to photograph from, and considering it was only 1:30 in the afternoon and no clouds in the sky, we headed back to camp to take care of a few errands – get gas, upload yesterday’s blog, groceries, etc.
We arrived back at around 4:00 – just in time for a quick rain shower – then set up our tripods in the locations we found earlier, and waited. Broken clouds were overhead, allowing for photos of sun rays piercing through the gaps, shining rays down to the Colorado River. A little while later a bright, 3/4 length rainbow formed behind us. While it wasn’t the rainbow I was hoping for when we first started out (I wanted it over the Grand Canyon), I was able to create a striking photo of it as it arched over some live and dead pinon pines.
A little while later we met Guido Tocci, from Montreal, Canada. Guido was after his own perfect photo: a photo of John at work with the Canyon in the background as seen in this photo taken with my cell phone.
The most striking photos of sunset came some 30 minutes before, when the sun was again behind some clouds, causing beautiful rays to shine down on spots in the Canyon.
This morning the alarm again went off at 3:45 am, and I was headed again to Yaki Point. John didn’t go with me this morning, as the knee he is rehabbing was a bit sore. No company made waiting for the bus this morning rather boring.
Not much came from photographing sunrise this morning, yet I was able to create some great photos from another side of Yaki Point – one John and I scouted a couple days ago and the main reason why I was back at Yaki Point again. The photo below is a photo I took of myself at that location.
This will be my last blog post until Tuesday evening when I return and am back in Phoenix. Tomorrow we will be without internet access as we are heading to the western part of the park. We will be parking my truck at the bus stop at 4:00 am and returning around 8:30 pm. Gonna be a long, fun day.
