Happy Birthday, Carol! Today is Carol's day,
Today started out overcast and gray. I checked the sky several times before sunrise, but nothing changed. That meant a couple of hours of extra sleep and not having to go out in the 28-degree cold.
When we got up at 9:30, the skies had cleared and cumulus clouds floated above the canyon. We packed up an abbreviated version of our photo gear and started for Cameron. The lighting wasn't great, but the clouds made up for it. The white puffballs contrasted against the blue sky, which promised a very good day of shooting.
We stopped at Pipe Creek Vista, Grandview Point, Moran Point, and Navajo Point before we decided it was time to head down the hill to Cameron for lunch. The clouds and the fairly even light made for great opportunities to shoot panoramas; especially at Grandview and Moran Points. Moran Point may be my new favorite on the East Rim Drive.
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| Moran Point |
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| Navajo Point |
The Cameron Trading Post was as good as we remembered. Carol had her Navajo taco, and I had the ancient Navajo delicacy, a cheeseburger. We bought our souvenirs at the trading post and checked out all the pottery. Sadly, much of the pottery wasn't made by the Navajos but was simply imported. Carol found a piece she liked even if it was imported from Mexico.
On our way back to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at the Little Colorado viewpoint. Carol continued her quest for the perfect turquoise earrings and checked out the Navajo jewelry,
and I walked down to the overlook to shoot the Little Colorado River canyon. It looks like the Little Colorado has cut its entire canyon into the Kaibab limestone,
so the cliffs are sheer drop offs that must be 1,000 feet deep. I even found a giant limestone boulder where every crevice and depression was filled with calcite crystals.
It was very cool.
When we returned to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at Lipan Point to shoot panoramas and view Desert Tower from the canyon side. We saw our first instances of rain falling in the distance as gossamer veils stretched down from the clouds. They only appeared for a few minutes in each location until they suddenly re-appeared in another area. I'm not sure the rain ever touched the ground, but it was a very incredible sight.
As we continued west along the East Rim Drive, the veils of rain grew and became more apparent over the canyon. When we reached Pipe Creek Vista, the clouds and veils of rain had crept nearly all the way across the canyon. By the time we finished shooting at Pipe Creek Vista, we realized the sun was already on its descending arc, and we'd better hustle to shoot sunset. There was no time to get the rest of our camera gear or to get warmer clothes.
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| Curtain of Rain from Pipe Creek Vista | Looking West from Pipe Creek Vista |
When we reached Hopi Point, a car pulled out and gave us a parking spot right in front of the viewpoint. And the sunset only got better from there! Within a few minutes, the colors started to intensify and the rock formations came to life. As the clouds shifted overhead, new formations were alternately lit and then shaded. The scene changed minute-by-minute right before our eyes. In the final minutes before sunset, the clouds towering over the canyon lit up and a veil of soft, golden light stretched down toward the canyon.
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As if on cue, the golden light disappeared and the canyon was completely in shadows just as we had to leave to make our dinner reservations. We made a quick turnaround in the motel and arrived a few minutes early for dinner. Even on a Monday night at 7:15, the El Tovar Dining Room was nearly full. The fine dinner put an exclamation point on a fabulous day.
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