grand canyon 3.2.12

Had the alarm clock set for an 8oclock start. Today was my day to familiarise myself with what was where. As I arrived after dark the night before there was no way I was heading out in the dark before sunrise not knowing where I was going or landmarks to look for.

I stopped at the little local store to stock up on muesli bars, Mocha Frappacino's (for the fridge in my room), sandwiches and fruit for the day. My first port of call was at the Grand Canyon Visitors Centre after buying my 7 day Park Pass on the way in. I had a yarn to the ranger for some local tips and headed into the small movie theatre there to get a general feel for the place.

I headed out east of Mather's Point heading towards Mather's Amphitheatre, taking shot after shot. It took me 3 hours to walk 500 metres lol.

This is why.

This is a pano of 44 stitched images. Took Photoshop a long time to grind thru all of the RAW files but I'm really pleased with the result. The TIFF file is huge and some of the detail is lost on this www res jpg, but you get the idea. (click on it and then control/command + for a bigger image)

I was pleasantly surprised to notice how happy people are to be here. Everyone is smiling and laughing. All enjoying the day.

All the people I spoke to are so friendly and again I was surprised how many people are so willing to take photos upon request for another party so they could be in the shot with the GC in the background. I reckon I took shots on at least a dozen different cameras for different people and in return they took shots of me on my iPhone.

I just had to get that little bit higher in this shot so I could see into the Liveview screen. I could hear Janice's words of  'be careful' resonate in my head all day, so I was careful. Unlike some who I saw jump different fences or rock barriers to stand right on the very edge on the ice covered snow in sneakers. Bloody mad!!

 So very glad I brought Kym's big heavy wool lined waterproof jacket that nearly reaches my knees. And for Lee-Anne's thermal leggings on under my jeans. 

***Strong tip*** wear jeans one size too big so you have plenty of room to wear leggings. I'm wearing 5 layers of clothes and have yet to feel cold. But having all those layers means going to the loo takes a while untuck and retuck all the clothing so there's no chance of a icy draught going up my back. Don't leave going to the loo until last minute.

My Hiking Boots. Purple of course. I also have my purple Hunt Club beanie, my red wool lined gloves and my long scarf wrapped twice around.

I walked around all day with my 10kg camera backpack, my tripod, my umbrella and a little red bag with some things that didn't fit in my pockets. I'm going have to find a way to carry the contents of the red bag on my person so I'm not carrying around so much crap.

After Mather's Point I went into the Bookstore/Souvenir shop to pick up some keepsakes for scrapping later.

I took the shuttle bus up to Yavapai Point to have a look and discovered the light had gone for the day in this area. It was still shining in the east towards Yaki Point, which is shuttle bus access only. I wanted to be there in time for the fast disappearing light at the end of the day.

I started at the Yaki lookout but wasn't happy there so I wandered east up the trail to a spot that looked likely. And found another photographer there. We got chatting away and he kindly shared the rocky outcrop to shoot the last light in the canyon, before heading back to the carpark for the sunset. I was 5 mins too late to catch an amazing pink beam of light that shot straight up from the setting sun. It reminded me of 'beam me up Scotty' lol

I caught the shuttle bus back to the general carpark and made my way on the 'right' side of the road, out of the park and back into the township of Tusayan, just outside of the park gate.

Nice hot shower to warm up, hot tea, flannel pyjamas, blog and bed.

nity nite.