In the summer of 2013 I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time, and frankly fell in love with the place. I’ve always loved the mountains, and something about this inverted mountain appealed to me in a way I cannot describe. I decided I wanted to experience the place from a different point of view, from within the canyon. It took a few months, but I originally planned to make my two night backpacking trip in early June of this year. That didn’t work out, and I ended up rescheduling the trip for early November. A few weeks ago I made the flight out to Arizona to take my new trip. A couple of nights along the rim followed by a couple of days camping inside the canyon.
It was awesome. And I mean that in the original sense of the word, an experience that truly inspired a sense of awe and wonder in me. It wasn’t an easy trip. The weather was chilly at night, but overall I couldn’t have asked for better weather in November. The hike was long and my pack was heavy at times. Still I wouldn’t trade the experience to avoid the nicks, blisters, and sore muscles I had upon returning to the rim after the climb out from Indian Garden campground my last day there. My favorite photo of the trip comes from that last day, taken on the Bright Angel Trail just above the three mile rest house looking back down the canyon toward the campground and Plateau Point beyond. A bit of a last look back on my way out and just a stunningly beautiful, if chilly, morning.
The day before while coming up to Indian Garden campground I also found a rather nice spot of trees around the creek. This spot is actually down in the fracture that you can see beyond the campground in the photo above.
I’m still working through the many photos taken during the trip. The results were worth carrying the weight of the camera gear on my back for those days. A last one for now looking out from Ooh Ahh Point early in my journey down into the canyon. More to come, both from the Canyon, a trip to northern Arizona, and some slot canyon. Oh yea, also a few wonderful models i had the change to work with while in Phoenix this trip.
