Tent aglow along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. I did not actually use the tent that night, but slept under the stars instead a little lower on the ledge. But I liked the scene overlooking the river at dusk. I used a small candle to light the tent. Canon 5 D Mark II, 17-40mm f/4 L, 15 sec. @ f/7.1, ISO 800
After one month of camping along the 280 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the first night in a hotel room in Flagstaff, AZ left me feeling claustrophobic; the hot shower however, was both real and surreal. I bit on an invitation for this journey since I’ve heard for years of the epic nature of this natural wonder. It was indeed an epic journey and a shaped and carved landscape difficult to apprehend through words. I knew that it would be a very challenging place to photograph, due to extreme shadows and the inability to be at key locations during the magic hour of sunrise and sunset.
Circumstances dictated that hiking was somewhat limited, but I did manage to get a few images. Contextually, I shot very few photos compared to my normal trips. This was partly by choice, partly due to conditions and largely due to the fact that there is a significant amount of work required just on the day to day basis getting down the river. I used my pack raft about half of the time, which was great fun, although a hitched a ride on one of our 5 rafts through the big rapids.
Sleeping under the stars for weeks is quite the contrast to the snow filled landscape of my Fairbanks home. Both locations are equally fantastic and I’ll be sharing a few photos from the trip in the next week or two.
Nice Patrick. I’m looking forward to seeing what other images you came up with during our adventure. I’m kinda missing the desert…
-Dave
If it weren’t so cold, from your header art it looks like Alaska is high key photo heaven.
Yucel,
Winter in Alaska can be high key photography. And, you are so right, it is cold, but with cold comes beauty.
Wonderful image Patrick, I know you all had a fantastic trip. We did a Grand Canyon trip in 1999. For 10 days we slept outside our tents under the stars…very short time compared to your month long adventure. It is indeed a magical and life changing place.
Phyllis, it is hard to imagine a trip down the canyon in that amount of time. You must have been in a motorized raft?
What a wonderful picture! The lighting is magical in that beautiful setting. Lying in your sleeping bag and looking up at all the stars – what a great experience that must have been!
Indeed it was Vivian.
Welcome back, looking forward to what follows.
Any snake visits while sleeping out?
Dennis,
Completely snake free, I did not even see one. It was still a little cool in temperature perhaps.
Patrick, we put in at Lee’s Ferry and had two large, yes motorized rafts but they only used the motors when we were in long stretches of quiet water to make up some time. I don’t remember them using them a lot though, because I do remember
the silence and just floating down the river quietly. That would be so cool to be in the canyon for a month. We didn’t go all the way to the lake, I don’t the remember the spot but they took us out by helicopter and the guides continued down the river.