(no subject)

[reldnahkram]

I'm finding it very difficult to write anything about the Grand Canyon, largely because of the scale. It's hard to experience a little of it - it's an all or nothing affair. And a simple photograph only captures a portion of the field of view and doesn't come close to expressing the commanding majesty of the whole scene. I hiked out this morning to Shoshone Point (about a mile, mostly flat - do it if you're there), which isn't on most of the maps, but was highly recommended by one of my guide books. The only people I saw were one group heading in as I was heading out. Sitting on the rocks at the edge of the point, looking out at the canyon was overwhelming, like sitting at the edge of the world. Capturing the panorama would be impossible - I'll just have to go back.



My very first view of the canyon. I wish I was kidding.



My car, having walked around for maybe 30 minutes to the visitor center and the point to get said view.



After the weather blew through, sunset was gorgeous.



The switchbacks at the start of the South Kaibab trail. Not so bad going down. Murder going up.



South Kaibab follows Cedar Ridge. I turned back roughly at the right (uphill) edge of the butte at the far left of the picture.

Comments

[sildra.livejournal.com]

If you're lucky, on your way out you'll see it from the air. It's pretty amazing--it's flat everywhere, and then there's this giant piece of land that's just missing, like it was just cut out. From the air it looks like if you were walking up to it you wouldn't even see it until you were about to fall in.

Are you on the south side or the north side? My family went to the south side when I was 3 and I don't remember it at all; we went to the north side when I was 15, and I remember thinking from my vantage there that it was the superior place to be.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

I was on the south side (I'm in Phoenix now). The north side doesn't open until about May 15 - I think the roads there are still snow covered.

[eclectic-boy.livejournal.com]

From the air it looks like if you were walking up to it you wouldn't even see it until you were about to fall in.

From the ground, too! The one time I was there, Kir Talmage and I drove in to some visitors' center, parked, and raced to see what we could in the growing dusk... and couldn't figure out where the canyon was! We ran along several different paths through the low trees until we abruptly came upon it. Until we were 50 yards from the rim we hadn't even glimpsed it.

[indecisionwins.livejournal.com]

Hmm, actually, are there easy hiking trails to go just a little ways into the canyon? I'm planning on going there with my parents when they come out in August, so I'd be curious to hear if you have suggestions. When I went last year with my grandma on the way out to LA, we didn't do anything very adventurous (just the main rim area, plus taking the bus ride out to Hermit's Rest on the west side, and the watchtower on the east side)... I'm pretty sure that my parents wouldn't want to do any real hiking (and I guess I wouldn't either, really...), and they also already insisted on no mule rides...which I thought could possibly be kind of cool...although I'm not sure that I'd make the weight limit for mules anyway... But I actually wasn't quite as awestruck by the Grand Canyon as it seems like people are supposed to be, and I'm wondering if maybe we didn't get the full experience from the rim. I mean, it was still cool...and I'm obviously not that much of an outdoorsy person anyway...but yeah...

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

There's nothing between flat, easy, and touristy on the rim and steep and intense below the rim. The best I can recommend is Shoshone Pt, where I went on the last day, which is not well publicized (or marked from the road). It's about a mile walk on a flat dirt (or mud, in my case) road to a point with no rails or anything. There's a rest room (no running water, but a permanent structure) at the end, and a great view. According to my guidebook, they use the site for weddings and such, so if you stumble on an event, just be polite and stay out of the way.

[eclectic-boy.livejournal.com]

Mark, let me know if you want company when you go back.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

I have a panorama of about 24 photographs covering perhaps 200-degrees of horizon from a point deep within Arches, carefully assembled in Photoshop. I think I have a reduced-size version somewhere which is actually sharable ... the original is something like 100 MB or more. On a hike in Bryce Canyon, I took a series of photographs about every ten paces or so, to try to create a flip-book effect of the hike, since there's that sense of wonder around every turn; some of them were three- or four-photo panoramas instead of single photos.

But yeah, it's really hard to capture anything in a single photograph!

Unique, if not ideal, that you got to see such varied weather.

[qianian.livejournal.com]

sh*t! that is awesome. I've never been. Any non-treacherous backpackable hikes?

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

What do you mean by non-treacherous and backpackable? Anything on the rim is flat and mostly paved - real easy. Anything below the rim is a challenge - there's no middle ground. In the summer, it's apparently murderously hot during the day. There are plenty of warnings to not hike to the river and back, but camping at the bottom is possible.

[crystalpyramid]

These are gorgeous, especially the sunset! Although I think it helps that I've been to nearby areas so I have some sense of the scale. I definitely need to make it out there at some point.