Day 11 – Sunrise at Horseshoe Bend and Grand Canyon Part One

133 Miles

I did something I never do except in cases of early flights or diarrhea: I woke up at 4:00 am. I had found third reason.

Sunrise in Page, AZ would be at 5:05. I quietly got dressed, grabbed my camera and my phone, and snuck out of the hotel room. I was at Horseshoe Bend in just over five minutes.

There was one car in front of me waiting for the parking lot to open. I soon realized that it was the lot attendant. After a few minutes, she pulled forward, parked, and came back to take my ten dollars.

Having hurt my ankle pretty badly the previous evening on this same path, I left myself plenty of time to hike to the lookout. I also decided against bringing the tripod so that I’d have both hands free. I took a photo of the parking lot with just the two cars in it, the early rays of sunrise casting a silhouette on a mesa under a small rain cloud in the background. Sorry it’s not clearer, but hey – no tripod. I was able to get a nice dawn snapshot with Venus in it, and just realized there’s a jackrabbit in the lower right. 

After some careful walking, I arrived at my position near the edge of the bluff overlooking Horseshoe Bend, where I had been the previous evening for sunset. I tried a hundred different exposures and shutter speeds. Most of these ended up in the trash because nothing, and I mean nothing, does the view justice after the fact. It’s being there, in that spot, in the open desert before daybreak when there’s a chill in the air and a preternatural quiet that can’t be captured on film. So what I give you here are some shots of the setting – the slow rise of the sun in other parts of this area. The changing sky. Deep blues and shadows. And then, finally, the sunrise hitting the mountains behind the bend, and eventually, an open shot of the river canyon itself.

By the time five o’clock came ‘round, I had a companion, a young German man. We took a few photos of each other — the kind you can’t get by yourself — and went back to our respective places. I eventually gave up my primo spot so that he could get some shots from it. By the time I was ready to leave, around 5:30 am, there still were no more than a half-dozen folks there. 

I’ll never be a morning person, but this was a morning I’ll remember for a long time. I’m glad I did it.

I napped back at the hotel until a rumbling stomach and the activity of the rest of the family in the room woke me once again. We had our hotel breakfast and hit the road toward the Grand Canyon.

I should point out that the America the Beautiful Pass we bought once again came in handy, as there was no charge to enter the Grand Canyon. We took our time winding our way into the Village where our room was reserved (Maswik Lodge). There are several scenic stops along the way, and a lot of opportunity to see insects and other wildlife. We finished the day exploring the South Rim and the Village. 

Our plan for the next morning was a fossil “hunt” with one of the Grand Canyon park rangers, some more self-guided touring, and then hitting the road to Kingman, Arizona, close to Hoover Dam.