Arizona Christmas Escape-19
We stayed in Page the 26th and the plan was to drive to the Grand Canyon meet our Photo tour guide at the East entrance to the park and then to tour all day ending our evening just outside the park in the village at the Grand Hotel Grand Canyon (very “Grand” go figure).
Men make plans the gods laugh, it snowed so much over Christmas and Boxing day that 80% of the park was closed the 27thand the only open gate was the main gate reached by driving down from Page to Flagstaff and back up to the Canyon an extra 2.5 hours.
We met with our guide in Flagstaff and off we went to hit the park, our guide was a great fellow and very knowledgeable about the park unfortunately his day was to get a lot worse.
On our way on the only road to the main gates there was an accident leaving us sitting in 20km of backed up traffic all heading to the park, once that was cleared (add an extra hour) we got to the main entrance to the park.
The lines can sometimes be long getting into the park so get there earlier than you think you need to be, while sitting in line and advancing every so often we were rear ended by a visiting California resident mistaking gas for brakes and ice for road.
After insurance was swapped and details exchanged we carried on and got ourselves parked and couldn’t wait to see the Canyon in its glory. Upon arrival and getting out gear out we hurried to a viewing
platform only to be confronted with the famous painting of the “White Bunny in Blizzard”, you could not tell where the snow ended and the canyon began, completely white out.
We decided to wait and see if it would possibly clear and our guide gave a tour of several of the informational buildings and local history while we waited, eventually there seemed to be some clearing so off so I went to get some shots and this one was the result of half an hours wait and clearest of the day.
Another tip, be careful walking along paths at the canyon, salt is an option and I watched many people fall including our poor guide who while carrying his D850 and 24-70 went down hard flat on his back with his camera neatly breaking along the contacts and filling the opening with some snow.
Not wanting to risk anything further like being pitched over the side we decided to call it a day and limped back to the hotel to lick our wounds, Canyon 1 Aaron 0.
I took this with my D750 and Tamron SP 24-70mmmm 2.8 G2 Lens at 56mm 1/8s, f/14 ISO 100 processed in LR, PS +Lumenzia
Disclaimer: My style is a study of romantic realism as well as a work in progress.
Arizona Christmas Escape-19
We stayed in Page the 26th and the plan was to drive to the Grand Canyon meet our Photo tour guide at the East entrance to the park and then to tour all day ending our evening just outside the park in the village at the Grand Hotel Grand Canyon (very “Grand” go figure).
Men make plans the gods laugh, it snowed so much over Christmas and Boxing day that 80% of the park was closed the 27thand the only open gate was the main gate reached by driving down from Page to Flagstaff and back up to the Canyon an extra 2.5 hours.
We met with our guide in Flagstaff and off we went to hit the park, our guide was a great fellow and very knowledgeable about the park unfortunately his day was to get a lot worse.
On our way on the only road to the main gates there was an accident leaving us sitting in 20km of backed up traffic all heading to the park, once that was cleared (add an extra hour) we got to the main entrance to the park.
The lines can sometimes be long getting into the park so get there earlier than you think you need to be, while sitting in line and advancing every so often we were rear ended by a visiting California resident mistaking gas for brakes and ice for road.
After insurance was swapped and details exchanged we carried on and got ourselves parked and couldn’t wait to see the Canyon in its glory. Upon arrival and getting out gear out we hurried to a viewing
platform only to be confronted with the famous painting of the “White Bunny in Blizzard”, you could not tell where the snow ended and the canyon began, completely white out.
We decided to wait and see if it would possibly clear and our guide gave a tour of several of the informational buildings and local history while we waited, eventually there seemed to be some clearing so off so I went to get some shots and this one was the result of half an hours wait and clearest of the day.
Another tip, be careful walking along paths at the canyon, salt is an option and I watched many people fall including our poor guide who while carrying his D850 and 24-70 went down hard flat on his back with his camera neatly breaking along the contacts and filling the opening with some snow.
Not wanting to risk anything further like being pitched over the side we decided to call it a day and limped back to the hotel to lick our wounds, Canyon 1 Aaron 0.
I took this with my D750 and Tamron SP 24-70mmmm 2.8 G2 Lens at 56mm 1/8s, f/14 ISO 100 processed in LR, PS +Lumenzia
Disclaimer: My style is a study of romantic realism as well as a work in progress.