Three Canyons

Lurch at dawn, Howard's Pocket

What a difference a day makes.  There are no contour lines on my Kaibab Forest map and we ended up at a much lower altitude than planned.  In Arizona.  In June.  It was a little too warm and a lot too buggy.  Poor Luna had them flying up her nose, and in our scramble to get her into a safe space we got eaten ourselves by the nasty buggers.  We tried two other spots (one a mile away) and couldn’t get away, finally spending the afternoon in the camper. It has screens.

By the following day we were way out in the neighboring Coconino Forest, it was 15 degrees cooler with a lovely breeze, the view was remarkable, and there were no insect Jihadists.  I was in my hammock with a beer, Dog-face was in her bed next to me, and Marco was in the camper making chocolate chip cookies.  I felt as if I could stay there for days, and not just because I was nervous about the drive back (potholes the size of a bull elk).

Great overwhelming gratitude.

 

Moonlight and stars, West Fork Oak Creek

Sadly, this was the last of our three-night adventure.  Long summer days and a midnight stint doing astrophotography gave me the illusion of a much longer trip though.  I’ll be back in this neighborhood soon – there’s so much more to explore.

Stormy sunset at Desert View

Earlier we’d been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  I was amazed to remember that Marco hadn’t been since 2001 when we did our rim to river to rim hike (affectionately dubbed the Death March).  I get there a couple of times a year, generally in winter but I’m something more of a North Rim girl.  We were treated to a little storm cell moving through at Desert View, and watched the sun come up at Shoshone Point.

Sycamore Point

And the buggy night?  Why didn’t we just drive away immediately?  I had my heart set on photographing Sycamore Point in good light, which worked out quite well.

So, The Grand Canyon, Sycamore Canyon, and The West Fork of Oak Creek. Arizona Classics from their rims.  And, Cookies and beer.

Thanks for coming along.

My girl, in the ferns

More images are in the on the website.