New Page (Day 6)

Pre-sunrise at Grand Canyon... on a rock... without my electric socks... and it was 18℉!!! Woe is me! LOL.

Actually, it was worth it. Pre-sunrise light is about the best light you could hope for when trying to photograph a subject like the Grand Canyon. The colors are fleeting and the expanse of the view will never fit in the frame of the camera. But the most difficult for me, is contrast. Peaks that light up bright yellow as the sun tips the horizon and the canyon (and wee crevasses) that are black and shadowy. It's why they invented the term "character building". And reminds me that the challenge to edit pics into something resembling what I felt, will make me a better person. More patient and more skilled. 

Leaving G.C in the flatter, bluer light of mid morning, I was still compelled to stop and take MORE pics at every overlook. That's insane. That's me. 

My next goal was to glimpse the Vermillion Cliffs today, then make my way inside the geofence area required to enter the lottery for a permit to hike to "The Wave" 2 days from now. But life is always  way more interesting than the bones of the plan ever were. 

I found myself enthralled with the Vermillion Cliffs - the size, color and rural, unspoiled location that I was driving through. I stopped A LOT! There were even horses with foals. Foals at this time of year?!

And then there was the Navajo bridge at Marble Canyon... 

The puppy on the roadside that caught the eye of both me and a lady trucker: Pups gratefully gobbled down my beef (goodbye sandwich!) and her dry cat food. Uh-huh. She had a kitty in the truck with her! Since wee pups didn't let us actually touch him, we had to leave him there, sadly. Fingers and toes are crossed that instead of being a dumped orphan, he is actually just a straying res dog and will find his way back to his village before the cold night finds him. 

My goodness he was a cutie though! 

Ok... Now let's talk about Horseshoe Bend. 

Back in 2013, during a trip that Mark and I took here, we walked down to Horseshoe Bend from a dirt parking lot, with a handful of other people and did the casual sunset thing, with feet hanging over the cliff. (Horseshoe Bend blog post of 2013)

Boy have things changed! I guess once the cat was out of the bag about this natural beauty gobs of tourists flocked to the edge, backing up to take questionable selfies. So the gov't had to get involved. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"!

A driveway with spikes to stop you going the wrong way (without paying), a manned booth to take your $10 Entrance fee and a manicured path complete with shade structures all the way to the overlook - also paved and fenced - and sporting 200 people. 

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got til it's gone..."

All I can say is the paved parking lot now has great cell reception and from here, Beast became a mobile office for a bit. I booked a hotel, checked in with clients and entered the lottery for "The Wave".

I hunkered down for the night at one of the newer, very clean hotels that Page is breeding like rabbits. Two nights actually. Because despite NOT winning the lottery for a hiking permit, this girl has been burning the candle at both ends for almost a week now and needs a sleep-in and space to spread out for more than just 12 hours at a time. 

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!  

Honestly, it was far from a hard day... I'm just tired and ready to give in to the demands for decent rest before I start the next week of this delightful road trip.