Well, took this photo on the walk up to Vernal Falls and … it turns out Ansell Adams took a similar one. I didn’t find out ’til afterwards though… I like the depth created by the lines of rock leading up to the stunning waterfall. You see the little flow of water to start, then… wow…
Now the holiday is over… more photos from California. This time with a bit more TLC ready for the first competition of the season - 3 images for Projected Image A.
An against the sun picture of a pier looking towards San Francisco. (The Golden Gate Bridge is direclty behind me). I like the lead in line from the bottom left drawing attention to the figure on the pier.
A day’s rest, and then onto California Adventure. I then staked out a spot for two hours for the best view of the fireworks.
All of us got up early to see the sunrise - although not quite as good as day before. Then down to Boulder City overnight - hi Sandy! - and then onto… what does that sign say???
We finished the walk - there were a lot of ‘haribo’ moments - where the boys posed for photos in return for haribo sweets… very quickly they were suggesting their own ideas for poses… We then moved onto Panguitch to stay in Grandma’s Cottage. Lou and Bruce suggested we went to the local rodeo - at which we saw bronco riding; calf roping and bull riding…
Third early start as I get up for the sunrise over Bryce Canyon… magical patterns in the sky before the sun appeared… All of us set off for a walk down into the canyon which made the rock patterns even more vivid.
After breakfast at Kaibob Lodge, we drove to Bryce - to find that the Bryce Canyon Lodge is inside the National Park and located only 2 mins walk from the rim. The rock formations are distinctive…
This was a 4.40am start, and seemed doomed to failure as we set out towards black thunderstorm clouds and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We parked at the North Rim Lodge, and I walked out onto Bright Angel’s Point into a hail storm and thunder. However, the hail and rain did stop, and there were photos to follow. Matthew joined me as well, despite the 3000 ft drop either side.
We got up very early (a recurring feature of the next few days as you will see) to do the Zion ‘Narrows‘ Walk. This involved getting the shuttle bus to the Northernmost stop and then walking up the River Canyon. Easy for the first mile, but then you have do more than half of the walk in the river - and the first section was up to Matthew’s chest… we had hired suitable footwear and sticks which helped enormously - the boys loved the scrambling and we made progress for over two hours before we all decided enough was enough and we needed to turn back. By then the sun was up, and we felt just a little smug as we met coachloads of tourists starting out, when we had had the canyon almost to ourselves. 4 hours walking and not a winge from the boys. The lodge then allowed us to use the swimming pool before we set out for the Grand Canyon - North Rim …
It’s the Monsoon season here and you can see the thunderstorms that were breaking over the canyon when we arrived. Amazing to see forked lightning in the dark clouds over the Canyon - but not possible to show in a photo unfortunately.
