Lands of Canyons

7th May to 10th May 2009

More pictures ...

It is my lifetime wish to go on road trips ... months and years ... like a nomad ... and till now it never happened ... not sure it will ever happen ... and so I went for just 6 days ... felt good ... had adventures and misadventures ... am sure I will go for many more ...

I had only 6 days of vacation as I mentioned earlier, from work including a weekend. Now-a-days we are forced to work on weekends and so weekend also seems to be a vacation :) The thought of going on a roadtrip itself was very exciting, though it was short. When I was sitting in the cab to San Jose airport I was smiling to myself ear-to-ear. The short flight to Las Vegas was okay. I saw the aerial view of snow capped Sierra-Nevada range and the Mono Lake beside. After that it was all barren lands of Nevada before I saw the Vegas Strip. When I was walking towards baggage claim I was looking at the picture showing a line of muscular men with pierced nipples and thought I will be long away from the insanity of very popular Vegas.

Okay, I started my roadtrip in a rented economy car ... I was so eager to reach the Grand Canyon and so drove fast. You know what happens if you drive fast huh ? You get an expensive speeding ticket. If you drive verrrrry fast then you get verrrrry expensive one ! So expensive that it is much more than the cost of the whole trip itself. Anyways, then the cop will say 'Drive safe' !

Then I was there at Grand Canyon National Park ... the magnificent work of art, of the rocks, the river and the time ... The Mather campground is good, like a small community. Except for that you are sleeping in the tent it almost feels like a village downtown. I didn't need a flash light to pitch the tent, the next day was full moon. Moon provided all the illumination ... Slept peacefuly pushing away the thought of speeding ticket ... I could see the cool moonlight through the tent.

I was eager to see the canyon and also had to hike down ... my plan was to go down to Plateau Point and back. I did it ... going down was very fast ... When I stood at the tip of the Plateau point my legs were shaking. The view down was good, I could see the mighty Colorado river which carved this amazing canyon and then diminished itself at the bottom of the canyon. Sun was burning me relentlessly as if he was on a mission to bake me like a potato in the furnace called Grand Canyon. Coming back up was a lot of effort. Every step I climbed I drank a sip of water. Backpack felt so heavy initially, later even clothes felt heavy. Sad part was ... that there were all old couples hiking along and were much faster than me. After reaching the trailhead I relaxed for some time eating pita chips with sea salt. My feet were in so much pain that I doubted my shoes were secretly and slowly eating my feet away. My skin looked like a black leather bag.

I waited to take few shots of sunset at Hopi point. People were lined up at the fence and I happened to sqeeze myself in and then opened up my tripod pushing people aside very gently, anyway there is something called 'excuse me' ... :) Everyone was clicking and clicking ... pictures of sunset, of sunset over the canyon, of their picture with sunset over canyon, with the sun and without the sun, with canyon without the canyon, solo, with family, with friends, hugging each other and not hugging, and so on ... I too did ... I wondered among those thousands of clicks what percent of the pictures were really good ? The haze of the Sun was over the canyon all the time from dawn to dusk. Now with Sun going down haze had made friends with darkness, whatever visible of canyon was not visible now. But still everyone clicked pictures. I felt funny when some tall guy (anybody stands beside me is tall) standing beside me with massive tripod mounted with Canon EOS-1D Mark (i or ii or iii) was complaining about his 24-105mm L lens that it is not performing well, he said "its all hazy". I silently said "Thanks for the new information".

I was so happy to be back at the campsite. Hot Madras Lentils (ready to eat packed Indian style curry from Tasty Bite) tasted divine. The ginger cookies were heavenly. I gave myself a foot massage. My feet were happy about it but instantly my back and arms protested. Well, I remember the soft moonlight through the tent before I was alseep in an instant thinking about the sunrise tomorrow. I slept like there is no more of a night to come !

Took the shuttle to Yavapai point early before dawn. As the Sun rose from horizon the golden light was partially illuminating the rocks. It was a sight to behold just like yesterday's sunset. But there were not many people around. If you have observed, always people prefer to watch a sunset than a sunrise. You can guess 'why?'. If you can't then you are a NERD. Sunset and sunrise looked the same ... only difference was the sun was on the east now. After few shots of sunrise and then taking few pictures for couples with their camera I returned to the campground for a shower and breakfast.


Today's plan was to visit every point mentioned on the map. I took red route first and then blue route points. I hopped in and hopped out of the shuttle. Looked around the gift shops selling Navajo tribal jewelry and artifacts. And then I reached the Bright Angel Point from where I had started my hike previous day. I thought I will be back here again and will backpack to Phantom Ranch soon. I walked up to the Lookout studio there and perched on a rock looking at the canyon. The shade of the wall was cool. Sitting there a little higher than the lookout fence gave me a great view of the canyon as well as people. It was a wonderful experience to be able to look at the canyon and also the tourists.

Far away I could see a temple not sure if it were of Brahma or of Buddha. I wondered if the ancient Navajo souls lived on these peaks ... just wondered if any soul is sitting on top of one of those numerous temples and watching us ... wondered what that good soul might be thinking looking at us ... will it be amused or angry ? ... Is it watching all of us tourists crazily taking pictures ? ... If it is watching then for how long ? ... I was sitting there for 2 hrs watching the canyon slowly sipping on the cold Starbucks coffee, little worried about 300 calories it contained and also munching on pita chips ... I watched the people ... there were all types ... in fact, tourists are crazy ... I don't think tourists are not the same people how they are in everyday life ... they behave a bit different ... since there is no one who knows them around ... As I sat there and watched, people took pictures of themselves with canyon in the background. The same routine with different faces ... in software world the canyon was a constant and faces were variables ...

Then I saw a condor flying. It perched on a small protruded rock on the face of a deep cliff. That magnificent bird looked so small in the hugeness of the canyon. It was free to fly from rim to rim or end to end of the canyon effortlessly. It sat there for a long time immersed in a deep thinking. It was a wonderful sight as it was my first sighting of this bird.


Today's sunset point was Mather Point ... again there were a lot of people ... more than the sunset, I was looking for the wonderful moonrise ... the time management today went a little wrong and I didn't have time to get back to my car to fetch my fleece jacket. It was getting cold ... the wind was blowing now ... the zoooooom buzz of the wind was soothing but the chill it brought along wasn't that pleasant ... the sunset crowd cleared ... it was completely dark ... I sat there curled up hugging my folded legs ... stomach was growling ... I sat there saying to myself 'few more mins' ... and after 30 mins the moon showed up ... I was so excited ... but none of the pictures seemed the way I wanted ... It showed my inexperience in night photography ... the harvest moon was rising up and up ... all disappointed I looked down and saw the telephoto lens sleeping in the bag ... and took a shot ... and it made me happy ... the yellowish moon with scars looked great and I asked Moon 'are you worth all this effort ?' ... not sure Moon heard me or could I hear his answer ...

Tonight Madras Lentils tasted okay. I slept looking at the moonlight through my tent ... planning the activities for t'row.

Today sunrise was at Yaki Point and a brief stop at Mather point. After a brief breakfast in the morning and packing, I drove along the desert view drive and then left the Grand Canyon National Park ... with the promise that I will return to camp at Phantom Ranch ... Till then ...