Open Arch

In a late summer night of the Grand Canyon stars of the Summer Triangle shine in the moonlit sky. As noted by the photographer “We launched the rafts at Lee’s Ferry, the only place where you can get vehicles down to the river itself, right at the head of the Grand Canyon, in a place called Marble Canyon. That is were we were introduced to and discovered the incredible joy of being carried along by the water as we began our 190 mile journey through the very bottom of the deepest and largest canyon on this earth. We quickly passed under the last highway bridge over the Colorado River, and we began our descent into the Grand Canyon itself. The wilderness began to swallow us up as the river wove back and forth between the cliffs, and carried us deep into the history of the earth, showing us things that would have never been visible without the relentless power of water. It was quite hot during the days on the river, 90-95°F for most of the day. But we were about to have our first night camping in this magnificent place. The rafts came ashore at a place called Little Red Wall, a lovely sandy beach, as we were to know each night thereafter. I was surprised to see a wonderful overhang of rock perhaps 200′ long, where we all could set up our cots for the night. Head towards the cliff, and feet towards the river. This was my view from my bed, except now for this last shot of the night the scene is illuminated by my LED flashlight along with moonlight. When I first laid down that night, before the moon had come up, all the rocks in this shot were ink black, and it was almost like looking through a giant mouth, and seeing nothing but very dark sky with thousands and thousands of stars filling the sky. You know, dark desert skies! I took many shots of this scene that evening. The first being the ‘mouth full of stars’ shot. Then I used my LED light to pan across the upper edge of overhanging ledge during the shot to add some light to the scene. Then the moon started climbing higher into the sky, and soon some of the cliffs on the other side of the river began to be illuminated, so I got out of bed and took some shots again, both with and without the LED illumination. Then about 3:00am I awoke again to find the cliffs across the river now bathed in full moonlight, so I knew I had to shoot again. Once again shots both with and without the LED light. But the combination of the moonlight, and the illumination of my LED that evening produced this final shot. 150° horizontal view, and 36° vertical view. Except for the LED illuminated ledge, this is what I saw as I laid on my cot, covered only with a sheet, deep in the wilderness of the Grand Canyon. Moonlight bathing the other side of the river. This was only the first night of my journey, and I knew I was in for the trip of a lifetime. And it was.”