On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Beauty takes many forms, and some of today’s stunning pictures feel like they might be from another world. A very grand canyon, indeed! Our photographer, a lurker until now, wonders whether we might want to see pictures from other trips. I would love to see more, how about you? ~WaterGirl
Hidalgo de Arizona
Hi, I’m a long-time lurker from Tempe, Arizona – I wanted to share some pictures I took on a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon at the end of 2018.
A friend of mine has made it something of a tradition to spend New Years Eve in the bottom of the canyon, and I’ve accompanied him on the trip a couple times now, in addition to my own adventuring in the Canyon. The trip in 2018 was particularly spectacular because it snowed on New Year’s Eve, meaning that when we hiked out (very, very hung over) on New Year’s Day, it was in a beautiful desert winter wonderland.
I’m sharing it now partially because memories of winter are nice when summer starts to grip the desert (which is happening right now), but mostly because I’m slowly going stir-crazy cooped up at home. Looking at pictures of the Canyon helps me with the pent-up wanderlust, and I imagine some of y’all would feel the same way.
If there’s appetite for it, I have pictures from a bunch of other trips I’ve made over the years, both to the Canyon and around the rest of the state.
The snow storm from the bottom of the canyon – we got some flurries at Bright Angel, but nothing that stuck around.
I *think* that’s Brahma Tempe off to the right in this picture – though I’ve never been good with remembering the individual formation names – and off to the left you can see the Colorado. This is just before the turn into pipe creek, which is where the climbing really starts.
You can see the temperature progression very clearly here, by the time we started at about nine in the morning, the snow had already melted off the inner gorge.
This is looking up pipe creek towards the South Rim. The clouds flowing off the rim were magical all morning.
This is looking back along the trail towards the Devil’s Corkscrew. The lower rock layers are Vishnu Shist, the metamorphic basement rock of the Grand Canyon, while the yellow cliffs are Tapeats Sandstone.
This is what the trail looked like when we turned onto Garden Creek. I’ve hiked the Bright Angel dozens of times, and I’d never seen it look like this.
A little further up Garden Creek, getting close to Indian Gardens. We were early enough that the melt hadn’t really started, so we got to enjoy the beauty of the trail and we didn’t have to deal with the sloppiness! Win/Win!
Not entirely sure where I was when I took this one, but it’s looking up towards the South Rim again, with the snow-coated desert in the foreground.
This is a view looking north from above Indian Gardens – must’ve been around noon-ish at this point, and you can see that a lot of the snow is already gone. This is my favorite picture of the bunch.
eclare
The snow is gorgeous! I’ve hiked as far as Plateau Point and back, don’t know how you did it hungover! I’d love to see more photos.
raven
Awesome!
Hidalgo de Arizona
@eclare: the how is cheese, sausage, sugar, youth, and a bit of dog’s hair. It’s an adventure every year.
eclare
@Hidalgo de Arizona: What a great tradition!
ThresherK
I’m a lifelong East Coaster who has never been to the Grand Canyon or Yosemite or any of the other famous parks.
With one exception: My wife and I went on an XC skiing package to Yellowstone. It was yurt camping, and we didn’t ski to it–just in it–gotta make that clear.
There were so few people it was like the park was just for us. Now I can’t imagine going in summer, owing to the crowds. But your photos seem right up there with our incredible experience. Wonderful stuff.
JPL
Thank you for the photos! When my sons were younger, we climbed about half way down, knowing that going down was easy we stopped and made our way back to the top. Now I know what we missed.
burnt
I’ve visited the Grand Canyon three times and only in winter. My first visit it was -6F the first morning–colder that day than Minneapolis, MN, where I’m from. I have some wonderful snowy canyon shots but they are not on this computer, nor are they in the cloud. I need to plug that drive in and post them.
Betty Cracker
Great photos! I visited the Grand Canyon one summer some years back, so I’ve never seen it snowy until now. It’s beautiful. I’ve always wanted to see it again.
J R in WV
Thanks for these! We visited the canyon a few years ago, but were in no kind of shape to climb down and back up, so we splurged on an airplane ride on a beautiful early spring day. This brings back the great memories.
Great photos — please post your other photo sets when you can!
Thanks for sharing this with us!
ETA… don’t be a lurker, jump right in and carry on like a jackal! Sounds like you can fit right in!
Hidalgo de Arizona
@ThresherK: another trip I made was a mid-winter rim-to-rim, back when the park service maintained a yurt on the north rim. That was the snuggest bit of backpacking I’ve ever done; there’s no feeling quite like trudging into a yurt at eight at night in the middle of winter, only to be greeted by a nice fire in an iron stove! They did ultimately tear it down due to rodents, but I’m glad I got in that trip before they did.
Hidalgo de Arizona
@J R in WV: thanks! I normally am too late to the comment threads to provide anything meaningful and unique, but I chime in where I feel like I can add value.
SiubhanDuinne
I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon in person, to my sadness (and determination to remedy that in the next couple of years). But I’ve always loved looking at pictures of it in its infinite variety. Your photos are beautiful, and offer a whole new perspective on the GC.
JPL
@Hidalgo de Arizona: How many miles did you hike?
eclare
@Hidalgo de Arizona: My former boss did the rim to rim to rim run a few years ago. I have no idea how he trained for that as we’re in Memphis, elevation 400 feet with *no* hills.
Hidalgo de Arizona
@Betty Cracker: it’s always worth another visit – I’ve been dozens of times at this point, and almost every time I’ve found something new to appreciate, even on the occasions my traveling partners have kept me on the rim. Of course I’m a tad biased, both as an avid backpacker of the canyon, and as an enthusiastic Arizonan. That being said, it’s worth noting that I, like many other people in beautiful reddish states, wish I could enjoy and enthuse about the local natural beauty without being ashamed of the local politics. C’est la vie…
Hidalgo de Arizona
@JPL: it was about seven miles down and ten miles back up. We take South Kaibab trail down because it’s shorter (while being steeper), while we hike the Bright Angel trail back up, partially because it’s not as steep and it’s better kempt, but mostly because Bright Angel Lodge (and, consequentially, the Bright Angel Lounge) are at the top! Waiting at the bar for stragglers has become so much of a tradition for me that I now time myself based off how long it took me to get from the Colorado River to a beer.
HinTN
@Hidalgo de Arizona: These are gorgeous. Yes, more please.
I love the Canyon and I’ve got the shirt with “Down is optional, Up is mandatory” on it but I’ve never been to the bottom.
As for
we’ve got that same problem back east. Don’t be ashamed; work to throw the muthafukas out. Tennessee was once progressive. It may not be in my lifetime but it can be again.
Laura Too
Love it, thanks! I appreciate being able to start my day with a cup of coffee and a mental vacation. It is a nice change from all things catastrophic.
debbie
Beautiful photos!
HinTN
@Hidalgo de Arizona:
I remember those days. Take care if your knees, youngun.
PAM Dirac
Very nice! The one time we visited the Grand Canyon (Jan 2017) they had about a foot of snow. It did make the experience unique.
Salty Sam
When I was pre-adolescent, one of my favorite books was “Brighty of the Grand Canyon”, a story about a pack donkey and his old timer prospector exploring the Canyon. I got to visit the Canyon years later, and remember that standing at Bright Angel Point (which is where Brighty’s name is from) felt like a pilgrimage. I got the same feeling today seeing the name mentioned among your photos. Thanks for the uplift!
And, the pics are truly spectacular!
laura
@Salty Sam: When we were wee, one of the shopping center’s had a theatre and would show free movies for kids so parents could coordinate with santa claus – and Brighty of the Grand Canyon was my favorite of the bunch. These photos are lovely and such a nice way to start the Holiday weekend. Thank you for sharing!
monoglot
I took my two children, then 11 and 8, to the Grand Canyon one March during Spring Break. It snowed all the way up to the canyon, and, driving slowly in the dark, was absolutely beautiful for two children who had never grown up in snow.
Deathly afraid of heights, we hiked nowhere, but the scenery was stunning, and we had the park mostly to ourselves.
Good mom that I am, I was able to delay my panic attacks until the kids were asleep each night…
waratah
I was lucky to see the Canyon from the air after a snow, and it was breathtaking. Thank you for your wonderful photos.
BruceFromOhio
These are beautiful!
Wag
Great photos, and such a great tradition. I remember a trip to Phantom Ranch many years ago. After setting up camp, my girlfriend pulled a couple of glasses out of her pack and announced that it was time for a glass of wine. I told her that I was impressed that she carried a bottle of wine all the way down. She smiled, and pulled the bottle out of my pack.
arrieve
What beautiful photos! I’ve been to the canyon twice, but only the rim, and I’m afraid my knees would not appreciate any attempt to climb down now. But that’s the fun on On the Road — we get to see so much.
catatonia
We went down and back in a day and a hell of a haul it was. Kaibab to the Ranch, then Bright Angel up. On complete autopilot from Garden Creek to the South Rim. I can’t imagine trying to do that with snow on the ground and having to really pay attention to where you’re stepping, lest you slip and do a Wile E. Coyote off the ledge. And hungover? Fergethiaboutit.
But was it every a memory.
Cheryl from Maryland
Beautiful pictures. Really brings home that the best time to visit the Canyon is when it’s colder with fewer people.
Miss Bianca
I’ve been to the Grand Canyon once, when I was a kid with my folks. They were not the hiking type, so no Bright Angel Trail for us. However, like Salty Sam having been a huge fan of the book Brighty of the Grand Canyon when I was a tyke (I can’t remember whether the little donkey was Brighty in honor of the trail, or if the trail was named in honor of Brighty), I always meant to try that one. (Not hung over, tho’. There are some things I am just too old for now.) Thank you for the photos!
MelissaM
I accompanied my 88yo mom on a bucket list train trip from Chicago to the Grand Canyon and back a couple years ago. Definitely no hiking for us (actually it was like having a small child – my cousin and I made sure to be back at the room for “nap time” so mom could rest.) It was May, so people, but not crowded like summer. And gorgeous! We did a tour where the guide took us to an off-tour spot to show us sea fossils on the south rim!
So hubs and I planned a trip for this May. I’m damn disappointed.
Thanks for your pictures and thanks for leaving me imagining hiking out hungover. Ah, youth!
cope
What wonderful pictures and an envy-inducing story. In 1969, the centennial year of Powell’s first trip down the canyon, my college geology department took their spring (March) geology field trip down the canyon from Lee’s Ferry to Bright Angel Ranch and then up Bright Angel Trail, back to the bus. We were the first commercial trip down the canyon that year and had a great 4 or 5 days on the river before the hike out. I would have won the “race” to the top except for going back down some distance when near the top to help carry an exhausted, blistered member of our party the last several hundred yards to the top.
I have never been back to the Grand Canyon but spent years living and working in the Rocky Mountains including a lot of time in “reddish” states and have a deep, visceral attraction to such wild places. It’s a pity I live in the least geologically interesting, greenish state of Florida.
WaterGirl
@Wag: That’s a great story!
TomatoQueen
Wonderful views. These days I’m grateful to live on the same planet as those of you who can get to these places and show them off for me. Brighty….rings a bell.
Origuy
I’ve only been to the South Rim, on a trip that went through Mesa Verde, another amazing place. In front of Bright Angel Lodge, I got a picture of a condor from almost vertical. You could even see the number on the tag on its wing. Thanks for the photos of the Canyon in winter.
Kelly
I’ve rowed Grand Canyon three times, May, late June-early July and March. Absolutely epic trips. I recommend Spring for Grand Canyon trips. Comfortable temps and wildflowers. The late June-early July trip was the hottest I’ve ever been.
Albatrossity
More, please!
Hidalgo de Arizona
@Salty Sam: I’ve never heard of Brighty! Going to need to look it up – there’s a six-year-old in social isolation with me, and it sounds like it might be good fare for him.
Hidalgo de Arizona
@Kelly: I’ve wanted to do a trip down the river for years now – a close friend of mine got a permit last year, and I was so close to getting on that trip with her, only to get dropped when she started dating someone new just before the trip. I remember telling her “I understand, but I’m still really disappointed.”
Hidalgo de Arizona
@cope: if you haven’t been paying attention to Grand Canyon geology the last few decades, you probably haven’t heard of his work, but George H. Billingsley put together a very comprehensive map of the geography of the canyon, and one year I met him and his wife on the Bright Angel trail! I struck up a conversation with them while they were measuring a fault, and it went something like this;
“Have you seen Billingsley’s map?”
“Yes, I *am* George Billingsley”
“Holy shit! I love your work!”
Does that count as a celebrity meeting?
cope
@Hidalgo de Arizona: Absolutely a geo-celebrity meeting.
After our trip, another geology major and I poured over USGS maps of the canyon, planning a winter south rim to north rim hike and back that sadly, never materialized. Also never to materialize was my interest in working for our outfitter (Cross Tours?) the following summer. We exchanged letters and they were willing to take me on but told me that when not on the river, I would have to fend for myself. My family was still in Illinois (though they moved to Colorado the following year) and I just didn’t feel I could make it work. Another on the list of opportunities I missed, to be sure.
Armadillo
I’ve only been to the canyon once, in summer and didn’t get to do much hiking, unfortunately. Those are beautiful photos of a beautiful place.
BigJimSlade
Wow, that looks so much more attractive than roasting in the summer!