Today I’ll take you on one of the most popular and beautiful side canyon hikes Grand Canyon has to offer. On day five we pulled over to river left just above a small rapid at mile 117.
As we gathered on the beach to await our fearless leaders I glanced back at the river. That rock on the right looks a bit like an elf ear.
The walk up was fun as there were plenty of things to keep our attention including not falling off some of the bigger boulders.
The hike follows Royal Arch Creek which gives you little snippets of what you will find at the end.
Following a 10-15 minute hike/boulder scramble, we were treated to this: lovely, shaded grotto with a waterfall. Its emerald colored pool is perfect for swimming on a hot day.
Our guides were awesome in letting the shutterbugs of the group shoot the scene for a few minutes before letting the rest of our boat mates dive in. I managed to “work the scene” a bit by shooting it horizontal, vertical and moving a little to the right and left. It’s a pretty small beach and people were itchin’ to jump in.
I zoomed in here to try to isolate the water. I slowed my shutter as much as I could and still handhold the camera without too much camera shake.
This image shows the ledge you can climb up to behind the waterfall and jump into the pool.
As we began to gather and head out I walked ahead and turned around to capture the creek coming out of the pool in the distance.
As we emerge from the canyon the upcoming rapid is layed out before us. It was a spectacular side canyon hike and I was glad we got to see it before any other trips joined us at the grotto.
We loaded the boat and headed downstream. I had carried my camera on a Black Rapid sling to help prevent dropping it should I slip or need both hands to get over the boulders.
I hope you enjoyed this beautiful oasis in Grand Canyon. It always amazes me that in such a hot unforgiving environment such places exist.
Happy Shooting!
Every beach we stopped at for either lunch, camp or just a bathroom break seemed to have a welcoming committee of two Ravens.
They wandered camp and reminded folks to keep their belongings under lock and key, or at least secured in their dry bags.
Ravens are ballsy. This one snuck onto the boat with Amity, our river guide, standing right there, and hopped up and stole her granola bar! She was two feet, if that, away!
Here’s a pair checking out the beach to make sure everything is in order. They are smart, observant and brave.
At times I think they are more observant of their world than we humans are.
It didn’t take long before we saw our first group of bighorn sheep. I believe we saw some every day. The goal became to find ones with big horns.
This guy had a good set. We found one larger but the image was too blurry.
Here’s another pair I shot as we floated past.
At our last camp we watched Bighorn TV. It was great. We all lined up our chairs on a sandbar six inches under water and watched three sheep across the river negotiate the cliffs.
The deer weren’t as common. In fact, this may have been the only group we saw.
We found this guy at the Little Colorado. He was a juvenile and froze when we walked by. His mama came screaming out from the nearby cliff toward us to protect him. She stood her ground with us as baby wandered off to a safer location.
Look at the length of that tail!
I was out shooting rocks one morning, thinking I was alone. I went to steady myself on this rock and was surprised to find my little friend here. He never moved but had an eye on me the whole time.
This guy was a trained model. I found him while out shooting rocks and water in the morning light. He hung out, followed me and posed. His colors were beautiful.
Fire ants were pretty common in camp as well. The good news is they went to bed at sundown. A simple trap was also made. A small bowl was buried in the sand just at the level of the sand with a piece of food in it. The ants would drop down for the food and not be able to get out. Toward sundown, our guides would release the bowl full of ants back to the hill for bedtime.
No one on our trip fished. But I’m sure they would have had success had they attempted. This trout was patrolling the waters off of one of our lunch stops.
See the dark blob near the opposite canyon wall connecting the light and dark water? That’s a school of fish! Not sure what kind but at first glance it looked like some sort of plant life. This is at the mouth of Havasu Creek.
Snowy egrets…who knew? We also saw Great Blue Heron on several occasions.
These first three images are from the backhaul trip. It was my first experience seeing paddle boards on this river. They were fully loaded and had been camping. The thing that would hold me back from such an adventure is the fact that if you take a dive the water is a chilly 46 degrees coming out of the bottom of the dam.
Here is a collection of our own vessels taken on that trip. We had a couple of canoes, sea kayaks, regular kayaks and an inflatable kayak or two. People have been known to paddle upstream. They eddy hop, paddle from eddy to eddy to reach their destination. It’s hard but doable.
This area of the river, upstream from Lee’s Ferry, is famous and popular with the fly fishermen. It’s quite common to see motorboats heading upstream to fish. Companies also do a “daily” where they take passengers on large inflatable motor rigs down the 25 mile stretch of Glenn Canyon from the Dam to Lee’s Ferry. Those are the boats we load up and pay to haul our boats back up to the dam for a two-day float. We stay at the campgrounds along the river.
Here we are at the ferry on the morning of our launch. To my delight, an OARS Grand Canyon Dories trip was loading up and preparing to launch as well. I love these boats. They are my favorite on the river. They are made of wood and each one is a work of art. I drifted away from my group and couldn’t help myself. I had to shoot a few at the boat ramp.
My favorite picture is the one at the top of this post. Late in the trip we floated past several lined up on a beach. I was able to catch just the right angle of their pointed bows with their names painted on the sides.
They launched before we did so when we passed them I was able to capture them silently floating in the canyon while we motored past in our big, 36-foot inflatable S-Rig.
This boat has a long story attached to it. If you’re interested go to 
Kayaking is another popular way to experience this river but rest assured, the water is not always this smooth.
I like this image because it shows you the scale of Grand Canyon. The boats in the distance are two large motor rigs heading to camp in late afternoon. They look tiny.
This is the boat we traveled on, a 36-foot S-rig. No idea what the S stands for.
Shade is a premium while on the river, especially at camp. These boats had the right idea. Temperatures are many degrees cooler the closer to the water you get. One does not want to hang out on the hot sand in the sun until shade adorns the camp. Trust me on this one.
A lot of folks like to bring “duckies” on Canyon trips to float on the calmer sections of water. They tend to get loaded and tied down for the big rapids.
Here’s another boat seen on the river occasionally. It’s a bit of a catamaran; two pontoons connected with a deck for rowing and gear.
I’m going to end where I started, with my beloved dories. I’ve never ridden in one but I think they are such pretty boats. If you want a great dory story read The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko, it’s amazing.
The ground was strewn with beautifully colored rocks. I spent some time there photographing them. I could have spent a lot more time catching all of their colors and patterns as the light shifted throughout the day. The lichen also came in at least three different colors, white, yellow and orange.
Take for example this survey marker. I think these are cool because I imagine a team of surveyors in the canyon collecting data and wonder how old it is and how difficult it must have been to haul their gear up and down the trail.
This little guy is a good reminder to watch the trail as much as the scenery. He’s not a rattler but he caught our attention nonetheless.
It s my goal in life to capture closeups of bees and or other insects in motion. It’s not easy, especially with the camera I brought. I brought my little Canon S120 point and shoot so I could have it in my pocket for quick access.
I shoot these a LOT. I love agave with their soft green leaves, red tips and great patterns.
One such day found us at the South Rim heading down Bright Angel Trail toward Indian Garden, which you can see in this image as the splash of green on the right side in the smaller canyon, then out to Plateau Point. We did it with full 25# packs. It is six miles down which means six miles back up…12 total.
These images, however, were taken before I switched my setup to something lighter and easier to travel with. These images were taken with a Canon 40D and 35-70mm lens. Far heavier than I am willing to travel with these days. This is the view from Plateau Point, a 1.5 mile jaunt from Indian Gardens, to the river below. If you look closely you can see a river raft parked at the large beach on the left.
Here’s the thing about this blog: I focus on taking images when most travelers would be shooting, during the day. In a perfect world I would be here at sunrise and/or sunset, but in a traveler’s life, that is not realistic. Time is short and many things and places are crammed into a short period of time so it is my intent to show that, even though conditions are not ideal, it is still beneficial to bring your camera and snap some pictures.
We didn’t take the time hike back to Navajo Falls on this trip or beyond Mooney Falls to Beaver Falls. We stayed close to camp, mostly due to me recovering from my consecutive falls (no pun intended) and spend our first full day exploring Havasu Falls, which you see here. At this time of year it was always in the shade which dulls the color of the water just a bit. I actually shot this image on our way to the trail that leads out of the bottom of the falls. I happened to glance back to get one last view of it and spotted this great curving piece of wood which leads your eye right up to the pool.
Here is another nice example of putting something in the foreground to lead you into the picture. These were all hand held images with my point and shoot that stayed securely in my pocket until needed.
I worked my way across the pool and onto the opposite shore. As I approached that side I got a few of the falls not everyone sees. The mossy green rocks behind it caught my attention. I shot this one as a horizontal as well with the focus being more on the rocks. Water fall images don’t have to be vertical!
Here’s my wife, Ellen, standing in the pool I walked across. There was a little beach entrance you can barely see in the way upper right corner. 
Here’s a fun picture of a leaf floating by. I loved the way the water was making the light dance across the colors of the leaf. It was moving in the current and because of the water my auto focus wasn’t working as quickly as normal. We must have picked this leaf up and replaced it in the current at least seven times!
That night, while hanging out at camp, I set up my point and shoot on the little Joby Gorillapod and aimed it at the sky. I set the ISO on 3200, f/2.8 with a 30 second exposure and here is what I got. I was pretty please!
Heading to the spring to gather water for the day. The early morning light casting long shadows on the trail and giving a nice halo around the hair.
On our way to the spring we ran across this tree with a crazy root system. Check it out! It seems to all be in the air with the trunk plummeting down into the ground. Cottonwoods are insane trees.
This is the rushing water we were camping by. Hearing the little rapid all night made for some nice nights of sleep. It’s also an example of where logs end up in flash floods. The dirt on the far bank is another camp.
The next day we headed to Mooney Falls. Given my shaky state of affairs and how sketchy the climb down to the bottom is, we didn’t make it all the way but it was beautiful nonetheless.
This is Ellen emerging from one of the tunnels just before we had to start holding chains and descending down wet and slippery rock. I do love silhouettes.
And there she is, Mooney, in all her glory. I really like this picture because of the frozen travertine waterfall in the foreground. These rock falls are all around both Havasu and Mooney Falls.