Landscape Photography in Arizona, Late December (Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon)

[ShunCheung]

During the week between Christmas and New Year, we are planning to

drive to Arizona to do some landscape photography. This is probably

not the best time to visit Arizona, but my wife's company is shut down

that week and we need to take some time off.

 

I understand that the Grand Canyon North Rim is closed in the winter,

but the South Rim is still open. I am planning to stay in northern

Arizona and visit Antelope Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Petrified Forest,

etc. Is this a good idea? I am wondering how the weather and road

conditions will be like. Or should I consider southern Arizona which

should be warmer?

 

We'll be driving from the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Los Angeles

and Las Vegas for a couple of days and then enter Arizona.

[jennifer_waak]

The answer for N. AZ is "it depends". The hiking trails down the south rim are still open, but it is advised to call park rangers as the date approaches and ask. Going in the winter provides a unique perspective that most people will never see, but I think it is best to play it by ear based on how much snow the region has received.

 

If you head a bit south, the area around Sedona is also pretty great. I'm not sure what you intend to photograph, but Joshua Tree National Park is in S. CA, and is pretty much on your route between LA and Vegas. If you do get all the way down to Phoenix, there are lots of options. I lived there a few years ago (before I took up photography, unfortunately) and seem to recall that I think you'd have a lot of success near Camelback and in the area surrounding Scottsdale. South Mountain, which runs across the south edge of Phoenix has some pretty flat hiking with some long trails.

[alex_lofquist]

Winter is one of the best times to photograph the Grand Canyon. The visitors are much fewer, and the possibility of snow laden vistas are great. Think about going down to Sedona: beautiful red rocks and Oak Creek Canyon.

 

Alex

[phil_goble]

An alternative you could consider is looping from the south rim, through Page, going by Toroweep on the north rim of the canyon, and Zion on the way back to Vegas. I would skip Canyon De Chelley. Haven't been to Petrified Forest, but you are heading farther east and extending the trip.

[karl_lehmann]

If you don't mind driving a bit further south - the Superstition Wilderness has stunning landscapes and a better chance of good weather (if you don't want to backpack there are many good views from near the road). And Jennifer's suggestion of Joshua Tree is excellent too.<p>Karl Lehmann <a href="http://www.lostworldarts.com/new_page_3.htm">Lost World Arts</a>

[curt wiler]

The canyons - Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, etc. can be at their best with white snow contrasting against the rocks. This is still early in the winter, so it's pretty hard to say how much snow there will be, or how cold; but at the higher elevations around Flagstaff and the South Rim it should be well below freezing at night, probably in the low teens. The other areas are much lower but can still have serious snow storms. The roads will be pretty well maintained, but be prepared with chains (you probably won't need them) and plenty of warm clothes. Also watch out for black ice.

 

But as for Toroweap (mentioned above), it is one of my favorite places, but bear in mind that it is down 80 miles of dirt road and takes several hours to get to in under the best conditions. I would not attempt it at this time of year unless you have a good four-wheel drive, high-clearance vehicle, and are prepared to spend more than one night camping in the cold.

 

Wish I could join you.

[ShunCheung]

Thanks for the quick responses. I have removed the mild sexist comments (about women prefer shopping) since some people may find it a bit objectionable.

 

We lived in New Jersey (just outside of New York City) for 14 years before returning to California last year, so we are quite familiar with colder climates and winter driving. However, we don't have any 4WD but will drive our Honda Accord instead. We are not planning to use chains or go down dirt roads in icy conditions.

[jay_piper]

No matter where you pick to see, you are doing a lot of driving, Shun, and as everyone has said, be prepared for variable weather that may take a day or two to clear.

 

Utah will give you options over a range in elevation from Snow Canyon SP to Bryce and Cedar Breaks at 10,000 feet with much greater chance of snow. Maybe a SW Utah focus with low and high plans will let you spend the most time photographing. Don't overlook Valley of Fire area and NW shore of Lake Mead, both closer to Vegas and en route to Zion, if you decide to spend less time on road.

 

Also, don't give up on North Rim without some research. When I planned new year's trip from Las Vegas several years ago (wound up going to Death Valley then) I learned that the North Rim has at least one winter X-C ski access arrangement - can't recall details, might not fit your schedule - but you may want to check that out for a unique North Rim visit. Jacob's Lake is likely open. In early summer visits (frosty tents at rim campgrounds on early June mornings)I enjoyed the Kaibab NF approach to the GCNP almost as much as the canyon itself, even if all you want to do is a day of exploring south from UT.

 

If you do go as far as Flagstaff I highly recommend going E and N to Wupatki NM and Sunset Crater for a day's loop drive and hikes. You will enter these from the North if you loop past the N Rim and cross Navajo Bridge. Cinder cones and lava flows contrast with sandstone outcrops and pueblo- or anasazi- style ruins, and a fair amount of small wildlife.

 

Enjoy the trip whichever sites you pick.

[craig_gillette]

If you belong to the Auto Club, try and get a copy of the "Indian Country" map (if that's what they still call it. It combines portions of the state maps from the area and has a lot of capsule info on individual parks and monuments. Also the state guides for Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah would also be handy. (If you don't belong, join, get the materials and maps free!) If you center around Flagstaff and/or Williams, you can day trip many of the sites. Sedona and the Camp Verde area may have less weather impacts if it is storming. Weather could easily be the deciding factor on what you can do. The Kaibab and Colorado Plateaus will be cold and high elevation, storms will cause more delays, etc. The southern end of the state is low and you'll have more snowbirds to contend with. Both have gorgeous areas.

<P>

<I>Yes, I am a AAA member and am planning to get maps from them ayway. -- Shun</I>

[jeff medkeff anchorage, a]

The canyon is nice this time of year. It can be cold and the wind can be harsh, but this keeps away many of the tourists.

 

Petrified Forest can be a taxing place to photograph without prior familiarity. There are two or three places in the park that are aesthetically spectacular and very easy to get to, and then there are apparently half a billion really cool places that can be hard to figure how to shoot. This has been my experience on several visits, anyway.

 

Much of the attraction of Petrified Forest is the petroglyphs.

 

One thing not on your list is Sunset Crater, just north of Flagstaff. There are some nice trails here and some of them take you out on quite interesting, gnarly basalt flows. I've been here only once but it is on my list to return to; there is plenty of opportunity for photographing texture at Sunset.

 

As far as weather goes, you might get a winter storm along with significant snow, or you might not. This is sometimes best predicted by flipping a coin, but other times is well forecast as systems move in from the northwest. The roads are generally quite well groomed during the winter and you shouldn't have trouble, particularly if you are prudent during heavy snow. If you are staying on the main roads you shouldn't need chains on your Accord. Even some of the dirt roads are better to drive in winter (the washboarding fills up with ice) and not impossible with a conventional, chainless vehicle.

 

Southern Arizona is on average warmer than northern Arizona, but some of the more interesting places to photograph down here (Standing-Up Rocks, Cochise Stronghold, etc) are at an altitude which is going to expose you to more or less northern AZ conditions. So I'd not extend the trip a few hundred miles extra due to weather concerns.

[david_henderson]

I doubt that you will have much interruption from the weather unless you climb quite high- like the Grand Canyon for example - where frankly I've been stuck by snow for short periods in April never mind December January. At that height there's always a risk but the rewards are high too.

 

Personally I much prefer the landscapes of Northern Arizona to those in the southern part of the state. Brown hillsides covered in Saguaro cacti just doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. The things I do like are:-

 

Petrified Forest:- though personally I get bored with petrified logs very quickly, the northern part of this park is pretty good. There's a circuit from the northern entrance station that loops north of I10 through the chinle formation and bands of red/grey/yellow colour. Lacey Point is particularly good but the best viewpoints change with the light during the day. Then south of the I10 there's Blue Mesa and the Tepees. Also if you stay in Holbrook you'll be able to eat breakfast at Joe and Aggies.

 

I like Sedona but it isn't easy to photograph. There's plenty of colour but a lot of it seems a bit jumbled. I do like Red Rock Crossing - just to the west of town - and I do like to walk along the west fork of Oak Oreek, which leaves the main valley between Sedona and Flagstaff. Lots of undercut cliffs there and if there's some reflected light you'll have a great time there. Schnebly Hill Road is also decent in the mornings.

 

I've photographed Antelope twice, once in April and once mid-October. No doubt the light in April, when the sun was higher, was better but it's only a two day sample. I found that photographing slot canyons is hard, particularly with Medium format where tou get some interesting trade-offs between dof and shutter speeds, especially with longer lenses. I'd do it anyway, albeit that conditions may not be ideal, since there's a learning curve you'll need to get through there. In that area there's Horseshoe Bend and a decent viewpoint of Lake Powell

off the 89 on the right a few miles west of Page. Most of the views you can get of the Lake from round Page are pretty mundane. If you could get the use of 4wd and the roads aren't wet, there's a route from Big Water which after an hour or more of fairly tough driving gets you to Romana Mesa and a great sunset opportunity.

 

At the Grand Canyon, my own favourite location for dawn and dusk is at Hopi Point,along the west rim drive.

 

All this aside there's a lot of interesting route 66 stuff in this area too, particularly round Williams, Winslow and Holbrrok if you're interested in that sort of thing.

 

If you need more detail the e-mail me. Best of luck.

[gwrhino]

N AZ in December is COLD. And if you have no snow happening the canyon can be downright unfriendly. Further North, along the AZ Strip (around Page and the buttes; Toroweap, etc), coditions will be: high winds followed by, and interpersed with, more COLD. No mistake, there are many nice photo ops there, especially if there is snow......no pain, no gain.

 

Watch the weather; if the storm looks right, you can always cruise up to the canyon. If the storm is REALLY right, it drops 4 inches of snow on hillsides covered with saguaros (not so brown then).....

 

My personal feeling is that here is no place like the desert during the winter. An incredible sunset behind a stand of fat saguaros along the Camino El Diablo........ the Ajo Range scarlet with the last rays of the day in Organ Pipe........

 

http://georgestocking.com<div></div>

[wayne_crider4]

My last trip thru Flagstaff to the Canyon 2 years ago at Christmas was quite interesting. We caught the first snowstorm of the year and it was a doosey. There were cars and trucks everywhere off into the snow and ditches, and some were overturned. I had a rental car and no chains. (for someone who hasn't driven in snow for years and years this is a major stressout condition) Had to drive at 15mph for many hours to keep from spinning out. Wrecks will backup traffic for miles and miles so keep the tank full, and carry a phone. Get AAA for the towing, and make sure it's the one with the 100 mile towing allowance. When you see the big buses chaining up you know your in trouble. I drove behind one for a couple of hours as it chewed up the snow for me. The Canyon was nice, and cold, brrr. I did get some nice shots, especially after a snow, but the clouds were quite prevalent and moving fast, and the light was low. Take faster film. I shot 35mm mostly for the larger aperture and a reasonable shutter speed. IF it's sunny you should get some great shots. I like Sedona, if you know your way around the place. I also have been treking off into other areas as much as possible. A good hiking book will spotlight these.

[robert_kennedy]

It will be COLD. I mean COLD. It is hitting anywhere from 6 to 15 degrees farenheit there at night with days barely getting above 32 degrees. If you are lucky it will be 44 for a high in the day in some of the warmer places up there.

 

We are talking COLD.

 

Which means your equipment will be COLD. Which means it may not work as expected. Batteries will be effected. Shutters will be effected. So be warned.

 

The GOOD news is that there IS snow there now. Which means you can get those great red rock/snow shots. You might also want to consider the White Mountains farther to the south. Snow and warmer temps.

 

But whatever you do be prepared for the cold. Have chains ready. Have a cell phone. Have warm clothes. Do NOT go off-pavement unless you know what you are doing and have the gear or the road is obviously clear.

[mike_wilke]

Whatever you do, DO NOT SKIP Canyon de Chelly!!!

[ShunCheung]

Thanks again to all of those who replied. We just got back from our trip. It sure involved a lot of driving, as I put some 2500 miles on my car. Of course, a lot of that was between the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.

 

After seeing some friends in Las Vegas, we entered Arizona on December 25 and spent three days photographing the Grand Canyon and the Antelope Canyon. Both are superb locations. At the Grand Canyon, it was quite cold early in the morning (sunrise was around 7:35am in this time of the year), around the teens Farenheit. However, my down jacket was quite sufficient and I didn't always need my gloves, although they were handy to have around. By 10am, just a light jacket was sufficient for me.

 

Back in 1977, I hiked down the Grand Canyon (Bright Angel Trail) in May. However, in December, the trials were covered with ice and snow. While some people did hike down, I found it somewhat dangerous because if you slip, you could fall down the canyon and that would be the end. Some people do put spikes on their hiking boots and that should make it safer. However, a lot of the photography can be done around the rim. The good thing is that both the east and west rim roads are open to private vehicles at this time of the year so that you don't have to take the shuttle buses. For photographers, it is easier to drive your own car if you carry a lot of camera equipment and you are also not restricted by the bus schedule; sometimes you need to save those few minutes to catch the right light.

 

The Antelope Canyon is even more interesting, although the light is better in the summer as the sun is more on top of the canyon (at least that was what I was told). The entrance fee is now $17.50 per person for an hour for the Upper Antelope. It is an additional $5 for an additional hour. My wife and I did stay two hours and it was $45 for the two of us. The advantage to be there in the winter is that there are few visitors so that there wouldn't be a lot of people walking in and out of your long exposures. Inside the canyon, the light is quite dim; I was shooting at f8 or f11 at 20 to 30 seconds with ISO 50 and 100 film. I needed the two hours also because I was shooting both 35mm and 645. For 35mm, my 17-35mm lens was best because the zoom gave me some flexability, and I was mainly shooting around 24mm or 20mm and occasionally the 17mm range. I bumped into some other serious photographers and they were using 24 or 28mm lenses. Since it is so dim inside the canyon, focusing was a bit of a problem. AF frequently didn't work and it was hard to focus manually too. Next time I would bring a strong flashlight to help focusing. Obviously a tripod and a shutter release cable are important to have also. (The entrance to the Upper Antelope Canyon is on Route 98 near milepost 299. It is almost right across the road from a major Navajo power plant with three very tall smokestacks with steam coming out. You really can't miss that. The entrance to the Lower Antelope Canyon is across the road from the Upper Canyon, so the Lower Canyon is next to the power plant.)

 

Unfrotunately, after those three days, the weather got poor and became heavily cloudy. We also ran into a snow storm around Flagstaff, Arizona on December 29 and it was a bit difficult to drive at night. Fortunately, further west, the altitute is lower and we only encountered rain on our way back to California. We arrived home a day early. I had a great trip but wish it were a day or two longer.

 

Finally, inside the Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim, there is a huge general store selling all sorts of supplies. Besides a lot of film, I was really surprised that they have all sorts of Flash Memory, Smart Media and Sony Memory Stick available. They also have a few point-and-shoot digital cameras. The era of digital photography has clearly arrived, although they are not selling any Canon EOS-1D or Nikon D1x at the Grand Canyon yet :-).

[ShunCheung]

Somebody asked me to post some images from my trip, and here you go.

This first image was taken about 30 minutes before sunset at Hopi Point.

A wide angle lens helps exaggerate the cloud pattern in the sky.

Unfortunately, the scan doesn't come out that well as the cloud becomes

kind of bluish. Both images were shot with a 17-35mm zoom, probably around

the 20 to 24mm range.<div></div>

[ShunCheung]

Here is my wife inside the Upper Antelope Canyon. (She was holding her camcorder on a mono-pod.)

It is very interesting to be inside, but part of the canyon is very dark, not easy to photograph.

This image was taken near the "rear" opening, which you can see in the background.<div></div>

[m._huber]

Wowie!!! I have admired your work before, but you seem to be getting better and better. Thanks for posting. I love good desert pictures.