[JonnyQuest]

JO, Great Nankoweap shots! So hard to get the lighting right in that location...

[joker]

Thanks! We had to camp upriver of them so were at least an hour's walk to/from there. Which meant our river guides (this was a guided trip, which is MUCH easier to book especially if you want to go sooner than a decade from now) were very good sports to hold dinner until after dark on this evening so we could be up there at around sunset. One of the benefits of booking not only a guided trip, but one that was billed as a "photo workshop" (with good photographers leading that aspect, including one who had worked repeatedly with the head river guide so they had a good understanding of what each other needed to do their jobs well).

[seattlenativemike]

^^ yeah you nailed the lighting

[joker]

Beargrass on Bandera today

beargrass on bandera (1 of 1)

[gb]

[joker]

Thanks Gary. The trip I did was on a big motorized "J-rig" (owned and guided by AZRA which seems like a very solid outfit on multiple fronts). It took 9 nights/10 days to get from Lee's Ferry to the takeout at Diamond Creek. At various moments I might say that was a little long or a little short so I guess the answer to your length question is that it's going to depend a lot on you and the group you happen to be with. While it would get rid of the motor noise, I don't think I'd be as keen to go on an oar trip where a guide is rowing the whole time and it would take more like 14 nights to travel that distance - if I were going to go that route I think I might rather be on a paddle raft where I'm doing a bit more than just sitting on the flat water and hanging tight in rapids (or at least spending some of the time on a paddle raft - sounds like some trips have one or two paddle rafts that people can rotate onto from the oar boats). The trip I did wasn't sedentary but it wasn't super active either - just a few 4 mile-ish hikes and several shorter walks to get to nice photo or hang destinations up side canyons. I think I'd be more up for a longer trip if it had a somewhat more physically active itinerary while not on the raft. For photography, early May seemed like a good time to go, as both the Little Colorado River and Havasu Creek were flowing relatively clear and so were quite blue rather than tinged a bit brown (both have lots of magnesium which yields their unreal blue waters), as were some of the other creeks. And though the CO river was a bit brown when we started due to some recent rain in greened up quite a bit w/in a day or so of our start. I guess fall trips tend to get more runoff and thus brown in all the water. I don't do heat well so would not want to do a summer trip down the river. But a longer trip would also offer more chances to check out the cool side canyons which has appeal. Another option is to do half the river, either ending at Phantom Ranch or starting there, with a hike up or down to end or start the journey. That would present the tough choice of which half to skip... And yes, all the granaries I've seen seemed to have been rather thoughtfully placed so as to be relatively unlikely to have been easily discovered by others when in use.

[pcg]

I'm hoping there is a meteorologist somewhere who can give me some insight into what phenomena this is. I photographed this rainbow yesterday evening from my home five miles west of Sherwood, OR. It formed in the east after a thunderstorm was dissipating. Most of it was a normal single rainbow that stretched about 60 degrees, but a portion of it formed what appears to be a set of six succesively fainter spectral sets. I've never seen anything like it, could not find a similar photo on the Internet, or even any discussion of something like this. Anyone have a clue? Edit: I've determined this was a supernumerary rainbow. The physics involved are fascinating... https://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/supers.htm

[seattlenativemike]

Sunset hike to Hurricane Ridge and Hill. Canon 200/1.8 and Zeiss 50/1.4

[n16ht5]

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0102.JPG

[joker]

bighorn dad and kids (1 of 1)

[joker]

Toadstools with rainbow (1 of 1)

[n16ht5]

[joker]

Little Colorado Sunrise (portrait)2 (1 of 1)

The Little Colorado River, just a short ways above its confluence with the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. It's a cool spot, with eery blue water (due to magnesium content), travertine cascades, and the layered red rock canyon walls all around. So worth getting up super early to see the sun rise on this landscape (which required a ferry across the big CO river from camp and a short bit of hiking at first light). This spot is definitely a highlight of the trip down the river. We came back after going back to camp for coffee and breakfast, and we spent a while floating down the little blue rapids near this shot in our life preservers - apparently one of the "must do" recreational activities on raft trips based on the groups we saw flowing in as we packed up to go after our own play time.

[Bootpathguy]

[joker]

Thanks - that's definitely been one of my goals so it is really nice to read that feedback.