January 11, 2000 - Grand Canyon - Daytime

After the helicopter flight, I made another short stop at the hotel before spending the day at the Grand Canyon. President Clinton managed to delay me by about an hour, since the park entrance road was closed while his motorcade drove from Hopi Point back to the Grand Canyon airport. (National Parks- Clinton Creates, Expands National Monuments - more info about this dedication of new and expanded National Monuments.)

Since I had already visited the East Rim at sunrise (and also by helicopter), I headed for Grand Canyon Village and the West Rim.

I had a very nice lunch at El Tovar hotel, which is very rustic (inside and out), and is located right across from the Hopi House in the Village.  Service was excellent, and the food was reasonably priced and very good.  Recommended.

As I expected, the midday light made the distant features of the Grand Canyon flatten out due to atmospheric haze and the resulting lowered contrast.  However, by using my trusty polarizing filter, I still managed to take some decent shots.  Just because it is midday, doesn't mean you should put your camera away!

The canyon walls nearest the the South Rim still provided some interesting foreground detail, and was endlessly fascinating to me.  The rock formations and various layers of rock were quite amazing, and formed repetitious silhouettes and colours.

By the time I make my way around the South Rim's West Drive to Mohave Point, I can hear the rapids of the Colorado River below.  The Abyss just falls away from the edge of the South Rim between Mohave Point and Pima Point.  The crews are still knocking down the VIP tents at Hopi Point, where President Clinton visited earlier in the day.  TV crews are still getting location shots from this vantage point, so all the generators disrupted this otherwise tranquil location.