How do you comprehend it ???

Let me start by writing that I love photography. It is an art which involves playing with the camera angle and light, along with many other parameters like the aperture, shutter speed, etc. Cameras and lenses capture the moments beautifully so that we can cherish them later for years to come. We capture human emotions, events, games and also try to capture nature and its beauty through the lenses.

I love connecting with nature and one place that was on my bucket list since long was the Grand Canyon. I asked a few friends, but no one was able to join me on the trip, so here I was - going to Arizona (AZ) for a week, all by myself ! I wanted to cover as many places as I could. After reading a lot of stories and suggestions by other travellers, I decided on spending 2 days in the Grand canyon, 2 days in the city of Page, a day in Monument Valley and a couple days in Sedona.

It started with renting a car from the Phoenix airport. My eyes lit up when I saw a black convertible Ford Mustang.

What a start to the trip ! I already had a song playing in my mind, driving with the roof open !

The Grand Canyon

Luckily, I was able to get a room at one of the lodges inside the Grand Canyon Village. I checked into my room and boarded the blue shuttle to transfer to the red shuttle route towards the Hermit Road.

I knew I am going to be at the Mahove point for sunset, so paced my stops on the route accordingly. It is amazing how the depth and richness of the grand canyon changed every minute the sun kept setting.

A step to your right or to your left and it felt like the landscape has changed.

Next day - it was time to be at the Mather point to witness the sunrise. It was chilly and windy at 5 in the morning, but warming to see a bunch of people to witness the first ray of sun peaking through the horizon. I stood there for a couple hours, admiring the beauty of grand canyon every single moment. After spending another 5 hours at the grand canyon, I started driving towards Page.

Page

If Grand Canyon offered large landscape of beautiful sedimentary rocks, Page offered unique 'slot canyon' formed by periodic erosion of rocks by water in desert. Most known are the Upper Antelope Canyon and the Lower Antelope Canyon. However, there is third one called Canyon X too. I could get tickets only to the Lower Antelope Canyon. I was super excited to finally witness the beautiful carved sandstones in full glory of sunlight hitting at different angles, resulting in different shades of orange, yellow, purple colors.

Lower Antelope Canyon

One of the most iconic spots also happens to be in Page - the picturesque Horseshoe Bend .

I will let the picture talk rather than trying to describe the beauty of horseshoe bend. Also took the Horseshoe Bend rafting tour the next day. It is a 15 mile leisurely slow paced tour on the colorado river which ends at Lees Ferry which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Tour guide provided some great insights into the Glen Canyon dam, the stones and also stopped by at one of the places to show us petroglyphs.

Horseshoe Bend

Petroglyphs

Monument Valley

My trip would have been incomplete without going to the Monument Valley. There were a few other places that I could choose, but I could not miss out on this. Iconic drive up to the monument valley and the guided tour of 3 hours - it was all worth it ! My tour guide provided a lot of details about the Navajo nation and the native people. It is absolutely stunning to witness the sedimentary rocks and sandstones - products of millions of years of erosions.

Sedona

My trip ended with a couple days in Sedona. Sedona is a very spiritual place for the natives. It is known for its red rock scenery and evergreen vegetation. The Red Rock scenery drive is breathtakingly beautiful and has lots of 'vortexes' that you can hike or trail. I hiked the Bell Rock during day time and spent the evening watching sunset at the Airport Mesa

Red Rock scenic drive

Bell Rock

It was a wonderful week spent in the cradle of nature. I have run out of adjectives to describe the beauty of Arizona and the varied landscape it has to offer. There is a lot that I could not see on this trip and I wish to visit AZ again.

I took hundreds of pics at each location. At the end of the day, we can only try to capture the ageless beauty of nature via a camera lens. However, it needs to be experienced first hand. Otherwise the question remains - How do you comprehend it ???