Horseshoe Bend

Last year on my drive out to California one of my planned stops was at Horseshoe Bend. I had seen many images made at Horseshoe Bend and it was not far from my previous stop, Canyon de Chelley. (Here's my Blog of Canyon De Chelley from last year). During the drive from Chinle, Arizona to Page, Arizona I passed by Antelope Canyon which triggered my interest in visiting it this year.



Horseshoe Bend is just a few short miles North of Page on U.S. 89. A 3/4 mile hike will put you on the rim 1,000 feet above the Colorado River. If you have a fear of heights you'll probably not want to venture to close to the edge. It's a lllooonnnggg way down. The first image was made with my 17-40mm lens at 17mm with my full frame Canon 5D Mark II. Even with this wide angle lens I can't get it all in the frame, that's how big it is.



Boaters will periodically navigate the river here from Lee's Ferry up toward Glen Canyon Dam. Since December is not boating weather I didn't figure I'd see any and I was right. I did drive to Lee's ferry and saw a group of rafters putting in to go down stream. Seemed a bit to cold to be rafting but these were adventurous souls.



The sandstone around the rim is quite layered and looks rather thin and fragile in places. Before getting close to the edge I would walk around the rim a bit and get a good look of where I was going to be standing before actually walking out to the end. This last image shows my tripod in one of my shooting locations.

Roger
(-:)