We have wanted to visit the Grand Canyon again for a long time. It had been years, maybe decades, since our last visit. We knew we wanted our next visit to be when the monsoon was in progress. The monsoon season in Arizona brings spectacular storms and interesting skies. When combined with the grandest gorge on the planet, it is place that calls to any photographer of the land. So, we answered the call, loaded up, and made a road trip.

Days are long here for photographers. Not that the sun stays up longer than other places at this latitude, but because you don’t want to miss sunrise or sunset. Because microclimate and burbles in the monsoon atmosphere cause moisture to move in complex ways, we found that weather forecasts often are frustratingly inaccurate about potential cloud cover and the chances of a spectacular sky. So we work under the old saying: “If you don’t go, you don’t know.” It’s up early (first bus at 0400 to the west end) and stay up late.

Evening dissipation - a storm breaks down at sunset

And because it’s the Grand Canyon, there can be interesting light, shadows and clouds at any time of the day; so no napping!

The big reason for coming in the monsoon is the chance of a storm.

Of course, even in the not-quite-off-season of late August, there are other people here, although, we found the crowds relatively small.

But, we didn’t go to the Grand Canyon for a storm that drops a little shower as the cloud collapses, or a storm that covers the sky in shades of gray or even a storm lit from below by a sunset, but the storm that has the power to dance with it’s erosional partner below. We came for a powerful dance between the sky and the river. And one evening it happened…

The first stroke of lightning is a surprise. It comes from a relatively small cloud. The crowd of visitors gasp and yell. “Did you catch that?” And then the intensity ramps up.

Even as night fell the storm continued off to the east as the clouds parted and the stars came out to watch.

We hope to have the next part of this story posted in a few days. In the meanwhile, you can click on the individual photos to see them in a larger “letterbox”. And if you can, use a large device to view these images, a phone just doesn’t do them justice. Hopefully, we did some justice to the dance in the sky.

Journal

Grand Canyon - Part 1 - Canyon and Clouds