Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Grand Canyon At Sunset

We are always fascinated by sunsets and sunrises. There are so many places all over the world, where people have gone out of their way,  just to witness the magic. enacted by the Sun.  I witness the magic of the sunset every evening from our  house, it looks beautiful as ever, I feel the sunsets are always beautiful from anywhere.
Anyway, during our visit to Grand Canyon, I felt my trip would remain incomplete without viewing the world famous sunset there, so here are some pictures of the sunset at the Grand Canyon.


One has to be very patient to watch the sun set, and to wait for the beautiful colors to unfold itself slowly, be ready with the camera to capture as much as possible. We didn't carry a tripod, because, it is kind of irritating to carry anything extra during vacations. But everybody who was a professional was there with one. One has to be very careful, for the rocks could be very slippery, one should always keep looking where we have set ourselves to take the pictures.
 It was also threatening to rain heavily any moment, but luckily God listened to my sincere prayers, and we could take a few pictures there.


Some how,  the sea, the river, the clouds and the sunsets, the snow capped mountains, never fail to take us into deep meditation, despite finding ourselves surrounded by people, somehow one is drawn so deeply into these natural beauties, that one hardly is aware of the background: one just becomes one with nature.
Of course in India, you would mostly find such places very noisy, and distracting, but in the Grand Canyon, it was as if, there was a un- written rule of silence that everyone followed : each one of us positioned at various vantage points, waiting very patiently for the Sun to come and demonstrate his skills: it was simply awesome!
There was pin drop silence: except for the clicking of the cameras

  
One can sit forever and watch the changing play of light and shadows thrown by the sun



Look at the riot of colors, that keeps changing every second, that one ends up taking so many from the same angle : only the colors are different,






Just behind me is the rainbow, not very clear, still it felt good to stand there and get photographed
I don't exactly remember, but, I think, we took these pictures from Hopi Point, which is supposed to be one of the best points to watch the Sunset, without any obstructions.
I read somewhere,"The Grand Canyon is about seeing the beautifully exposed pile of rock that makes up the Canyon and this changes from every view point you visit."
Each location has its own beauty of sunset to be enjoyed
 If you have the time, then visiting as many view points as you could would really be good. One should also come and visit this place during the onset of winter. It is indeed fascinating, to observe how monuments and temples make entrances and exits and change shape as your angle of view varies.
If one has the time, interest and money too,  many things can be done at the Grand Canyon. However people like us with limited budget, and time have to be grateful we could at least see this beautiful place in our lifetime.

(The pictures were taken by Ananth).






13 comments:

  1. I loved the riot of colours!!!! I loved each and every pic- and yes sunsets and sunrises are exceptional- I'm so glad you were able to experience it. Thankfully the rain held off for you. SO glad- so we could all view these pics!

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  2. I must admit that you can remember this memorable trip as you managed to capture some good pics that have come pout really well. In some pics the Canyon looks golden.

    Unfortunately when I was there it was cloudy and drizzling.

    You are right about the way the Westerners go about in a awed place like the canyon. And the respect for Nature when you are among her wonders must be truly making us feel so tiny and insignificant.

    It reminds me of a journey to the Himalayas to Kedar and badari. Certainly not on a journey seeking mysticism or spirituality or even call it religious in the conventional sense. But the might of the mountains was not seen by the many who are called pilgrims . And it was cacophony and melee there. Horrid!!!

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    1. Yes Arun, we somehow don't see God in the beauty around us, we are so eager to have darshan paying huge amounts of money, be it Thirupathi or Badri/ Kedar. Among the iyengars, there is the belief that, you are blessed, if you manage to visit all the Vishnavite temples all over India and in Nepal, so with this belief you would see all these Iyengars going on group trips again and again, and come back to have nothing much to say of those beautiful places, except that it was very cold.
      And they think that they are free from all bondages of this earth and would never be back to it. However, they are forever cribbing, fighting, complaining, and remain negative, not realizing that not all their darshans, all their slokas, nor all their so called Dhan, Dharm will take them to the Lord so easily.

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  3. The best thing is to see the light coming filtered thru trees and rocks..

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  4. OH My god feeling here .. nature at its best all the pictures are so beautiful and so much color tooooo

    thanks for sharing

    Bikram's

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  5. Ananth did justice to the sunset drama that happens there every evening Rama, you not only brought back memories of my visit to the place, you also made me feel that I should do more paintings on this lovely place.

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  6. Wow !!! Such awesome pictures! The changing of colours are really magical. Nature never seems to fail amazing us with its wonders. Lucky you could take all those shots and actually stand there to view it.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  7. The mountain top with the flaming red colours look great.

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  8. I am mesmerized Rama.Such gorgeous clicks.Have a lovely weekend:)
    A special thanks for your wishes and prayers. I am on my to complete recovery but not yet back to my regular routine ,keeping my online time to a minimum.

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  9. Rama,
    Not sure why I'm unable to post commets..Let me try my luck this time..Came to your blog via blog-hopping a month ago and have been hooked since then..have read almost all your posts now..Awesome writing , so are the pictures..Your positive attitude is infectious..Keep writing..Why no posts for long? Hope all is well..

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  10. Wow, they are really amazing! Such colors! I think these are unforgettable memories for you.

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