CraigBILL

This an area of the Grand Canyon that I finally planned to "photographically" visit. It is not like your usual visit to the Grand Canyon... Toroweap is on the North side of the canyon where it narrows enough to corral the Colorado River beneath 3000 foot cliffs - and where the the larger of the canyon rapids lay below: Lava Falls. On the more familiar South side, you generally see a vast expanse of canyon terrace landscape - and usually you can't see the river at all. Toroweap, however, is more difficult to get to. You must take a 61 mile dirt road and arrive at a destination that is beautifully non-commercial. No gift shops, no rails and walkways, no hotels, no restaurants, and no lawyers. If you were so inclined, you could just walk right off the edge.

This image contains so many great memories. A longtime friend and colleague , that has always wanted to go on a photo-hunting trip, and I just arrived at Toroweap for the first time ever. We were so excited to see the famous cliffs and views that we started out hiking immediately. By the time we had almost seen the first canyon edge, ambient storm clouds started to shed rain. If you look closely, you can see the first drops of rain on the foreground rocks. Afraid of equipment damage, I advised that we start back toward camp before nature taught us a lesson. Not ten steps into the retreat, my safari companion yelled out, "Look! a double rainbow!" I scrambled to get my camera together. I climbed up a rock and started shooting as many exposures as possible before the elusive event faded. That was the brightest rainbow I have ever seen - and to see it arching over Toroweap, Grand Canyon is one of the luckiest and most exciting experiences I have had with photography!