Arizona

Arizona	California	California's East Slope
Colorado	Idaho	Montana
Nevada	New Mexico	Utah
Canadian Rockies West		Canadian Rockies East
Using Drones for Aerial Photography

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Canyon de Chelly	North Rim of the Grand Canyon	South Rim of the Grand Canyon	Havasu Falls and Havasupai	Hoover Dam in Arizona
Meteor Crater	Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam	Paria Plateau and the Wave	Sedona	Slot Canyons in Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah
		Window Rock, Hope Arch & Los Gigantes

Canyon de Chelly

I first heard of Canyon de Chelly from two friends who had enjoyed their own visit there. As I researched the park, it stood out as rather different from others I had photographed. Canyon de Chelly has a natural water supply, offers shelter from the extreme high desert weather.
This was illustrated for me during my visit when a strong windstorm buffeted the high overlooks, yet seemed not to touch the sites in the deep valley.

This topography has led to Canyon de Chelly having been occupied for thousands of years by
a succession of agrarian civilizations.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

While the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is famous and visited by millions of tourists, the equally spectacular North Rim is unspoiled, lightly visited and a wonderland for photographers. Especially inspiring is the remote location known as Toroweep. A sixty-mile drive on a dirt road takes you to a 3,600-foot high sheer cliff with views of the Colorado River stretching away to both the North and South.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is ten to eighteen miles wide as it meanders in a generally East-West direction though northern Arizona. The North Rim, described above, has relatively few visitors, while the South Rim has a well-developed capacity to handle crowds during the warmer months.

No matter. When you stand at the rim or fly out over the Canyon, you are awed by its majesty of the topography and can find numerous overlooks where you are essentially alone with the view.

I was fortunate to take two of these flights a few months apart—hence the snow in some pictures and Summer-like colors in others.

Havasu Falls and Havasupai

One of the most remote of all these adventures takes us to Arizona, along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. There, is a side canyon, the Havasupai Indian tribe have lived along a river punctuated by mighty waterfalls--the 100-foot-high Havasu Falls, the 200-foot-high Mooney Falls and smaller falls to the North and South. To reach these falls requires a ten-mile hike from the crest of the Grand Canyon--or a helicopter flight and a two mile hike! The experience is worth every step, because these falls are both magnificent and unforgettable.

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam is an engineering marvel, built at great sacrifice in the Great Depression. See my YouTube video Hoover Dam is an engineering marvel, built at great sacrifice in the Great Depression. See my YouTube video

As a result of 9/11, security was greatly increased at the bridge, which slowed down traffic between Arizona and Nevada. The new O'Callaghan-Tillman Bridge was recently opened, adding a delightful photographer's aerie to the entire panorama.

As a result of 9/11, security was greatly increased at the bridge, which slowed down traffic between Arizona and Nevada. The new O'Callaghan-Tillman Bridge was recently opened, adding a delightful photographer's aerie to the entire panorama.

Meteor Crater

On the long drive from Las Vegas to Monument Valley, we pass the town of Winslow, site of an historic meteor impact. While the site has but one attraction, it has an excellent park with extended pathways to allow viewing the crater from different angles.

The crater does get one’s attention. You would not want to be anywhere in the state when one of these impacted! that this is a special gem of the National Park System.

Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam

Page is a small town at the East End of the Paria Plateau. It was built during the construction of the enormous Glen Canyon Dam, which lies just outside town. A few miles south is the colossal bend in the Colorado River known as Horseshoe Bend, and even further South lie the Vermillion Cliffs, which are on the southwest corner of the Paria Plateau. Page is also famed for Antelope Canyon, one of a number of slot canyons found near Page and Kanab, Utah.

Paria Plateau and The Wave

The Paria Plateau is a large elevated plateau between Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona. Dramatic formations such as White Pockets, where the sandstone looks like sea foam, or South Coyote Buttes with its enormous cliffs and buttes, impress even seasoned travelers. The star of the show, however, is The Wave, an elevated valley in which the sandstone formations look like striped candy or ice cream, swirled into graceful whorls.

Sedona

Sedona is another magnificent place which was recommended to me by a friend. Unlike all the other parks in this collection, Sedona is a settled community rather than an area reserved as a park.

As one drives around Sedona and digests its phenomenal scenery, one can only imagine how it would look if it had been set aside with a national park designation.

As it is, we reach many of Sedona’s attractions by merely driving past all the housing tracts and resorts, then hiking into the hills beyond them. As you will see in the gallery, Sedona’s major formations can be photographed without much of the surrounding settlement showing—but it takes a bit of work.

Slot Canyons in Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah

Slot canyons are narrow and uneven cracks in the great sandstone buttes. Their tops are open to the sky, allowing sunlight to wash down the twisting walls. The light reflecting repeatedly creates amazing effects when photographed--which has made certain slot canyons such as Antelope Canyon famous around the world.

Window Rock, Hope Arch & Los Gigantes

Window Rock

The Window Rock chapter of the Navajo Nation built its administrative offices, a school and a pleasant park right beneath the majestic formation known as Window Rock.
There is a path which offers access to climb the formation. This is best attempted by young people—and there are plenty of volunteers!

Chinle and Hope Arch

Chinle, on the eastern border of Arizona, is the home of the western entrance to Canyon de Chelly National Park, covered in its own gallery.
Ah, but Chinle has another spectacular natural wonder, Hope Arch. The Arch is found ten miles northwest of Chinle in open desert.
Thirty miles North of Chinle, around the town of Round Rock, we find other photographic spectaculars such as the Los Gigantes Buttes and the remote Los Gigantes Arch.

Round Rock and Los Gigantes

Seven miles East of Round rock we find the majestic Los Gigantes Buttes. As we drive beyond the buttes to the Los Gigantes Arch (another nine miles out into the desert) we see several other astonishingly beautiful buttes.

Carl Roessler
P.O. Box 33668
Las Vegas, NV 89133
voice: 702.562.0226
fax: 702.562.0227

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Arizona

Please also visit our drone galleries at Arizona Drones

HDR Photography Gallery