The first full moon of my stay at the Grand Canyon fell on June 18, and what was an avid hiker like myself to do, but go on a night hike!
I had planned to do this hike for a few days in advance, so on the prior night I was sure to get a little less sleep than usual. Then on the day of the hike I went to sleep at 3pm and woke at 10pm, ready to hit at the trailhead at eleven o’clock.
Within the first half-mile I encountered a handful of hikers going up the trail, including a group of Asian men whose hike had extended far later into the evening than they had anticipated. I wouldn’t see another soul until after sunrise.
Moving along at a slow pace, it must have been between and 1 and 2am when I reached the 3-mile rest house.
Even in the middle of the night, the canyon is still hot below the rim.
I later showed the images of this frog to an NPS ranger that specializes in reptiles and amphibians, and she was stumped for a moment, looked in her reference book to identify it, and curious as to the location of these photos. Check out the big round eyes for night vision.
Indian Gardens was my turn-around point for this hike. I toyed with the idea of going out to Plateau Point, but thought I’d better head back up to the rim if I wanted my body to be at least somewhat functional for the next day.
The Grand Canyon is an absolutely amazing thing to see under the light of the full moon. You can look into it from the rim and see all the pinnacles, buttes, mesas, and the corresponding shadows they cast as though in the light of day.
The disappointing factor on this night was that the moon was low to the southern horzion, leaving the southern face of the canyon (The area that I hiked) in shadow. The light of the moon only shone on the Tonto Plateau and the terrain to the north, so only Indian Gardens was was in the light. The above photo shows the point at which the moon finally shone above the rim, with a couple lights in Grand Canyon Village to the right.
I’m being followed by a moonshadow…
The hours before dawn ushered a steady breeze that kicked up loose dirt along the trail, eerily captured here with the flash on my camera. Or for you ghost hunters out there, perhaps these could be the orbs of countless spirits… after all, the Hopi believe that the canyon is where their souls go to rest…
With first light comes the occasional birdsong over the steady drone of crickets. One thing I’ll always remember about this hike was the sound of the crickets, as though I were in any common place back east in mid-summer. I had always assumed the “desert” to be void of the nocturnal noises of insects.
On the last leg before I reached the rim, an army of early-bird hikers began descending into the canyon.
“Aren’t you going the wrong way?” a few asked.
