#CMMC: New Year’s Eve at the Grand Canyon

Cee has created a new photo challenge! Can you tell I love photo challenges? This one is Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge (CMMC), and this week’s theme is, words ending in W. I went for the obvious winter choice, SNOW.

I’ve told the story of my first trip to the Grand Canyon on this blog before–recently, in fact, in my New Years Time Travel post late last month, so I won’t repeat it so soon. I will say that winter is a wonderful time to visit the Canyon. The North Rim is closed in the winter, but the more popular South Rim is open year-round (assuming the roads are passable, and they usually are). It’s MUCH less crowded in the winter, and if you’re lucky enough to be there after a fresh snowfall, it is stunning, as you can see from this photo. Even without snow, the winter light intensifies the colors. In the summer, unless you’re there at sunrise or sunset, the colors can look a bit washed-out under the intense sunlight.

I lived a little over an hour from the Canyon for over six years but, as is so often the case with attractions in our own backyards, I visited only occasionally. Now that I’m over 300 miles away, I miss it.