This post is about the second leg of my US holiday from May 2017. this part of the trip was about exploring few of the famous canyons that East Coast of America had to offer. The day began with a trip to the airport to pick up the rented car. I had booked Jeep Cherokee but only Jeep Compass was available. We left Las Vegas around the afternoon and soon hit the boring straight highways..
[click on photos to enlarge]

our steed..

our first stop on the trip was Bryce Canyon National Park. the canyons here are shaped like talk columns called hoodoos. these are formed by water seeping into the rocks and repeated melting and freezing. this expansion of water cracks the rocks creating windows. gradually the top of the window falls leaving columns. so some places have columns, others have gates and windows.
before we entered the park..

the rock gates..

the entrance of the park.

one can drive along the edge of the canyons and stop at the various view points

other views of the hoodoos..

the road along the rim of the canyon

the black birch canyon

this point is called the natural bridge

the best view was from this view point. the inspiration point

the map of bryce canyon..

next day we headed to Zion Canyon.
on the way we came across Checkerboard Mesa, the mountain named so because of the criss cross pattern on the rock face

the red stones of the Zion Park..

even the roads had red hue

mountain called the East Temple..

Cars are not allowed inside the Zion Canyon. One can park outside and take the free shuttle. But finding parking is a pain and we had to go all the way till Springdale village to find an empty spot.
the whole canyon is split by a river and the route along the river is called the Zion scenic drive.

the shuttle stops at the designated stops and from there one can do various treks, each having different difficulty level.

the canyons are rich in flora and fauna..

The most intesting trek in Zion is the Narrows trek. the trek is basically a walk along the river between the 2 mountains.

infact at most places, the trek is the river. be prepared to get drenched..

some places the water flow was pretty strong. walking in the water was very tiring. one should carry lot of drinking water and also some snacks..

when we got back from Narrows, we still had enough sunlight for another short trek. we decided to do the Emerald Pool Trek which was graded easy.
the trek started with an uphill walk along a path cut in the rocks

then we climbed a few rocky steps and reached the beautiful pool just as the sun was setting

one could climb further to see the pools situated at higher elevations but we were tired and also it was getting late. so we came back down and headed towards the car. glimpse of the Zion Canyon as we left the park

the map of the Zion Canyon

next day morning we had booked a tour of the world's most photographed canyon: the Antelope Canyon. it is a narrow slot canyon in which lights enters from shafts on the top. depending on the angle of sun, the light falls on different parts of the canyon creating a beautiful play of colors and light. the tours are run by the native Navajo tribes. these need to be booked in advance as there are limited slots per day and sometimes the waiting is months long. most tours start from the nearby town of Page. i booked the Chief Tsosie's tour which started from a parking near the canyon. they collected all the tourist in the parking and then drove us to the canyon in jeeps.
the entrance of the canyon

the narrow canyon

there are 2 types of tours: a normal tour and a photography tour. in normal tour the group size is large and tripods are not allowed. so the small space gets really crowded and its difficult to take picture in low light without a trpiod. in photography tour the group size is very small and the guide blocks the other tourists to give you a clean shot at clicking the different points in the canyon. but the charge for the photography tours is double. i would only advise these for serious photographers interested in long exposure photography.
the crowd in the canyon

the play of colors and light

the clear view of canyon thanks to our guide

the beautiful shafts of light

most shots of colors and lights

another light shaft..

light and sand..

after the tour of the Antelope Canyon and having clicked almost 600pics, i was really hungry. i drove to Page and grabbed some food at the restaurant in Walmart. my family had booked a later tour and till their tour got over, i waited at the Walmart. Page also has a marina from where on can take a boat tour on the outside of Antelope Canyon.
when my family returned, we left Page and headed to out next stop: the Horseshoe Bend.
again there we had to walk in the heat which was pretty tiring. as we reached the ledge, we saw the river bending around the canyon

from Horseshoe bend we headed towards the grand-dad of all canyons, the Grand Canyon. some more rock formations on the way..

we were going to spend the night in the Grand Canyon Village. the entry to the park

as soon as we entered, we rushed to the nearest view point. and we were just in time to catch a dramatic sunset..

and what beautiful sight it was..

as the sky changed colors from yellow to red

to orange..

next day morning we went to see the canyon. there is a road along the rim of the canyon with view points along it.

here also one can take the free shuttle from one view point to other. it is also possible to walk around the rim of the canyon and see all the view points. we mostly took the shuttle, walking some of the distance between the view points which were close.

as we walked along the rim

view from different view points

all viewing platforms were full of tourists

what really inspires awe is the sheer size of the canyon and the amount of rock that has been cut by the rivers. imagine how big the river must have been at one time.

the final point

the panoramic view of the canyon.. we even spotted a 2 Condors flying but sadly were not able to capture in our cameras..

Grand Canyon can be approached from north side and south side. we can come from the south.
map of the Grand Canyon South Rim..

from Grand Canyon we drove back to Las Vegas.. after spending a few more days
there we hired another car. this time we went grand and hired a monstrous GMC.
in this huge car we drove from Vegas to Los Angeles, the last destination of our trip. Driving the car through traffic packed roads of LA and finding the drop off point was a task in itself.

Some pics from LA.. Santa Monica Pier

The Griffith Observatory which is situated on top of a hill with a great view of the city and the Hollywood sign..

the observatory.

it has an exhihibition as well as a light & sound show.

the cityscape..
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