Wild Boyz Photography Photos of the wild
  • ABOUT
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
      • INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
    • PARTNERS
      • NONPROFIT PARTNERS
      • PRINTING PARTNERS
    • GET INVOLVED
    • CREATIVE COMMONS
    • CONTACT
  • GALLERIES
    • May Gallery 2025
    • April Gallery 2025
    • March Gallery 2025
    • February Gallery 2025
    • January Gallery 2025
    • Archive 2024
      • January Gallery 2024
      • February Gallery 2024
      • March Gallery 2024
      • April Gallery 2024
      • May Gallery 2024
      • June Gallery 2024
      • July Gallery 2024
      • August Gallery 2024
      • September Gallery 2024
      • October Gallery 2024
      • Best of 2024 Gallery
    • Archive 2023
      • January Gallery 2023
      • February Gallery 2023
      • March Gallery 2023
      • April Gallery 2023
      • May Gallery 2023
      • June Gallery 2023
      • July Gallery 2023
      • August Gallery 2023
      • September Gallery 2023
      • October Gallery 2023
      • November Gallery 2023
      • Best of 2023 Gallery
    • Archive 2022
      • January Gallery 2022
      • February Gallery 2022
      • March Gallery 2022
      • April Gallery 2022
      • May Gallery 2022
      • June Gallery 2022
      • July Gallery 2022
      • August Gallery 2022
      • September Gallery 2022
      • October Gallery 2022
      • November Gallery 2022
    • Archive 2021
      • January Gallery 2021
      • February Gallery 2021
      • March Gallery 2021
      • April Gallery 2021
      • May Gallery 2021
      • June Gallery 2021
      • July Gallery 2021
      • August Gallery 2021
      • September Gallery 2021
      • October Gallery 2021
      • November Gallery 2021
      • Best of 2021 Gallery
    • ARCHIVE 2020
      • January Gallery 2020
      • February Gallery 2020
      • March Gallery 2020
      • April Gallery 2020
      • May Gallery 2020
      • June Gallery 2020
      • July Gallery 2020
      • August Gallery 2020
      • September Gallery 2020
      • October Gallery 2020
      • November Gallery 2020
      • Best of 2020 Gallery
    • ARCHIVE 2019
      • April Gallery 2019
      • May Gallery 2019
      • June Gallery 2019
      • July Gallery 2019
      • August Gallery 2019
      • September Gallery 2019
      • October Gallery 2019
      • November Gallery 2019
  • GUEST GALLERIES
    • LIZ MURPHY – NUDIBRANCHS
    • BILL SHAMICK – TURTLES
    • NICK IVERS
    • KBSTRRC
    • MELANIE CHENEY
    • BRUCE LEANDER
    • RELEAF MICHIGAN
    • THE XERCES SOCIETY
    • ROCK HOLLOW WOODS
    • OCEAN DEFENDERS ALLIANCE
    • VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE
    • SYCAMORE LAND TRUST
    • CORA BERCHEM – SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB
    • BRUCE LEANDER – WILDFLOWER CENTER
    • ALEX NEUFELD – CRF
    • WARD 8 WOODS
  • BLOG
  • |
  • DONATE
  • STORE
  • CARDS
  • ABOUT
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
      • INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
    • PARTNERS
      • NONPROFIT PARTNERS
      • PRINTING PARTNERS
    • GET INVOLVED
    • CREATIVE COMMONS
    • CONTACT
  • GALLERIES
    • May Gallery 2025
    • April Gallery 2025
    • March Gallery 2025
    • February Gallery 2025
    • January Gallery 2025
    • Archive 2024
      • January Gallery 2024
      • February Gallery 2024
      • March Gallery 2024
      • April Gallery 2024
      • May Gallery 2024
      • June Gallery 2024
      • July Gallery 2024
      • August Gallery 2024
      • September Gallery 2024
      • October Gallery 2024
      • Best of 2024 Gallery
    • Archive 2023
      • January Gallery 2023
      • February Gallery 2023
      • March Gallery 2023
      • April Gallery 2023
      • May Gallery 2023
      • June Gallery 2023
      • July Gallery 2023
      • August Gallery 2023
      • September Gallery 2023
      • October Gallery 2023
      • November Gallery 2023
      • Best of 2023 Gallery
    • Archive 2022
      • January Gallery 2022
      • February Gallery 2022
      • March Gallery 2022
      • April Gallery 2022
      • May Gallery 2022
      • June Gallery 2022
      • July Gallery 2022
      • August Gallery 2022
      • September Gallery 2022
      • October Gallery 2022
      • November Gallery 2022
    • Archive 2021
      • January Gallery 2021
      • February Gallery 2021
      • March Gallery 2021
      • April Gallery 2021
      • May Gallery 2021
      • June Gallery 2021
      • July Gallery 2021
      • August Gallery 2021
      • September Gallery 2021
      • October Gallery 2021
      • November Gallery 2021
      • Best of 2021 Gallery
    • ARCHIVE 2020
      • January Gallery 2020
      • February Gallery 2020
      • March Gallery 2020
      • April Gallery 2020
      • May Gallery 2020
      • June Gallery 2020
      • July Gallery 2020
      • August Gallery 2020
      • September Gallery 2020
      • October Gallery 2020
      • November Gallery 2020
      • Best of 2020 Gallery
    • ARCHIVE 2019
      • April Gallery 2019
      • May Gallery 2019
      • June Gallery 2019
      • July Gallery 2019
      • August Gallery 2019
      • September Gallery 2019
      • October Gallery 2019
      • November Gallery 2019
  • GUEST GALLERIES
    • LIZ MURPHY – NUDIBRANCHS
    • BILL SHAMICK – TURTLES
    • NICK IVERS
    • KBSTRRC
    • MELANIE CHENEY
    • BRUCE LEANDER
    • RELEAF MICHIGAN
    • THE XERCES SOCIETY
    • ROCK HOLLOW WOODS
    • OCEAN DEFENDERS ALLIANCE
    • VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE
    • SYCAMORE LAND TRUST
    • CORA BERCHEM – SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB
    • BRUCE LEANDER – WILDFLOWER CENTER
    • ALEX NEUFELD – CRF
    • WARD 8 WOODS
  • BLOG
  • |
  • DONATE
  • STORE
  • CARDS
February 29, 2020  |  By Ben Ivers

Grand Canyon in Winter

Grand Canyon in Winter

As we drove up to the Grand Canyon, [we knew it would be a unique experience]

Before this trip, I had never been in Arizona during the winter. My last trip to the Grand Canyon had been with my family in July. It was one of the hottest experiences that I can remember. With that as my only context of this wonderful park, I traveled to the Grand Canyon in January. As we drove up to Grand Canyon Village, it was immediately evident that this was about to be a much different experience.

Donate

Before our journey into the canyon begun, the snow started to fall on the Grand Canyon Village. We decided to check in at the Bright Angel Lodge to inform some of the staff of our plans. We intended to hike down into the canyon as far as we felt reasonable and to turn around with enough time to make it back to the lodge by sunset. We had headlamps with us; however, we felt with the snow, it would be best to be out of the canyon by sundown.

We hiked from the Bright Angel Trailhead down into the canyon. At the start of our journey, it was lightly snowing. It had accumulated only an inch or two, but the snow was continuing. We made great time on the way into the canyon. As one would expect, it's quite fast when you're going down hill for miles upon miles. My expectation was that we would need about twice as much time to return back up as we needed going down. We hit the one third mark when we were about a mile past the Three Mile Resthouse.

It was at that point that I stopped to take this photo. We had descended deep enough into the canyon that it was no longer snowing. It turns out that in the winter, the interior of that canyon can be warmer than the rim. The apparent clouds in the photo is actually the snow coming down a few thousand feet above us! This was a unique view of the Grand Canyon that I never expected to find. We also got to experience it in solitude. No one else had decided to brave the trail that day.

We had descended deep enough into the canyon that it was no longer snowing

I had my friends grab onto my waist as I leaned over the canyon's edge

Before we headed back up the canyon, I made a mistake. I dropped the glasses that I had just recently purchased at the gift shop. They fell over the cliff of the canyon and out of sight. I thought to myself, "that's the last I'll see of those." I decided to peek over the edge to see how far they had dropped. To my luck and excitement, there they were just a few feet down. They were hanging on to a rock above a 1,000 foot drop! I of course decided to reach over to grab them. I had my friends grab onto my waist as I leaned over the canyon's edge. I grabbed my glasses, caught my breath from the adrenaline rush, and we started up the canyon.

On the way back up the canyon, we realized that the snow had really started coming down. By the time we reached the rim--just as the sun was setting--, there was over a foot of snow down on the ground. It was an absolutely amazing and unique experience. Being alone in the Grand Canyon is a rare event. Compound that with the fact that a foot of snow fell while we were hiking, and you have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I hope you've enjoyed this trip to the Grand Canyon.

Interested in another trip to the Grand Canyon? Check out last month's waterfall story when the Wild Boyz explored Havsu Falls in the Grand Canyon.

Havasu Falls
This Month's Gallery
arizona canyon Grand Canyon hiking snow storm weather winter

Article by Ben Ivers

Previous StoryWeather Secret Cove Beach
Next StoryFlash of Lightning Out at Sea

Related Articles

  • Whitetail Deer Shenandoah National Park Live
    Whitetail Deer Shenandoah National Park
  • Springdale Utah Sunset Live
    Springdale Utah

4 Comments

  1. Dave Bennett March 27, 2020
    Reply←

    Ya’ll let me know next time you’re in AZ, and I’ll take you to some whyld places!

  2. Dave Bennett March 27, 2020
    Reply←

    Ya’ll let me know next time you’re in AZ. I’ll take you to some whyld places!

  3. Pingback: Snow in the Grand Canyon

    […] Grand Canyon in Winter […]

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Hampton Beach Blizzard

    […] Grand Canyon in Winter […]

    Reply

Leave your comment Cancel Reply

(will not be shared)

Donate

About

Matt Hamas and Ben Ivers here. We are focused on fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of the environment. We endeavor to bring you a unique perspective of the wild. Our photos are being placed here for you to enjoy. Please feel free to download any of the photos for your personal use. We are currently seeking partners for printing and developing photos.

  facebook twitter instagram

Categories

Tags

b&w backyard beach big bend bird black and white butterfly camouflage coral desert diving fish florida flower forest guest Hawaii hiking indiana insect kayaking lake landscape light macro maine mountain national park new hampshire ocean reef scuba spider sun sunrise sunset texas tree turtle underwater vermont water weather weird white mountains

WHO WE ARE

  • OUR TEAM
  • PRINTING PARTNERS
  • PARTNERS
  • CONTACT
  • STORE

WHAT WE DO

  • GALLERY
  • GET INVOLVED
  • BLOG
  • OUR MISSION

TRANSPARENCY

GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency

EIN: 83-3161428

ABOUT US

Matt Hamas and Ben Ivers here. We are focused on fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of the environment. We endeavor to bring you a unique perspective of the wild. Our photos are being placed here for you to enjoy. Please feel free to download any of the photos for your personal use. We are currently seeking partners for printing and developing photos.

FIND US ELSEWHERE

FacebookTwitterInstagram
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License