Grand Falls Arizona [Explored] - a photo on Flickriver

A few weekends ago I went up to the Grand Falls area with Ed Brice from CEBImagery.com. We originally thought it was going to be just a scouting mission for us as we had read that the falls were just barely flowing. Little did we know that from the time we had checked early that morning and the time we got up there mid afternoon the falls were flowing in a major way and it went from a scouting mission to a full one scramble to figure out the best ways to capture it.

I setup for a couple of different time-lapses while we were in the area. The first portion you see is on the way to the falls. You an see a little bit of the rain hitting the lens in the very beginning. There was some lightning off in the distance but it didn't last long and I unfortunately didn't capture any of it. The second portion is of course the Grand Falls. This was interesting to set up for as it was fairly windy and the water spray from the falls was getting every where. You wouldn't believe how dirty the slider, eMotimo, and camera & lens were after that lapse! The third and final portion when we were leaving the Grand Falls area. We spotted a lone tree up on a hill and thought that it would be perfect for a quick time-lapse and I think in the end it came out really well.

A little bit of information on Grand Falls from Wikipedia:
At 185 feet tall (56 meters), it is taller than Niagara Falls. It dumps snow melt or monsoon rain into the Little Colorado River below. It is famous for its extremely muddy flow which is a major contributor to Little Colorado River opacity. It is said that the waterfalls are analogous to flowing chocolate depending on the amount of water present. Heavy rains or snow melt will produce spectacular viewing, photography and sound whereas the scarcity of water will produce only trickles or no flow at all.

Grand Falls was formed when lava from nearby Merriam Crater flowed into the Little Colorado River creating a lava dam. The river was forced to reroute itself around the dam and Grand falls formed where the reroute rejoins its original course.

The waterfall is remote and no major paved roads access it. In fact the closest road, Grand Falls Road, crosses the floor of the Little Colorado River and at times during the year, only a 4 x 4 vehicle can traverse it. The falls are dormant for months of the year and reduces to only a drip. To access the falls a passenger car can reach the south side of the river. A 4 x 4 vehicle is required and only Navajo guides or experienced back country people are advised to take the road across the river.

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Equipment used:
Nikon D7100 14-24mm f/2.8
Nikon D800 24-70mm f/2.8
Dynamic Perceptions Stage One slider
eMotimo TB3 Black

Edited with:
Lighroom 4
LRTimelapse 2
Final Cut Pro X

Music by:
The Navajo Nation - Rain Dance
iTunes Link: itunes.apple.com/us/album/rain-dance/id515842682?i=515843052

***As with all my videos, I am in no way affiliated with the musicians featured in the videos and only a big fan of their work and like to put my images alongside their great works of art.***

Taken in: United States / Arizona (show map)

Taken on: August 19, 2013

Tags:

Grand Falls

Arizona

Flagstaff

Water

Waterfall

Chocolate Falls

Rain

Clouds

Cloudy

Time-lapse

Navajo Nation

Rain Dance

Summer

July

2013

Road Trip

Adventure

4x4

Off-roading

Nikon

D800

D7100

Really Right Stuff

Dynamic Perception Stage One

eMotimo TB3 Black

Adam Schmid

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