As the California condors ride the wind currents searching for food, they sometimes fly north from the Colorado River, soaring higher and higher as they cross in succession the Paleozoic cliffs of Grand Canyon, the Mesozoic cliffs of Zion Canyon and the Cenozoic cliffs of Bryce Canyon. Observing this same series of cliffs from the ground in the 1870’s, geologist Clarence Dutton referred to them as the “Grand Staircase”. Starting at the top of the staircase, we will photograph the “treads” and “risers” of each of these National Parks as we step our way down through different ecosystems and different rock layers.

On the “tread” of Bryce Canyon National Park we’ll be able to photograph a variety of summer flowers in the midst of an old growth forest of ponderosa pine, spruce, fir and aspen. The “riser” is composed of alternating bands of pink and white rock that have been weathered into pillars in a myriad of fantastic shapes—“hoodoos”. These hoodoos look luminescent in the predawn light, and their appearance changes continuously with the interplay of shadows and highlights as the sun rises. In Zion National Park, we’ll photograph a tread of rounded slickrock domes with scattered juniper and piñon pine and a riser of shear sandstone in colors of orange, white, and blue/black, cut by the narrows of the Virgin River gorge. At Grand Canyon National Park’s Toroweap Overlook the black volcanic cone of Vulcan’s Throne dominates the tread, while creeping to the edge of the tread reveals a gut-wrenching view down the riser’s 2,800 foot vertical drop to the Colorado River.

The class carpools to the various shooting locations on a variety of roads, a few of which are unpaved and require high-clearance/4 wheel drive vehicles (call for details).