I once drove through a snowstorm to give a tour at the Grand Canyon.
That makes it sound like a bigger deal than it actually was — fortunately, it was just a dusting, not too daunting — and yes, this is a photo I stopped to take as the storm broke.
It was the spring of 2014, and I drove a 14-passenger van from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon South Rim every work day. Some days I had guests with me the whole way, others I drove the van empty to pick up at Tusayan, just outside the park gate.
On this day, the van was empty as I climbed up to 8,000 feet on Highway 180 as it crosses the western flank of the San Francisco Peaks and a rogue storm laid down a thin blanket of snow.
I learned to always keep my camera in the back on the van (just in case something special happened), and on this day it did.
The clouds began to part just as I passed Slate Mountain, one of the last stands of Ponderosa Pine before the highway drops off a series of lava flows and descends into the Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands.
Surely I was just above the snow level when I snapped this picture, for just a few miles down the road — and all the way out to the Grand Canyon — the woods and grasslands saw not a flake of snow.
I was lucky to catch the storm break just at the right time, with the forest still dusted. Sometimes a little luck is a key ingredient to a good photo.
And it sure did impress my tour guests when I told the story to my guests, braving the snow to get to them. I got good tips that day — lucky all the way around.
With that, I wish you all a lucky Tuesday. Lord knows we all could use it.
-Jake
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Awesome narrative!