Tuweep, Grand Canyon, North Rim

I have wanted to photograph Tuweep Overlook for a number of years and in early April I traveled with a friend down there. We drove down the Pipe Springs road, 60 miles of arduous rutted gravel and returned via the Trumbull Wilderness road into Colorado City based on Laurent Martres recommendation in his book, “Photgraphing the Southwest” volume II. While this road was a lot smoother there are still some surprises, which suggest you keep your speed reasonable. Also it is not recommended in rainy weather. The last five miles beyond the ranger station is also slower but still 2WD accesssible. There are 11 first come, first served campsites a mile away from the rim.

The overlook was first photographed in 1872 by J. K. Hillers and undoubtedly done by thousands of photographers since then. There are several points to shoot and after scouting several locations, we picked the one near the day use area.

We were the only photographers there the following morning so there was no jockeying for position. I shot on Velvia 100 and Provia 100 using a split neutral density to drop the sky light, exposing plenty of film.