Court of the Patriarchs
The Court of the Patriarchs has become my new favorite place to go for a bit of solace and quietude. Though easily found, it doesn't get much attention from the visitors ... for which I'm glad. There are plenty of other, cooler trails and spots for them. I'll keep this one for myself.
On more than one occasion, I've traipsed up here to do an outdoor yoga session and sometimes I come just to sit and enjoy the scenery. On my most recent visit, I brought my camera to shoot a few things that caught my eye on previous stays.
While in the meadow, you're almost completely surrounded by the cliff walls on three sides. What I noticed is that in more than any other area in the canyon, the cliff faces and peaks are more different than each other than in any other part of the canyon. Shift your gaze a few hundred feet to the left or right of any particular peak and you'll see something that looks like it was carved by a different artist. Yes, many of the colors are similar but because of the vagaries of shadows and sunlight direction, the shades of orange and red easily morph into something new and different based on the angle of the sun or shade.
You'd look dumb doing it, but if you're to stand in that meadow and turn in slow circles, I suspect that you'd have a different show with every rotation.
