What Is Wotans Throne/Cape Royal And Where Is It?
Wotans Throne is a massive rock formation that is seen from the Cape Royal overlook inside the Grand Canyon. Wotan was a supreme German deity. The rock formation was named for Wotan. Cape Royal is an overlook along the park road that winds around along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
From the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, it is about a 45 minute drive to the Cape Royal Overlook. Cape Royal offers stunning views of the colorful rock layers that make up Wotans Throne. Cape Royal is a popular spot for both sunrise and sunset. If you wan to get there for sunrise, you’ll have to get up REALLY early to make the 45 minute drive there. If the Grand Canyon Lodge and the campground are full or out of your budget and you have to stay outside the park, you will have to get up SUPER EARLY to get there for sunrise.
If you are out in this area, you may want to try to incorporate The Wave, Buckskin Gulch, Horseshoe Bend, Upper Antelope Canyon and other nearby awesome sights.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is open seasonally in the spring, summer and fall and closed during the winter.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph Wotans Throne From Cape Royal?
If you want to travel to the Cape Royal Overlook to see Wotans Throne, you’ll need to get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is broken up into the North Rim and the South Rim plus some sections on Native American land. Though the hike from the North Rim to the South rim is a mere 24 miles, the drive from the one rim to the other is about 210 miles and about a 4 hour drive. Unless you plan to do A LOT of driving you’ll need to pick the North Rim or the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for your trip.
If you are flying out to the area for your Grand Canyon North Rim, you’ll probably want to fly into the St. George Utah airport or the Las Vegas airport. Once you get there, you’ll need to get a rental car to make your way over to the North Rim. If you are just going to the Grand Canyon North Rim and other sights accessible from paved roads then any rental car will do. If you’re lucky enough to have permits for The Wave, plan to hike Buckskin Gulch or other sights along the road dirt and clay roads in the back country of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona then you may be well advised to get something high clearance with AWD or 4WD.
Whether you are flying in or driving the whole way, you’ll need to figure out where to stay in the area. The most popular places are the Grand Canyon Lodge, and the North Rim Campground. If you plan to do any sunrise photography at the North Rim it will be MUCH easier to do it if you stay at one of these two locations.
If they are full or out of your price range in the case of the lodge, there are plenty of other places to stay outside the park. The Demotte Campground is a forest service campground about 15 miles outside the park and the Jacob Lake Campground about 45 miles from the entrance to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
If you just want a place to pull over and go to sleep you can save yourself the campground fees and the ridiculous reservation fees imposed Recreation.gov by sleeping in the National Forest that borders the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There isn’t much in the way of facilities at those two campgrounds to justify the increasing prices, especially the Demotte Campground.
Once all that is taken care of you’re ready to head off to Cape Royal to see and photograph Wotans Throne from Cape Royal. If you are going midday, there are lots of other overlooks at which to stop and you should go check out some of those on your way to Cape Royal.
The no traffic driving time from around the North Rim visitor center to Cape Royal is about 45 minutes. From the Demotte Campground it is about an hour and 15 minutes. From Jacob Lake you are looking at about 2 hours. You’ll probably want to add on about 10-15 minutes to hike the easy trail from the parking area out to Cape Royal.
Once there, you’ll have an awesome view of Wotans Throne and lots of other views looking out over the Grand Canyon from the North Rim.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of Wotans Throne At Cape Royal?
If you wan to get a wall art quality photo of Wotans Throne from Cape Royal, the most important thing is to get there during cool lighting. Most likely this will be at sunrise or sunset when the skies have a good chance to turn fiery. Storm clouds can make for good photo opportunities too but if lightning is in the area, it may be advisable not to be out there.
Photographing Wotans Throne is a pretty easy shot. You’ll just need to get there, stake out your spot and wait for the light show in the morning or evening to begin. There are other views into the canyon from that area. Chances are you’ll be able to come away with other cool views looking out over the canyon.
Sunset is the easiest time to get there with the potential of cool lighting if you want to get some sleep while you are there. Sunrise will probably be less crowded because it does take a fairly long drive to get there.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing Wotans Throne From Cape Royal?
When you head to Cape Royal to photograph Wotans Throne you’ll want to have a good DSLR or mirrorless camera. A standard 24-105 lens paired with that camera should do the trick. Wotans Throne if off in the distance but quite large. Depending on how much of a foreground you want to include in your photos, you may want to bring a wider angle lens out with you. For a photo like the one in this article that wouldn’t be necessary.
If you are into more abstract photos of the colors and textures of the rock formations you may want to bring longer lenses with you.
If you want to be able to make absolutely HUGE prints of Wotans Throne you could take a panoramic setup with you and stitch some individual shots together to make a huge file that would be limited only by the number of individual frames you can cram into the scene. For photographing the Grand Canyon in general, there are plenty of other places a panoramic setup could come in handy since the landscape of the Grand Canyon is so vast.
If you’ll be shooting at sunrise or sunset when the light is low, you’ll probably want to have a solid tripod to keep the camera nice and steady. Pair the tripod with a cable release and your photos should turn out really sharp.
I always take a circular polarizer with me everywhere. The Grand Canyon is a great place to have one as it can help you get deep blue skies, tone down glare or reflections, or enhance the brilliant colors that make up the Grand Canyon.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Print Of Wotans Throne At Cape Royal?
When I was wandering around the Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah back in 2013, I went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for the first time. I’ve honestly never been a huge fan of the Grand Canyon. It’s a big beautiful hole in the ground but compared to Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton or the Canadian Rockies, it just doesn’t compare in my opinion. That being said, there are cool photos to be had at Grand Canyon.
During the first time I went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I was still learning my way around the area and the ins and outs of forest service and BLM camping. I stayed at the Demotte Campground and drove into the Grand Canyon North Rim for a couple days.
When I was back in the area once again in 2015 motivated by another permit for The Wave, I decided to pay another visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Before I went down to the Grand Canyon I hiked out to The Wave. Instead of heading back up to highway 89 from House Rock Valley Road, I drove south and slept in my car on House Rock Valley Road heading down toward the Grand Canyon. The lower portion of the that road was supposed to be in better shape. It was. There was nobody down there. It was a nice peaceful night away from everything.
In the morning when I woke up I continue down the road and headed, headed toward Jacob Lake and then down highway 67 toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I stopped at the resort at Jacob Lake for a shower and continued on down to the North Rim. As usual I took my time, and got to the Grand Canyon pretty late. There were no campsites available at the Grand Canyon and I had no interest in pending $20/night at the Demotte Campground again.
I stayed at the Grand Canyon Lodge and hung out in the main area till after sunset and then drove back out to the forest service area. I drove up some forest service road, parked and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning I got up moderately early but well after the early sunrise and headed down to the park. The first stop was the Grand Canyon Lodge to pick up some more information about the park and check out the book store. With that plus the park map and park brochure in hand, I set out to check out the hiking trails around the lodge, drive the roads and check out the various overlooks.
After a full day of hiking and scenic overlooks the park service folks suggested Cape Royal as a great spot to go for sunset. About an hour before sunset, I drove up to the Cape Royal Parking area, grabbed all the camera gear and headed out to the Cape Royal Overlook to photograph Wotans Throne at sunset.
The skies were partly cloudy and never caught fire. The cloud cover did add some texture to the skies. The sun shone down through breaks in the cloud cover and brightened the colored layers of Wotans Throne. Way back in 2015 the crowds at the Grand Canyon North Rim were still pretty light. It was easy to stake out a spot and move around to different spots as the sun set.
Once the light was just about gone, I headed back to the car and drove an hour or so back out to the Forest Service area adjacent to the Grand Canyon, parked on a forest service road and drifted off to a sweaty sleep. I spent the next couple days following roughly the same routine and sleeping out in Forest Service land.
What Formats Is This Wotans Throne Wall Art Print Available?
This Wotan Throne wall art print is available on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. It comes in sizes up to 40×60 inches. If you’ll be hanging it in an area with diffused lighting, any surface on any of these materials will look great. A matte finish on paper or canvas will have a more subtle classic look while a metallic or glossy finish will be more vibrant. If you’ll be hanging it in an area with bright direct lighting a canvas or paper print with a matte finish will likely look best and not reflect the bright lighting.
If you are looking to decorate the bathroom, a nice high quality shower curtain could make a great addition. The shower curtain can be complimented with matching bath towels for a complete bathroom look. If you are looking for something to add to the living room or bedroom, a Sherpa fleece blanket makes and excellent and practical and can be complimented with matching throw pillows.
If you need a replacement foe the plastic shopping bags that seem to be vanishing from stores across the country, a high quality canvas tote bag can make a great choice. They come in a variety of sizes and the large one can make great beach bags too. If you’ve got a new Apple or Samsung cel phone, why not decorate it with an awesome view from the Grand Canyon?
Finally, you can order this image on a jigsaw puzzle. Choose from a 500 or 1,000 piece puzzle. The puzzles come in cardboard boxes withe image on the outside of the box for reference while working on the puzzle. The jigsaw puzzles make great birthday or holiday gifts and sometimes sell out during the lead up to the holidays.
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