Update – 2023 as of this writing the Navajo closed entry to this location due to the disrespect and abuse of the land. Please check with the Navajo Park Service to see if they have opened it up again before trespassing on their land.
Grand Falls nicknamed Chocolate Falls due to the color of the water is located on Navajo Nation Land. This is not a US or state park so please be respectful of the Navajo land. Most of the year this part of the Little Colorado doesn’t flow however our monsoon season was very good this year and the falls were flowing very strong. It was fun to see them with all that water flow. I had been here a couple of other times and took photos from the top but I decided this time I wanted to get a picture from the bottom. For the shot I did a long exposure because it wanted it to look more like chocolate milk than muddy water. It was more than a little muddy at the bottom but worth the hike to get the new photo perspectives. It was raining on/off and on while I was there which brought some interest to the sky but also a chance of flash flooding.
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Most of the year the waterfall is not flowing. It really only flows after a good now melt or monsoon season. A photo of the waterfall during a drier time of the year is blow.
Please note this location is very remote, the road are not marked may be in very bad conditions depending on the weather. I did not need 4-wheel drive for this trip but you may want it if the roads get muddy. During certain times of the year if you run into an issue you may have to self-rescue as the cell coverage is spotty at best. I have been there when no one else is there and also when there are lots of people.
The trail in the image starts from the top parking lot. You can walk down the road and then to the trail. If you have a car with high clearance you could drive closer to the trail head. Hiking from the upper parking lot I think will take about 1/2 hour to hike down to the river. Most of the trail is not too bad and what you expect from a back country trail however there is one location pictures above to the right that requires bouldering. You will have to scramble up/down this section with your hands and feet. Once you scramble down from the one bad section the rest if fairly easy. I took the next photo after I climbed down the rocks. It shows the trailer leading the rest of the way down to the river.
It still is a bit rocky and can be very muddy/slippery so you will want to watch where you walk. It is something to be down below and feel the pounding of the water as it drives down from above.
This shot from above is looking down on me while I was photos of the waterfall from the bottom. It was taken by my sister (also a photographer) What you can’t see form this image is the slippery ankle deep mud I had to walk through to get to the river. Also what you can’t see is the amount the water was rising. The rock I was standing on did not have water running behind me when I walked over to it. I only took a few photos from this rock and I noticed it was starting to get covered behind me. After a couple of minutes I had to jump over the water to get back off off the rock. This was my first indication it must be raining fairly well up river. Flash floods are not something to take chances with. If you notice water rising and/or learn of rain above your location you need to get out of the area. River/creek beds even dry ones are extremely dangerous.
These were the two images I was able to capture before I had to leave the rock and head to higher ground for safety. You can see the difference in the sky between as the storm came closer. With in a few minutes it got much darker.
I chose an exposure of about 1/2 a second to smooth the water. I did this to make it look more like flowing chocolate milk. While both of these images had about the same camera settings the first one is a slightly brighter because the sun was still out.
This darker image was taken the storm cloud started to move over. It cut out the amount of sunlight and started sprinkling. This is about the time I noticed the water level rising on the rock I was standing on so I decided it was time to leave.
This next photo is taken from the side of the river bank and offered a more straight on view to the falls. I stood back from the river a little to include the bright green plant life. I though about the idea of calling this image Chocolate Salad due to the green plant life but decided in the end to use Greens in stead of salad because I though it was easier to understand. If you walk down to the bottom be prepared to get very muddy. The ground is a soft silt of mud and the falls creates a mist of mud. See the second image below.
The Muddy Mist image (below) I took further to the right of where I took the Chocolate Greens image and closer to the waterfall itself. If you look in about midway through the Chocolate Greens photo and to the far right you will start to see the mud mound which is where I took the next image. This is where I got the muddiest. Between the muddy mist from the waterfall clinging to my clothes and skin and the slippery silty mud I was trekking through I came away muddier than I ever have been. Looking back this probably wasn’t a great idea for my camera. I tired to cover it but the mist is so thick it gets everywhere anyway. Also anyone who has breathing issues going down may not be a good idea as you will be inhaling the muddy mist. Believe me it looks much more enjoyable in a photo that it was in real life.
After it started raining I decided being in the bottom of this canyon was not safe as it could flash flood fairly easy. Movement while down there must be done very deliberate as the mud can be slippery and you may fall if you go too fast. I played it safe and started working my way back up the hill.
The image to the left is a small portion of the waterfall. It is hard to tell from the image but those rocks that have broken away are the size of cars. I titled this image Chocolate Chunks due to all the dark rocks in the waterfall.
If you decide to stay late you may be able to see the stars sweep over the sky above the falls. This is a special treat however if you are not used to driving unmarked possibly poor roads after dark I don’t suggest you attempt this.
I will leave you with one last photo. I took this last image late into the night. For this image I used a very long exposure. This caused the camera to record the star trails above the falls. I hope you enjoyed my blog post and if you are interested in purchasing any images feel free to reach out or visit my online store.
