This was my second trip out to Horseshoe Bend.

We timed our drive back from Yellowstone to arrive at the Arizona border at Sunrise for this shoot... Well, we overstayed our visit at dinner to watch the end of the Bears slaughter the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football! So we arrived as the sun was rising, after the 3/4 mile walk out to the rim, and then setting up, I got close to the shot I wanted.

A little more daylight than I was looking for, but I'm happy with this shot. Much clearer sky's then when we were here in June, with the haze and smoke from all the forest fires.
This was an extremely bad forest fire year in Arizona.

I do prefer this shot with the sky being visible for a number of reasons.
For one, the viewer can then see this is really a jutting peninsula vs. an island in the river.
I'll get back there for a true sunrise set of shot someday. For now, Enjoy this moment!