A full moon rises over the Nankoweap granaries inside the Grand Canyon. The granaries (illuminated with a distant laser light during a long exposure), were created for food storage by early inhabitants around A.D. 1100 and serve as powerful reminders of the native influence throughout the Grand Canyon that continues today. There are 11 Native American tribes that live in and around the iconic National Park that is up to 6000 vertical feet deep in places and exposes a map of the planet’s geological history.

I created this image with years of planning and luck to get a permit and a campsite that all aligned with good weather and the cycle of the full moon.

I have since hiked the length of the canyon, some 750-miles below its rims from east to west, and have never been able to replicate the timing of this image

Coloradan Pete McBride has spent two decades studying the world with a camera. A self-taught photographer, filmmaker, writer, and public speaker, he has traveled on assignment to over 75 countries for the National Geographic Society, Smithsonian, Google, The Nature Conservancy and spoken on stages for TEDX, The World Economic Forum, USAID, Nat Geo Live and more.

Follow Pete on Instagram @pedromcbride.