Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

I first came to the bend at midnight. I'd never been before, so when I arrived in the parking lot I had no idea where I was meant to go or how far I was meant to walk. It was so dark that I couldn't even see a trail. After stumbling around in the dark for a good five minutes, my eyes grew accustomed to the starlight and I found the start of the trail. As I came to the top of the hill, I ran into a couple taking long exposures. Naively, I asked whether I had made it to the bend. They laughed and told me I wasn't even halfway there yet, but to be careful following the trail in the dark, because there were no signs to warn you about the edge. They said that the trail led right to the edge of a cliff and then just suddenly stopped. As I followed the light of my phone for the next kilometre, I could feel my adrenaline building. About two hundred metres out, I met another couple, walking back up the trail: they reiterated that I should exercise extreme caution. When I finally reached the edge, I didn't really understand what they had been talking about. I took my photographs and left. Six hours later, I was back for sunrise. When I reached the edge in the light, I realised what they had been talking about. I hadn't been able to appreciate the thousand foot drop in the dark, but in the light it was abundantly clear how easy it would be to fall. The view was spectacular though. So spectacular in fact that we came back for sunset too.