"My" Billboard!

Yesterday as I drove towards Duluth from Minneapolis I was finally able to see the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino billboard, which has one of my photos of Lake Superior on it. The billboard has been up for several months, but this was the first chance that I had to see it. The picture of the billboard isn't the greatest (its a little fuzzy), as I just snapped it through the windshield as I drove by, but you get the idea. Its pretty exciting to see my photo up there! Here is the image that was used:

http://travisnovitsky.smugmug.com/gallery/6332258_Zj93j#399560384_4ErTU

So, the next time you're driving up towards Duluth on Interstate 35, the billboard is between Forest Lake and Hinckley.... keep your eyes open for it!

Last night's presentation at the spring meeting for the Duluth-Superior Camera Club went very well. Last fall I had been asked by Brian R. to do a slide show and a talk sometime about my photos for the club. As it turns out, the timing for the meeting worked out great as a "bookend" for my trip to the southwest. My slide show and talk concentrated on my newest images from the trip and I wrapped things up by showing a few images from the north shore, to show what it is that always brings me back to the area and what makes the area "home". After the show a number of members from the club came up to me to thank me for coming and tell me how much they enjoyed my work. We also talked "shop" about cameras and the art of image-making. I ran into some friends that I already knew and made some new friends. It was a great evening, one that I enjoyed and I hope the members of the club enjoyed it as much as I did.

The Badlands

I have been to the Badlands in South Dakota a few times now, and with each visit I enjoy the area even more. My previous trips were just quick "through-visits" on my way home from other travels out west. This time, however, I was able to spend almost two full days in the area. I arrived in Badlands National Park after spending the day traveling through the Pine Ridge Reservation and visiting Wounded Knee. The whole area is beautiful and I can only imagine what it must look like in the summer, when things are a little 'greener'. The grasses everywhere were still quite brown, nothing had really greened up yet.



As I arrived in the Badlands I started noticing a lot of standing water in the low-lying areas along the side of the road, and some patches of snow here and there. When I got to the park's visitor center the staff informed me that they had quite a bit of moisture in the past couple of weeks, in the form of both rain and snow. Consequently, there were lots of puddles and in some places larger pools of water. In the larger pools, choruses of frogs were croaking and singing to their heart's content. These pockets of water really made the visit interesting for photographs, as I was able to make several exposures of the hills of the badlands reflected in these pools of water.

While making the image above, about half an hour after sunset, a car pulled up alongside mine on the side of the road. A voice came from the window... "Great spot, huh?" I turned and voiced my agreement, then got up (I had been sitting on the ground with my tripod set low to get the above shot) and walked over to the car to chat some more. The friendly voice in the car belonged to Carl Johnson, who is currently the artist-in-residence at Badlands National Park. As it turned out, he's a photographer, too. He lives in Anchorage, Alaska but explained that he was a guide for a while in the Boundary Waters, up the Gunflint Trail. I said "No kidding... I'm from Grand Portage." To which he responded "I used to work as a security guard in the Grand Portage Casino during the winter, in between my summer guiding job." What a small world! It turns out he worked at the casino back when I was managing the marina in Grand Portage. At any rate, we had a nice visit and we swapped website information. If you'd like to visit Carl's site, go to http://www.carljohnsonphoto.com/ and if you'd like to see his work from the Badlands, click on the "Blog" link at the top of his main website page. He has some nice work, and its worth a bit of your time to visit his site.

(Above: My car's shadow on the painted hills of the Badlands....)

Tomorrow, I head for home. The Badlands marks the last of my "tourist" stops for this trip. I am staying in Duluth tomorrow night, and tuesday night I am scheduled to give a slide show and a talk about my trip and my photography in general to the Duluth-Superior Camera Club. Hopefully they will like what I have to share!

Grosvenor Arch and Cottonwood Canyon Road

As my time on this trip nears its end, I've been reviewing many of the images that I've made throughout the trip and in so doing realized that I left out sharing the spectacular Grosevnor Arch with you! I visited this arch about a week ago, on the same day that I hiked the Willis Creek narrows. Grosvenor Arch is located down the Cottonwood Canyon Road, which goes right through the heart of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Its a little odd visiting this arch as Cottonwood Canyon Road is a fairly rough road with lots of washboard bumps and rocks, yet when you arrive at Grosvenor Arch you are treated to a nice picnic area with toilet facilities and a paved walkway leading up to the arch.

Since my visit to the arch was in the middle of the afternoon, I was thankful to have some nice clouds in the sky to make the mid-day photos a bit more interesting. After photographing the arch I continued to drive down Cottonwood Canyon Road, admiring the scenery along the way. I snapped a few images along the road, then turned around when I was roughly half-way through the road (about 23 miles). I would have continued all the way through the road, but I wanted to be back at Bryce Canyon that night to shoot the sunset.

As I write this update I am in Wall, South Dakota after a drive through the Pine Ridge Reservation and an afternoon/evening visit to Badlands National Park. I am working my way back home with mixed feelings. After spending a few weeks on the road its nice to be heading home, but at the same time I don't want the trip to end. At least I can take comfort in the knowledge that not long after I return home flowers will be blooming and the trees will be budding, and summer will soon be here! Look for a post about the Badlands to come in another day or two....

(Above and below: Some of the scenery along Cottonwood Canyon Road)

Arches National Park

Ah, Arches.... what was supposed to be a main focus of this trip ended up being just a short visit. I was originally planning on visiting Arches FIRST on this trip, and spending a few days there. Plans changed when I found out that Moab was hosting the "Easter Jeep Safari". I like to avoid crowds, so I changed my plan and decided to hit Arches and Moab on the tail end of my trip, after the madness of the Jeep Safari had departed. I stayed in Moab for two nights, and spent only half of my time in Arches... the other half in Canyonlands.



(Above: Note the person at the base of the arch, for a sense of scale as to how big Delicate Arch is!)

I was discouraged when, on Thursday morning at about 10:00, I arrived at the park entrance only to find a long line of about 40 cars waiting to get into the park. Eventually I made it in, only to find that parking at almost every trailhead was non-existent... all the spots were already taken, with overflow spilling down both sides of the road in both directions. There was one thing that I knew I had to do, though... and that was hike to Delicate Arch, easily the most famous arch in the park. I wasn't going to do that in the middle of the day, so I left the park for a while and came back to hike to the arch at sunset.



When I arrived at Delicate Arch there weren't any clouds to make a nice photogenic sky, but the arch was bathed in a beautiful glow from the setting sun. There were about 25 other people already there, most of them just enjoying the view, but a few were taking pictures. One thing is for certain, its practically impossible to enjoy the golden hour at Delicate Arch by yourself. Its just too popular. However, I found that if you wait 10 minutes after the sun goes down, everyone is gone! I stayed for about an hour after sunset, debating whether or not to hang around and make some star trail images of the arch. I decided against that when some clouds started to roll in from the east. So, I headed back to the car. I had my headlamp with me, but thinking about the words of Edward Abbey which I had read the night before, I chose not to use it. I still had enough light to see by anyway.



Edward Abbey wrote in his book "Desert Solitaire", which is about his time as a ranger at Arches National Park, before it was "discovered":

"There's another disadvantage to the use of the flashlight: like many other mechanical gadgets it tends to separate a man from the world around him. If I switch it on my eyes adapt to it and I can see only the small pool of light which it makes in front of me; I am isolated. Leaving the flashlight in my pocket where it belongs, I remain a part of the environment I walk through and my vision though limited has no sharp or definite boundary."

I realized this long ago, which is why my headlamp is only used when absolutely necessary. And tonight, it was not absolutely necessary.



(Above: The famous "Balanced Rock")

Arches is a very popular park these days... and I couldn't help but wonder as I fought the crowds what it would have been like to visit the park during the early days, when Abbey was a ranger here and the park had no paved roads and no crowds. I struggle with the "busy-ness" of some parks. I do like that most people, regardless of their ability, are able to visit some of these natural treasures. However, it is this idea of easy access that also works to strip away some of the sense of appreciation that people have for these areas. If they don't have to work hard to see it, they won't appreciate it as much. To quote the newsletter from Arches National Park: "Can't decide what to do? Well, forget the schedule and stay another day. If you try to see too much on your vacation, you end up really 'seeing' nothing."

Canyonlands National Park

If you like the canyon country but the thought of the insane crowds at the Grand Canyon turns your stomach, then Canyonlands National Park is for you! Featuring canyon vistas no less impressive than those of the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands is a heavenly park. Near Moab, Utah the park is easily accessible by car. However, if you want to fully appreciate this park (something I have yet to do) you need to spend at least a few days here and explore the park away from the main road. Canyonlands is a vast park with many things to see, but it takes time to see them and appreciate them. On my next trip to the southwest I hope to spend at least a few days here.

Above: These 2 images are actually from Dead Horse Point State Park, a short detour along the same road that brings you into Canyonlands. Dead Horse Point is a beautiful place with impressive canyon views to both the east and the west, making it a fantastic location for either sunrise or sunset shooting.

(Above and below: A sampling of some of the views available from the main park road.)

Valley of the Gods

What a strange day! When I left the motel this morning I immediately noticed this strange sort of haze throughout the entire sky, which at first made me think of a forest fire. Then I realized that it was dust being kicked up into the atmosphere. It was incredibly windy all day, and all day these surreal skies kept me company. As the day neared its end the sky took on an even more eerie glow. Eventually as I approached Moab, Utah it started to snow a bit which seemed to knock the dust out of the sky. By the time I arrived in Moab the sky had partially cleared, and the strange haze was almost entirely gone.



These first few images were taken along the highway between Blanding, Utah and Moab.



Below: The dust storm at Goosenecks State Park, Utah. Goosenecks State Park features a series of bends in the San Juan River. I couldn't even see the bends in their entirety because of all the dust in the air.

Above and below: The dust storm in Valley of the Gods, Utah. Valley of the Gods is similar to Monument Valley, although on a less "grand" scale. It is a gem of an area, however, and if you are passing through on your way to Blanding from Monument Valley, its worth checking out.

(Above: Dusk in the Valley of the Gods)

(Below: Goosenecks State Park again, taken the night before the dust storm.)

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is probably the most well-known spot in the southwest. Practically everyone alive today has most likely seen images and/or video from Monument Valley, whether they realize it or not. Many western movies have been filmed at this location and photos from Monument Valley are often used when it comes to promoting the southwest to tourists.

It certainly is a beautiful place and a worthy stop for any traveler, especially photographers. If you want to explore the valley beyond the scenic drive, however, you'll need to hire a Navajo guide. You can drive your own vehicle around the scenic loop which has views of the main features of the valley, but you cannot stray from the scenic loop road if you are on your own. These images were all captured from the scenic drive, as I chose not to go with a Navajo guide... although someday I would like to hire a guide to get some local insight into the area. I chose not go with a guide because of time and because of the conditions. If I was going to hire a guide I would like for it to be a nicer day, so I could enjoy it more.

It was very windy during my visit, with dust and sand blowing everywhere. I had been considering staying at the new Navajo hotel right in the valley, but with the conditions the way they were I decided to head further down the road.

(Above and below: There are some very interesting views approaching the valley from the surrounding highway.)

Horseshoe Bend

My timing was a little bit off today. Apparently I just missed, by a matter of minutes, the opportunity to photograph a California Condor perched on the edge of the gorge at Horseshoe Bend. As I walked the trail to the edge of the gorge, I met another photographer who was heading back to his car. He noticed I was carrying a tripod and he stopped to tell me about the condor. He said there was a condor that had been sitting on a rock right on the edge of the gorge for close to half an hour. He pulled out his camera and showed me the images that he had just taken. They were unbelievable. Condors aren't exactly the prettiest birds, but they are big and very rare. This guy had some great shots of the bird, but did not have a website to share where the shots could be seen.

I may have missed the chance to photograph the unique bird, but I still had a great time at Horseshoe Bend. The bend is just a few miles south of Page, Arizona on the Colorado River. It is very easy to get to via a relatively short (although sandy) trail from the highway. During my visit there were about 50 other people there at the same time. The little parking lot at the trailhead was almost full, and included one tour bus, which apparently was filled with French people. Which brings me to one oddity of this trip... at times it seems as though I have heard more French than English being spoken as I visit some of these areas in the southwest. Today I felt like I was back in France as the people from the tour bus were spread out along the trail and I could hear French being spoken almost the whole time I was at Horseshoe Bend. I guess the southwest has become quite popular with European travelers!

Toroweap

I do believe that I've just had what I will consider to be the best experience of this trip. From a photographic standpoint, the conditions were a little "too" perfect (a more interesting sky would have been nice for the sunset/sunrise photos), but the experience overall was one that I will never forget. I must admit that the Grand Canyon and the southwest in general at one time held no interest at all for me. Well... now that I have been to this part of the country a number of times, my feelings have changed and I've really come to love it in the southwest.





I had first heard of Toroweap while browsing the website of Marc Adamus, one of my favorite photographers. On his website he has an image titled "Flaming Canyon" that, more than anything else, was my sole inspiration for wanting to visit Toroweap. (To see Marc's image, click here: http://www.marcadamus.com/photo.php?id=63&gallery=canyon). Toroweap is part of Grand Canyon National Park, but resides on the north rim, and not the tourist over-run south rim. Toroweap is easily one of the least visited areas of Grand Canyon National Park. While the area is vehicle-accessible, you must drive down 60 miles of dirt road, the last 10 miles of which are VERY rough. I made it just fine in my Honda Element with all-terrain tires, but a passenger car certainly would never make it.





Toroweap is a Paiute term meaning "dry or barren valley". The views from Toroweap Overlook are 3,ooo feet above the Colorado River and take your breath away. Due to the remote nature of the Toroweap area (it takes a minimum of 2.5 to 3 hours to drive the road one-way) I decided to spend the night at the Toroweap campground, a lovely little 9-site (FREE!) campground that is one mile from the canyon rim. This would also enable me to shoot a sunset and a sunrise at the location. To my surprise the campground was about half-full, and I saw a half-dozen other vehicles along the last few miles of the road.





Everyone knew that this was a quiet place, however, and once the sun went down it was hard to tell there was anyone else camping there. None of the usual campground noise.... just pure, un-filtered silence. I was in heaven. Being that Toroweap is so far from any signs of civilization, the sky that night over the campground was one of the most amazing that I've ever seen. The stars seemed close enough to reach up and pluck them out of the sky. Surprisingly, none of the other campers were interested in the comings and goings of the sun. As such, as I shot the sunset and the sunrise, I was completely alone on the canyon rim. What a lovely place!

(Below: 1 hour, 30 minute star exposure, taken directly over my campsite)

Glen Canyon NRA - Alstrom Point

I wasn't really looking forward to today, since the forecast was calling for some pretty miserable weather all day. That's just how it started out, too. I stayed in Kanab, Utah last night and when I woke this morning it was going back and forth between rain and snow. When I got in the car and decided to head towards Page, Arizona it was hailing... actually more like kind of a slush coming down. Kanab isn't a very big town, and by the time I drove from one side of town to the other my car was covered in this hail/slush mix and I had to pull over to clear my wipers of the mess. Once I got a few miles outside of town, the clouds parted and the sun came out. It was sunny and warm (65 to 70 degrees) the rest of the day!

On my way out of town I stopped at the Kanab visitor center for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I ran into a very helpful older man with a white beard who has lived in the Page/Kanab area for the past 30 years. I told him I was interested in trying to get to Alstrom Point on Lake Powell, but wasn't sure of the way since the route is off the main roads. He gave me directions on how to get there and we visited for quite a while about other areas of interest as well. Once I had my fill of local knowledge, I thanked him and headed for Page and Lake Powell.

For those of you who might not know, Lake Powell is a man-made lake, created from the construction of the Glen Canyon dam in Page, Arizona. The dam is in Arizona, but the majority of the lake lies in Utah. Lake Powell and the surrounding land makes up what is known as the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. There are a couple of marinas on the lake, and houseboating is big business there. If you drive near the main marina you can see row after row of houseboats.

I spent a good part of the day just exploring the part of the lake that is right near Page. It certainly is a beautiful area... I could easily see myself living here. I wanted to shoot the sunset from Alstrom Point, and based on my "local knowledge", when 5:30 rolled around I figured I better get started on those backroads to get to the point. My directions told me it was about 25 miles to the point, which turned out to be spot-on. My GPS read 25.2 miles once I got there. I was told the way would be "relatively" easy so long as the clay portion of the road was dry. And it was, for the most part. There was only one section about 100 feet long that was a little bit wet but my Honda Element made it through without any problem, although not before flinging up a decent amount of mud and getting my car good and dirty.

Alstrom Point was sublime. I chose to walk the last mile and a half or "road" which went right out onto the point itself. I could have driven it, but it was easier to walk. The road at that point was more suited for a high-clearance Jeep. The sunset turned out to be the best one of the trip so far. The rocks seemed to glow as the light hit them, and the clouds were vibrant hues of pink and blue. After this amazing light show was over, I ate my Subway sandwich that I had brought along for supper, then opened the rear hatch on my car and rolled my sleeping bag out on the floor. I camped in the car for the night, since I didn't feel like driving back out on that road in the dark. It was a wonderful night and it was warm enough that I left the hatch open while I slept (no bugs here.... yay!!!!!), with the warm Arizona breeze keeping me company all night long.

Bryce Canyon

After exploring Willis Creek yesterday I drove on towards Bryce Canyon and stayed in a nice motel a few miles west of the park. I shot the sunset from the Bryce Point overlook, which is a short distance into the park and is one of the main overlooks. The sunset was amazing, and a little cold. There was a stiff west wind blowing and I got pretty chilled standing on the canyon rim in the wind.

I drove the few miles from the motel back to Bryce this morning, this time choosing to shoot from the Fairyland Canyon viewpoint. I like the Fairyland area because most people miss it, as it is actually before the park entrance station. The view, however, is no less stunning than the other, more "popular" views in the park.

I didn't spend much time at Bryce on this trip, as I've been there a few times before and my main focus this time was to catch one sunset and one sunrise at the park. I didn't really do any hiking this time, although the trails at Bryce are wonderful. If you ever visit this park, the Navajo Trail is my favorite. You descend down into the canyon and once at the bottom the canyon walls are quite high and there are pine trees growing within the canyon. Its awe-inspiring to be down on the canyon floor and looking up at the sky beneath one of those pines.

Willis Creek

Today's adventure brought me back to Willis Creek, a delightful little canyon that I first hiked with my dad in November 2005. Willis Creek is a lesser-known slot canyon in the southwest, but is quite spectacular in its own right. It is also much easier to hike than most other slot canyons, with very little elevation change. From the parking area its only about a 5 to 10 minute walk to the first set of narrows. The creek has 3 or 4 sets of narrows, with each having its own appeal for different reasons. At one point the canyon is narrow enough that you can stretch out your arms and touch both sides of the canyon at the same time.



This is easily one of my favorite spots in the southwest, because it is so amazing but also because you are more likely to have a nice, quiet experience here.

The Devil's Garden

Once I left Capitol Reef, I was planning on making it to Bryce Canyon for sunset... but once again my plans changed! Once I realized that my route would be bringing me right by Hole in the Rock Road, I knew I had to change my plan for sunset. Hole in the Rock Road is a 62 mile one-way dirt road that ends on the north side of Lake Powell. About 12 miles down this road, there is a wonderful little natural attraction known as the Devil's Garden.

There are some spectacular rock formations at the Devil's Garden, and since I had been there before I knew that it might make for some nice sunset shooting. Since there had been nice clouds all day, I also thought that the sunset might be quite nice if some of the clouds hung around long enough to be lit up by the setting sun. I arrived at the Devil's Garden a little later than I would have liked, but to make up for it I stayed until almost 10:00 pm and made some exposures in the moonlight and of the star trails. The moonrise was sublime!

After I was done shooting, I started back towards the car. Even though I had my headlamp, I didn't use it because the moonlight was bright enough to light the way. About halfway back to the car I came around a tree and almost walked smack into a large black cow! I'm sure that he was a lot smaller than he actually looked, but in the moonlight he looked positively huge! He looked at me for a moment, then went back to munching on the shrubs. By the time I got back to the car my heart rate had finally returned to normal :-)

Capitol Reef

Today's journeys were in and around Capitol Reef National Park. The Waterpocket Fold defines Capitol Reef National Park. The fold is a nearly 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth's crust known as a monocline. Capitol Reef National Park was established to protect this grand and colorful geologic feature, as well as the unique natural and cultural history found in the area. The park also encompasses the Fremont River and the Fruita settlement, a Mormon settlement which includes some beautiful orchards (when they are in season, which at this time they are not).



Driving or hiking around the Capitol Reef area, you are constantly in a state of awe. The rock formations are so incredible, and of amazing variety. You might think that you would get tired of looking at rocks and dirt all the time, but you really don't because all of it is so pretty. I was reading in my guide book about a place within the park known as Cathedral Valley, which I thought sounded pretty cool and the pictures in the book made me want to check it out. The "easiest" way to get to Cathedral Valley from where I was (according to the book) was to drive east out of the park to the Caineville Wash Road.



The Caineville Wash Road starts out, as its name implies, in the middle of a huge dry wash and the road actually takes you right up the wash... obviously this is not a place to be if rain is in the forecast! After a couple of miles the road crosses the wash and starts to head into the hills. My book said that this road was rough, and it wasn't kidding! At best, I could only make about 5 mph. I drove about 8 miles in and gave up. According to my book I had at least another 10 miles to go. I really didn't feel like driving another 10 miles on that road. That first 8 miles offered up some awesome scenery, though!



It was also VERY windy today... and many times I was caught in some mini dust storms. I had to be very careful changing lenses on my camera today so no dust would get inside the camera. Even exercising caution, some dust still made it in there and I had a heck of a time cleaning the sensor when I got to the motel. It was also quite warm today... not sure what it actually was but it felt like it was about 75 degrees. So, naturally, I wanted to drive around with the window down. The inside of my car is pretty dusty now! There were many times when I stopped to roll the window up because of a big gust of wind. Whenever there was a big gust, a bunch of what I thought was dust blew in and settled on the dash. When I went to wipe it off, it wasn't dust but rather actual grains of sand! I've never been in a desert area when its been that windy before, and the grains of sand blowing into the car were a new thing for me.



After leaving the Caineville Wash Road I headed back into the main part of the park, which follows along the Fremont River. This is a very beautiful and lush part of the park, kind of a desert oasis, if you will. Of course, none of the trees were blooming yet, but it was still pretty. I can only imagine how beautiful it is in the summer when the trees are green. Capitol Reef is more remote than a lot of the parks out west, but it is definitely worth a visit! I could easily spend a few days here, but I have lots other places I want to see as well, so I hit the road again in the late afternoon.

Goblin Valley State Park

My plan for this evening was to head to Capitol Reef National Park in time for sunset, to photograph either the amazing hills in the late afternoon light, or the Fremont River as the sun set behind it. As is becoming the norm on this trip, my "plan", such as it was, changed along the way. As I was driving from I-70 towards Capitol Reef on Highway 24, I saw a sign for Goblin Valley State Park. I pulled over to the side of the road to see if the guide book said anything about it. Sure enough, it was in there... and it was described as a "don't miss" location. The author also said that "a moonlight walk through the goblins could be magical". The hook was set and the park reeled me in :-)



(Below: Click on this image to view it larger... look for the group of people in this shot!)



I arrived at the main parking area for the park just in time to scope things out and decide how I wanted to shoot the area. There were quite a few people walking around in the valley, and they really helped to provide a sense of scale for the goblins. Apparently the movie "Galaxy Quest" (starring Tim Allen) was filmed in Goblin Valley State Park, due to its unearthly scenery.





Just as the sun was setting, the moon was also rising over the valley. Thanks to all the people that were there climbing around, I was able to get a few cool shots of some people on top of one of the rocks with the moon in the background. I hung around for about two hours after sunset, and the author of my guide book was right.... once it was dark enough, the valley in the moonlight was magical! I made a few exposures in the moonlight then continued on towards Capitol Reef.

Dinosaur National Monument - Island Park

(Above: Island Park panorama. Click on the image to view a larger version.)

I spent the last day and a half at Dinosaur National Monument, which was totally unplanned but turned out to be a wonderful decision! Most visitors to Dinosaur National Monument are concerned with one thing: visiting the dinosaur quarry and seeing dinosaur bones. The fact of the matter is that the dinosaur quarry makes up only a fraction of what this park has to offer (besides that, the dinosaur quarry is currently closed due to structural damage to the facility).





Dinosaur is actually a very large park with amazing backcountry areas and what seems like about a hundred miles of gravel roads that bring you into the interior of the park. The park consists of two entrance areas: one in Dinosaur, Colorado and the other in Jensen, Utah. There really isn't much to see at the Dinosaur, CO entrance right now as the main park road is closed only after a few miles. This was disappointing for me as I was hoping to drive to the end of that road and see Echo Park, which I've heard is a "must-see" place. I was told that the road might be open by easter weekend, so who knows I may head back and visit that part of the park on my way home in another two weeks.





I concentrated my visit on the Jensen, Utah side of the park. I drove the main entrance road past the visitor center to see Split Mountain, and to see what that part of the park had to offer. While it was an impressive drive with lovely views, the part of the park that I fell in love with was the back road that goes to Island Park (its actually called Island Park Road), an amazing location with a spectacular horseshoe curve in the Green River and flanked by mountains to the south. Island Park is at the end of a rather long gravel road, but the drive is well worth it! I can only imagine how beautiful this location would be in the summer, once the trees along the river have leafed out.



Along the way to Island Park there is a terrific collection of Fremont Indian petroglyphs at the site of Mckee Spring. These petroglyphs are easily the most impressive that I have seen and have stood the test of time quite well. There is a short trail up a hillside to the petroglyphs, and once you've hiked to the top of the trail they are easy to spot. A wide-angle lens is a must if you want to include the petroglyphs and a partial view of the valley.





After my visit to Dinosaur I was hooked on the park... and I only saw a small fraction of what the park has to offer! Hopefully when I come back through on my way home the road to Echo Park will be open, as I am dying to see that part of the park as well. I will definitely be back. If not on this trip, then the next one!

Flaming Gorge NRA

This morning I woke early to drive from Vernal, Utah up to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. The guy that I met last night while at Fantasy Canyon told me that Flaming Gorge was an area of immense beauty and that it would be a good place for some pictures. The drive itself from Vernal to Flaming Gorge was beautiful. The road crossed a pass with quite a few switchbacks and once I reached the top the plateau was covered with snow. Aspen trees littered the plateau. The morning light on the aspens was sublime. I was on a mission, though, to get to the gorge and so I didn't stop to take any pictures of the aspens.





Once I arrived at the gorge I followed the signs to the visitor center, as the guide book that I have said that was the area with the best views. Unfortunately, the visitor center was closed and the road had not been plowed. I didn't feel like walking the 3 miles through the snow, so I just drove around the gorge area for a while. Eventually I made it to the Flaming Gorge dam and after driving across the dam and following the hill up on the other side, I came across a parking area and an excellent overlook area for viewing the dam and part of the reservoir.





Flaming Gorge straddles the Utah/Wyoming border and encompasses 207,363 acres of land and water, divided almost equally between Utah and Wyoming. Apparently the gorge is also very well known for its trophy lake trout, with the Utah record fish weighing in at just over 51 pounds. There wasn't much activity in the area.... I can imagine in the summer that this is a popular place. During my visit the waters were incredibly calm and I could hear geese and ducks chattering along the shores of the reservoir. There is also a river access road that goes down into the gorge just below the dam, and I read that this is a popular starting point for rafting trips on the Green River.



(Click on the above image to view a larger version so you can read the stats on the gorge!)

Fantasy Canyon

Fantasy Canyon is a geological gem located near Vernal, Utah in the middle of a sea of natural gas fields. Upon visiting this magical place I was reminded of my first visit to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Before I visited White Sands I remember reading something out of a guide book that said "This is some of the strangest land that you'll ever see."

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw Fantasy Canyon. Its not really a canyon at all, but somehow it wound up with that name. The canyon is located on BLM land, so it is accessible to the public, however the network of roads leading out the canyon are dominated by large oil company trucks. It really was quite strange to be navigating towards this unique natural place, seeing nothing but wells and oil/gas storage tanks and rumbling transport trucks along the way there.

Once there, however, it felt like I was on a different planet. The first glimpse of the "canyon" told me right away that this was going to be a fun place to make some photographs. The light was a little harsh when I first arrived, so I began by just walking through the canyon and studying the formations, trying to determine what might make for the best shots as the light improved. During my scouting walk through the canyon another vehicle pulled into the parking lot, and I could soon hear their voices carrying through the area. I could hear a father explaining to his young daughter about the significance of this spot.

When I got back to my car the father, who was about my age, was sitting on the picnic table near his truck. His wife and daughter were still exploring the canyon. I walked over and started a conversation with him, asking him where he was from. "All over" came the reply. He went on to tell me that he's moved about once a year for the past 20 years. He's been living in Vernal for the past two years, and just bought a house there. As he went on he explained that he worked for one of the oil companies as a water truck driver. Basically he drives a full-size semi truck back and forth between the Green River and many different oil and gas wells all day long, transferring water from the river to the well sites. For this he earns about $1,500 a week, which is why he has chosen to plant some roots and buy a house in Vernal. That and the recreational opportunities, which abound throughout the surrounding area. He told me that this summer he is going to buy a raft, as rafting on the Green River is very popular. He said not far from where we were, you could put in on the Green River, and raft downriver for 3 days, covering 60 water miles... but, if you were to draw a straight line from where you put in to where you take out, the distance would only be 10 miles! How amazing is that... in a straight-line distance of only 10 miles, the river curves so much that it travels 60 miles. He then asked where I was from, and after I told him I was from Minnesota, he said he lived in the Twin Cities for about a month a few years back. The thing that made the biggest impression on him was the skywalk system that connects the downtown buildings. He was a very nice guy to visit with. I hope that things continue to go well for him.

Soon after our visit the light started to turn to a much warmer color as the sun settled closer to the horizon. So, I grabbed my camera and my tripod and got to work. I shot until about two hours after sunset, creating some images with the moon and some star trails as well. If I had to go home tomorrow, I would be happy with the images I got tonight and would already consider this trip a success... but, I've got two more weeks to go! Stay tuned for more.....

Click here for more information about Fantasy Canyon:

http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/vernal/recreation_/fantasy_canyon.html

Highway 139 and Douglas Pass

I thought I would post a shot of the scenery along Highway 139 in northwest Colorado... this image is pretty indicative of most of the terrain that I have been driving through. Pretty desolate, but still beautiful nonetheless. Not long after I snapped this shot of the highway the road started to climb rather drastically in elevation. I was soon treated to a spectacular view of the mountains from the summit of Douglas Pass (El. 8,240 feet), on the way to Vernal, Utah.

Morning light at Colorado NM

Well, I got what I wanted. Which is to say, I got some morning light to play with at Colorado National Monument. So this morning I drove back up Rim Rock Drive to catch the morning light. The funny thing is, while it was a beautiful sunrise, I am happier with the images from the last two days than I am from this morning. One thing is for certain: those rocks sure are pretty when the sun hits them in the morning!

Colorado National Monument

I must admit that I had never really heard of Colorado National Monument before planning for this trip. It is one of the lesser-visited parks within the national park system, which is a curiosity because it is a wonderful park. I must thank my friend Roger for loaning me his photo books for the southwest. Were it not for those books, I probably never would have stopped at this park. My original plan was to head straight for Arches National Park after Nebraska, but I found out in the meantime that now is not a good time to go to Moab. That is, unless you own a Jeep rock-crawler! As it turns out all this week Moab is hosting the "Easter Jeep Safari". Off-road enthusiasts come from all over the country for this event, so as you can imagine finding a place to stay is next to impossible.

So, I altered my plan a bit and will hit Arches next week, after Easter. Enter Colorado National Monument! I decided to spend a couple of days in Grand Junction, Colorado and explore Colorado NM. As I mentioned earlier, this is not a very busy park... which I can attest to since I spent all day today (saturday, no less!) at the park and only saw a handful of other people (including one young guy from Italy!). The scenery is outstanding, with many canyons and gorges and interesting sandstone rock formations. The main road through Colorado NM is not one for those with a weak stomach, however! Most of Rim Rock Drive is about 2,000 feet above the valley floor below, and many times it seems as though the road is right on the edge of the cliff. It is a white-knuckle drive for sure. The speed limit along most of the road is only 25 mph, and I would advise sticking to it.

The weather today was less than desirable, with snow this morning and rain mid-day. The sky didn't clear until almost sunset. I'm going to head back into the monument tomorrow morning to try and catch some nice morning light, which hopefully there will be. Stay tuned!

Sandhill Cranes on the Platte River

Well, I spent a full day and a half photographing the cranes. I was in Nebraska in mid-March last year, and hit the migration during its peak, when there were about 500,000 cranes in the area. There were a lot fewer birds this year, since I'm a couple of weeks later than I was last year, but the numbers were still impressive. I just got in from a guided tour to one of the photo blinds at the Rowe Sanctuary (www.rowesanctuary.org). The guided tours at the sanctuary never disappoint. If you ever come to Nebraska looking for cranes, your first stop should be the Rowe Sanctuary. Sign up for a sunrise or sunset tour to one of the photo blinds, then ask one of the staff where the best places are during the day to look for cranes. The staff are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Aside from the cranes, I saw and heard a lot of red-winged blackbirds as well. They are one of my favorite birds, and each year I eagerly await their return, and long to hear once again their beautiful call. If you do go to Nebraska in March or early April, the best places to look for cranes are anywhere along the Platte River between Grand Island and Kearney. There are numerous farm and county roads that you can drive to look for the birds. But, like I said, you MUST take a tour at the sanctuary! You will be closer to the birds there than anywhere else. The sight and sound of these ancient birds flying in to the river is something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. In addition to photos, I shot a few video clips of the birds, which you can see on my website:

http://travisnovitsky.smugmug.com/gallery/4585425_ZKKho

Well, that's it for today... I need to get some rest for the drive to Colorado tomorrow. Next up: Colorado National Monument!