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!)