Zion National Park, Utah - Playing with Rock Patterns

 

While roaming around Zion National Park, it's hard not to notice the beautiful striations of the Navajo sandstone surrounding you wherever you go.  It's impossible for me to fathom someone not being impressed by the millions of years it took for these beautiful, natural geological designs to form.  Since I was wandering the park with camera in hand, it should be expected that my eye would see the movement in the rock and want to capture it through the lens. If you're not into fascinating coloration of sandstone, you may not like the following photos.  Or maybe they will inspire you to come seek them out for yourself.  Who knows!

Read More

Zion National Park, Utah - Images of Fall

I love fall foliage anywhere I can get it, but contrasted against the bright rust orange of Zion National Park, your breath is just swept away by the beauty.  This year was an unusually early fall for the park, so by the time I arrived, I only got to mostly enjoy the yellows of the abundant cottonwood trees.  All the reason to come back, right?  Of course, it's also getting colder and the morning frost is leaving behind some amazing effects on the dropped leaves, so there was an advantage to the early fall.  I only wish I had brought my macro lens.

The water in the Virgin River also runs clearer in the fall after the sediment from the spring rains has washed downriver. What remains is a soft turquoise blue running over the peach colored sand from the eroding sandstone.  At certain times of the day, the sun will be just right to "paint" the water with the reflections of the colorful fall leaves.

When the leaves fall into the many puddles and small, very slow flowing tributaries to the Virgin River, they start to decay and leave behind plant oils.  Again, when the light is right, you are able to see a rainbow of colors from these released oils.

Of course, any photographer is obligated to take advantage of the magical visual effects of sunrise, sunset, and a crisp and clear fall night sky nearly free of light pollution.  Sunrise was taken at the Court of the Patriarchs.  My sunset photos of The Watchman were bracketed 2-stops in order to later merge them together using Nik HDR software to accomplish the natural dynamic range of the setting I desired.  We were fortunate to have an amazing night sky for star gazing, including the Milky Way, Cassiopeia, and many other constellations too numerous to name and beyond my circle of competence.  Hope you enjoyed my photos as much as I did taking them!!  If you want to learn how to capture fantastic photos of Zion, I encourage you to take a tour with Justin Resnick - great teacher, guide, photographer, etc.

Read More

Zion National Park, Utah - The Narrows

During my visit to Zion National Park, one of the days was designated specifically for hiking into a slot canyon called The Narrows.  This is considered a strenuous hike because 5 of the 7 miles are done while navigating the Virgin River that runs through the canyon, often walking in the river that got near waist deep at times.  As such, hiking The Narrows starts the day before when you rent proper gear, since the water is cold year round - 47 degrees, specifically, for my trip.  The gear consists of dry pants, neoprene socks, special water shoes, a large wooden pole, and dry bags if you're carrying electronic gear.  There are a lot more safety checks you will need to do before determining whether or not to do the hike.  The day of, you take the Zion shuttle to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava, where you hike one mile on a paved trail to the Gateway to the Narrows. From that point, you're hiking upstream.  Our trip went halfway into the area called Wall Street, with our turnaround point being a large boulder in the middle of the canyon before Wall Street bent sharp to the right, spending over 7 hours hiking, technically canyoneering, and stopping.  Since this was a photography-based hike, we spent a lot of time shooting on our tripods right in the middle of the river.  I'm very happy with the resulting photographs, and here are a few I wanted to share with you...

You have to shoot where you have to shoot!

Fantastic display of plant oil from decaying leaves

Read More

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

If there is one thing Bryce Canyon is known for it's the massive red hoodoo rock pillars formed over thousands (more like millions) of years of erosion.  I could enlighten you with facts found on my brochure about the Cretaceous Seaway that drove a path through central North America and left sediments that form the base of the hoodoos; about horizontal compression 10 million years ago that made the Rocky Mountains and the Utah Table Cliff and Paunsaugubt plateaus; about how the Paria River and tributaries have been carving these plateaus into rock fins which become pinnacles and spires through erosion that now give us the natural glory of the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater, but that would be boring, right?  Instead, I will give you photographs to inspire you to plan a trip here to see the beauty in person.

The Bryce Amphitheater
If there is only one place you can choose to stop, this is it.  Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point, and Bryce point all afford magical views of this garden of hoodoos.  If you're feeling more adventurous, but don't want a challenge, try hiking from Sunrise to Sunset Point.  I woke up to catch the sunrise from Sunrise Point, then headed down the wide, worn, and well marked trail towards Queens Garden.  Keep your eyes open for a sign directing to to continue on the Navajo trail to Wall Street.  Once you get through Wall Street, you will be facing a wall of switchbacks.  They are wide and short, but numerous.  Alas, what goes down must go up.  And if you want to see the hoodoos up close, this is the easiest way.  If you prefer a slower, less steep ascent, then reverse the direction and take the trail from Sunset to Sunrise.  The guide from the National Parks says 2-3 hours, but I finished it in 1.5 hours - and I'm far from being in hiking shape!

Glowing rocks of sunrise

Amphitheater a-glow

The Sentinel keeps watch over the Queens Garden

Snow Hoodoo

Occupying Wall Street...Bryce's Wall Street, that is

SWITCHBACKS!! Why did I choose to go the direction that had this as my uphill climb at the end?

Thor's Hammer

When researching Bryce Canyon, I could not find a single resource that showed me what to expect from all of the other viewpoints in the park, along the 18 mile road that stretches the length of the park and dead ends.  So, while I don't have all the points (missing 4), here are most of the views.  All of these viewpoints are located conveniently off the road.  Minimal walking required.

Rainbow Point

Yovimpa Point

Natural Bridge

Fairyland Point

I only stayed one night in the area, so to make it a memorable one, I opted to stay within the park at the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge.  It's definitely rustic and lacking the conveniences of the other options outside the park, but you're paying for the history and for the ability to walk out your door and be walking along the rim of the amphitheater in 1 minute.  For someone who wants to hike at sunrise but hates getting up early, this was a no brainer!

Read More