Utah 2016
Dead Horse Point State Park
Dead Horse Point is located at the end of a mesa 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, on the edge of Canyonlands National Park. The vista offers outstanding views of the river and surrounding canyon country. Many excellent photos are taken here.
Before the turn of the 19th century, mustang herds ran wild on the mesas near Dead Horse Point. The unique promontory provided a natural corral into which the horses were driven by cowboys. The only escape was through a narrow, 30-yard neck of land controlled by fencing. Mustangs were then roped and broken, with the better ones being kept for personal use or sold to eastern markets. Unwanted culls of "broomtails" were left behind to find their way off the Point.
According to one legend, a band of broomtails was left corralled on the Point. The gate was supposedly left open so the horses could return to the open range. For some unknown reason, the mustangs remained on the Point. There they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.
When vacationing you don’t always get to pick the ideal conditions for photography but sometimes you get lucky as we did on this particular day. The day yielded us a beautiful sky with lots of clouds and we got there just as the sun was rising. Not having been there before it was a crap shoot as where to set up and the sun was rising by the minutes.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Near the town of Moab, in SE Utah, approximately 248 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Directions: Drive nine miles northwest of Moab on US 191 and then 23 miles southwest on Utah 313 to the end of the highway. Visitor Center, bike trail, hiking trails, campground, yurt rentals, and picnic spots. Once the sun beaks the surface of the earth it begins its climb by the seconds.
Because the light changes with each passing second I opted to shoot in Aperture Priority. Shutter speed was not a consideration because I was using a tripod. I did not use a neutral density filter but instead shot in 3 bracket mode so that I could blend the photos in post processing.
Dead Horse Point State Park
The sun was approximately 30 degrees to the earth's surface and as can be seen was moving across the rock pinnacles. At this point I was beginning to loose the golden hour colors in the sky.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Once the sun climbed high enough the clouds became a giant diffuser and the heavens yielded a beautiful blue-cloud-covered sky.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Canyon Rim. I was so lucky to have such awesome skies covered in clouds. Just love this time of day.
The area along the rim is covered in Juniper Trees, noted for their twisted shapes. They can live for up to 650 years, commonly grow on alluvial fans and dry, rocky hillsides, with shallow alkaline soils. They are the most predominant single species of trees in Utah. They produce Juniper Berries which are eaten by jackrabbits, foxes, and coyotes, as well as many bird species. They are used for fence posts, firewood, pencils, as well as Christmas Trees. The wood is highly decay resistant.
Dead Horse Point State Park
The area along the rim is covered in Juniper Trees, noted for their twisted shapes. They can live for up to 650 years, commonly grow on alluvial fans and dry, rocky hillsides, with shallow alkaline soils. They are the most predominant single species of trees in Utah. They produce Juniper Berries which are eaten by jackrabbits, foxes, and coyotes, as well as many bird species. They are used for fence posts, firewood, pencils, as well as Christmas Trees. The wood is highly decay resistant.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Overlooks Canyonlands. This area is a favorite of photographers and is probably one of the most beautiful spots in the area.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Juniper Trees produce Juniper Berries which are eaten by jackrabbits, foxes, and coyotes, as well as many bird species. They are used for fence posts, firewood, pencils, as well as Christmas Trees. The wood is highly decay resistant.
Arches National Park
God is the greatest artist of all time and Utah's Arches National Park is just one of his many masterpieces. Stone bridges, gossiping monoliths, mountains with windows, city-sized sandstone pipe organs all create by just the whisper of his words. Ambitious ones, dangerous ones and Delicate Arch is the icon of all of them, looping 65 feet out of the bluff. A hike in Arches will show you something that changes your perspective: it makes you feel so small and so insignificant. Look at Landscape Arch; see the Courthouse and the Tower of Babel on Park Avenue; the lost souls in the Fiery Furnace. It’s all waiting, quietly, like a massive chess board. Arches National Park's will stop you in your tracks: height and balance; coarseness and curvature; huge slabs of stone suspended in the air will draw you to them. There are 2,000 named arches in the park. Forty-three are known to have fallen since 1977 — a little more than one per year. Capture The Moment before it is lost forever.
Arches National Park
God is the greatest artist of all time and Utah's Arches National Park is just one of his many masterpieces. Stone bridges, gossiping monoliths, mountains with windows, city-sized sandstone pipe organs all create by just the whisper of his words. Ambitious ones, dangerous ones and Delicate Arch is the icon of all of them, looping 65 feet out of the bluff. A hike in Arches will show you something that changes your perspective: it makes you feel so small and so insignificant. Look at Landscape Arch; see the Courthouse and the Tower of Babel on Park Avenue; the lost souls in the Fiery Furnace. It’s all waiting, quietly, like a massive chess board. Arches National Park's will stop you in your tracks: height and balance; coarseness and curvature; huge slabs of stone suspended in the air will draw you to them. There are 2,000 named arches in the park. Forty-three are known to have fallen since 1977 — a little more than one per year. Capture The Moment before it is lost forever.
Arches National Park
Balanced Rock is one of the most popular features of Arches National Park, situated in Grand County, Utah, United States. Balanced Rock is located next to the park's main road, at about 9 miles (14.5 km) from the park entrance.The total height of Balanced Rock is about 128 feet (39 m), with the balancing rock rising 55 feet (16.75 m) above the base. The big rock on top is the size of three school buses. Until recently, Balanced Rock had a companion - a similar, but much smaller balanced rock named "Chip Off The Old Block", which fell during the winter of 1975/1976. The hiker standing to the right of the base helps to give prospective to the overall size of this rock.
Arches National Park
Turret Arch. Normally I don't include people in my images but sometimes they help the viewer to comprehend the size, prospective, and depth of field of a subject.
Arches National Park
Delicate Arch is the most recognizable arch in Arches National Park, and perhaps anywhere in the world. It also happens to be located along one of the most dynamic hiking trails within Arches National Park. More than 480 feet above the parking lot and trailhead in the valley below, Delicate Arch is hidden in a bowl at the top of one of the park’s famous sandstone fins. Delicate Arch is freestanding, and magnificently alone in the natural sandstone bowl, standing out against the multitude of horizontal planes around it. The arch was once part of the upper section of the fin, until erosion took its toll upon the sandstone throughout the years, and now Delicate Arch is all that remains of that Entrada sandstone formation.
My traveling companion was unable to hike to Delicate Arch so we opted instead to an alternative view of it which consisted of a lower observation point and an upper observation point. I hiked to the upper location which was a good climb at well to get this view. I also used a telephone lens to zoom in on the subject. I will return and make the hike to this arch one day.
Arches National Park
This trip only afforded us one day to visit this park. This is an area where you could stay a whole week and never take it all in. This is on my list for a return trip of camping and hiking. Here we are leaving the park.
Arches National Park
One of the things I loved about this area at this time of year, (fall) was the cottonwood and aspen trees. Their yellow fall colors provide brilliance to the rock formations and blue skies.
Cayonlands National Park
Mesa Arch, Utah-We did not get here until mid-day and by then the sun was harsh with little or no clouds. But like I say when you are vacationing you have to make the most of a situation. There were a lot of people here by the time we hike to its location but everyone was great about working with each other to allow us to get in a shot or two.
Cayonlands National Park
Mesa Arch, Utah-This is an iconic arch for photographers with most opting to shoot it in the morning to capture the sun rising and showing through the arch.
Cayonlands National Park
Shafer Road, Island in the Sky, Utah-The highlight of this trip for me was taking this road back to Moab especially since I was not doing the driving. The decent is steep and consists of a lock of switch backs and the fun comes in when ever you meet another vehicle on this one lane road. Although we did no encounter any sections where we had to back up to let another car through we did encounter a couple of times when it was a tight squeeze to get by.
Cayonlands National Park
Shafer Road, Island in the Sky,-One of several switchbacks you will encounter on this drive. Although we went down the next time I do this I want to try going up instead. It might be easier on the brakes.
Cayonlands National Park
Potash Road, Utah-This was our wheels for this trip and it was ideal for this road tour. The road might look smooth but its not and its slowing going but worth it cause the scenery is awesome.
Cayonlands National Park
Potash Road, Utah.-First off this is a dusty road so hats off to these guys for traveling in this open jeep. On the other hand this is the perfect vehicle for this drive and are available for rent. This was one of the pull-offs once you get down into the canyon yet you are still some 1500 feet above the Colorado River.
Cayonlands National Park
Potash Road, Utah-This is the Colorado River. However the Green River also flows through this canyon and empties into the Colorado.
Cayonlands National Park
Potash Road, Utah-I included this picture just to show some of the road conditions you will encounter driving the Potash Road. An SUV with good ground clearance really comes in handy.
Comments