Weekly Photo Challenge: Vivid
There are few scenes as “Vivid” as a sunset over the red rocks areas in Utah. This photo was taken towards the west (obviously into the sun), just as the sun was going down behind the landscape near Dead Horse State Park. At that instant the colors in the sky and in the orange rocks are incredible. This photo is “blown out” by the sun flare but I think it still portrays the drama of the scene and scenery.
Dead Horse Sunflare
The Old West
I’m actually on the road again – to the Grand Canyon this time – but I thought I’d leave you with another view of the area around Canyonlands, Arches and Moab Utah. This photo was taken in the Colorado River Valley just outside of Moab. It is a beautiful canyon with many iconic views of the surrounding mesas. I saw this rickety old fence as we were driving down the road along the river and used it as a foreground to some of the majestic mesas that seem to be everywhere in this area. It was kind of a dull, cloudy day so I thought I’d process the photo as a B&W (with a little sepia thrown in). Looks like something out of an old western movie to me.
John Wayne should be around somewhere….
Canyonlands – False Kiva
I’ve already posted about my experience taking a picture in crowded circumstances at the Mesa Arch in the morning. I wanted to post about a completely different hike and photo opportunity at Canyonlands – the false Kiva. This is an unadvertised hike – you won’t find it anywhere in the normal documentation of the park. A ranger told us (after we had made the hike) that they have tried to limit the visitors to this site due to the ongoing archeological efforts there. We found it in a book called “Photographing the Southwest – Southern Utah” which not only described the scene, it gave some pretty detailed direction on the hike and how to get there. It took us about 2 hours (roundtrip) and it was a moderate hike with some difficult areas of loose shale and rock. You descend down a canyon and then must climb back up to a huge, domed alcove where there is a kiva which has been built by visitors over the years. Although the kiva itself is not authentic, there are areas within the alcove that are still being excavated and examined. Once in the alcove, you are treated to a great vista of the surrounding mesas and valleys – both above and below. If you ever get a chance to visit the canyonlands, this is a hike worth taking…..
The Kiva may be “false” but the view certainly isn’t
I should add that we only saw two other hikers during our visit to this beautiful site – a father and his daughter. Otherwise, we had the entire experience to ourselves.
Canyon Juniper
There are Utah Juniper trees all around the Canyonlands area. They are uniquely beautiful with their twisty trunks and with their craggley branches. This one was at the edge of the Canyon near our campsite at Dead Horse Point.
Canyon Scarecrow
Canyonlands, Utah
After a few days on different subjects, I thought I’d return to some of my photos from our recent auto trip to Colorado and Utah. On our second day in the Moab area, we woke up to overcast skies so we were unable to catch many good early morning pictures. We decided to head to Canyonlands National Park and hope that it cleared up. The skies cooperated and it turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon. We were in Canyonlands (the Islands in the Sky part of the park) during the middle of the day so we missed the best light but I think you’ll agree that it is pretty spectacular country anyway. We were treated again to a very empty park to enjoy all by ourselves – winter is a great time to visit this area.
Canyonlands Vista
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