Canyon – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Buckskin Gulch

This is a continuation of hiking and photography in Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch slot canyons in Southern Utah in March 2025.

Upon exiting Wire Pass Slot Canyon, we turned right, proceeding into Buckskin Gulch.

The numerous rocks strewn over the canyon floor in Buckskin Gulch give evidence of the violence of currents that periodically rage through this canyon.

The sky and canyon walls are reflected in this muddy puddle, including the upper portion of the wall with the glow of midmorning light. We were able to pass this puddle by using the rocks on the left as stepping stones, then making a big step to the right onto a large boulder at the far end of the puddle.

More pebbles and boulder in the pathway. This seems typical of Buckskin Gulch. Evidently, more water flows through this canyon than through Wire Pass.

The next puddle we came to was deeper and had no convenient stepping stones in it to facilitate passing without wading in the very cold water. This was an obvious turn around point for us, as we were not prepared to wade through the cold water. A small tour group turned around here, too; but one intrepid old fellow stripped down to his underwear and waded through. He moaned and groaned all the way through, then again as he apparently had to repeat the process at another puddle that we could not see around the bend here.

I made a number of images at this turn around puddle to capture the details in the canyon wall, the red, golden glow ahead and the reflections in the puddle.

It was a bit more awkward making that first step back across this first puddle, because of the location of the first boulder on the far side. I had to think about how to approach that first step, since a poor choice of step would put me into the cold water and maybe an unplanned cold bath. Once back on this side, I turned to get a parting shot with more of the canyon walls in this one. The dynamic range of light in these canyons creates a challenge getting a good exposure, so I bracketed several shots with different exposure settings, then combined those images into this one High Dynamic Range processed image.

After our shortened hike into Buckskin Gulch to the south of the Wire Pass exit, we hiked into the northern portion, which tends to be wider than the part to the south.

We soon came to another big, muddy puddle, at which we elected to turn around. Footprints in the mud attest to others wading on through the cold water. There was not as much water in this canyon the first time we visited here years ago and we were able to easily hike further into each of these portions back then.

After turning around here, we went back through Wire Pass, returning to the parking lot and then back to our campsite to plan the rest of the day.

Until next time,

Ken

Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch – Part 2

This is a continuation of posts on hiking and photographing in Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch slot canyons in Southern Utah in March of 2025.

Rocks in the path through Wire Pass can be hazardous to a careless hiker.

Water flowing through this narrow chasm over many years have cut through massive sandstone rock formations, revealing the multiple layers in the rock walls and cutting impressive contour features into those rocks.

Footprints of previous hikers cover the sandy path.

Wire Pass slot ends at a wide opening at its confluence with Buckskin Gulch. The Alcove is a massive feature carved into the rock wall near this junction.

Stay tuned for a brief hike into Buckskin Gulch,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch, Part 1

Wire Pass is a narrow slot canyon, about 3/4 mile long that feeds into Buckskin Gulch, reportedly the longest slot canyon in the world. The trailhead for Wire Pass is about a 45 minutes drive, if the road conditions are good, from White House Campground.

This is a fee area, requiring a small fee for day use. The first time we came here in 2009, the parking lot was small. This area is much better known and much more visited now than it was back then. Now the parking lot is much larger and fenced with a metal bar/pipe type fence. This parking lot is also for the trailhead to The Wave, which requires a permit for access. Permits for The Wave are awarded via a lottery. I have registered for this lottery numerous times, in person and online, over the years, including for this trip, and I’ve never been successful at obtaining a permit.

For photography, the best time to be in the canyon is around mid-morning to maybe mid afternoon. So we did not need to get here super early, but we did want to beat the crowds, so we arrived in time to hike the mile in the sandy creek bed to the entry to the slot by mid-morning. There were already quite a few folks out, but not a big crowd.

It was a cold, but sunny morning. There had been snow fall the previous day, but the dirt road, going south from highway 89 was in fair condition. This road is impassable when it is really wet.

Just into the entry point, the first obstacle, a twisted, broken tree trunk spans across the slot, requiring either crawling underneath or climbing over. I went under one part and over the other. I don’t remember in which order.

This wedged in tree trunk was high enough on the wall to walk beneath and is an indication of why one does not want to go into such a canyon, when there is a chance of a flash flood.

Wire Pass is a typical slot canyon with varying widths through which to pass, but is never extremely narrow. But it is narrow enough that folks have to stand aside to allow others to pass.

Many years of flash flooding have eroded the walls into nicely contoured features and shapes. Light, which varies through out the daylight hours, from the top of the canyon provides varying color to the rock walls.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 11

After a morning shoot, my son and I decided to take a short hike in another part of the park, before. the crowds of tourists began to get out and about.

It is not surprising that this area is a popular one in which to film portions of western movies. The image above is of the remains of one of those movie sets.

A portion of our early morning hike went through a slot type canyon. The many footprints in the sand indicates the number of people that have recently hiked this way.

That’s all for now.

Ken

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023

In late March of 2023, I traveled to Snow Canyon State Park in Utah with the intention of staying here a full week. The park features, which are impressive, are essentially located along the roadway that goes through the park. However, due to the orientation of the canyon, sunrise works for golden hour photography in some portions of the park, but sunset golden hour is either very limited or non-existent. This was a disappointment, as that greatly limited my photographic possibilities here.

After checking into my campsite, I drove towards the south exit/entrance (I had entered via the north entrance) to check out the scenery in that direction and to get a cell phone signal. There is only a weak, at best, phone signal at the campground, but a good signal at and near the south entrance.

On my way back to the campsite, I stopped to check out Jenny’s Canyon, a very short slot canyon that is accessible via a short hike from the roadway.

Eastern Canyon Wall, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

I stopped to shoot this image of the canyon wall, that I hiked towards, which is the rock formation where Jenny’s Slot Canyon is located.

Big Mouth Rock, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

I noted this rock atop a portion of the canyon wall, that I dubbed “Big Mouth Rock” for obvious reason.

Sky Slash, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Sunlight filtering down into narrow canyons can create some remarkable color contrast on the canyon walls. The image above is shot looking upwards towards the sky from within the short slot canyon.

Sky Slash 2, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Canyon Wall Details, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Usually, I find something of interest to photograph in route to my destination, but I found nothing of special interest during my first two days of the drive. Maybe I wasn’t looking intently enough and too preoccupied with getting to my stops. Although, I did see this group of deer near the entrance to my first overnight stop.

There is always at least one in a group photo that is not looking at the camera. iPhone Photo.

I’ve picked out a general location for sunrise photos tomorrow. The results are next up.

Ken

Colorado Route 92 to US 50

We left Hotchkiss headed towards home, driving CO92 to US 50 on the first leg of this journey.

This is a scenic drive following a creek and its canyon that feeds into the Gunnison River, then tracks near the Gunnison River as it flow towards the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

At one of the large pull outs along this route, a group of motorcyclist pulled in. One of them asked me to take a group photo on one of their phones. Afterwards, I asked permission to get a group photo for my blog. I was assured that none of them were in a witness protection program or had ex-spouses searching for them.

It turned out that most of this group are from DFW, Texas and the young couple on the right are from Tupelo, Mississippi, with the female an alumni of my college (Ole Miss).

Their handles, from left to right, are: Jax, Bab, Blackout, Wheezy, Bronco, Sparky, Tinkle, Demon Dawg, and Helkat.

Thank you all for allowing me to include your group photo in my blog,

Ken

Black Canyon of the Gunnison – North Rim

From Ridgway we traveled to Hotchkiss, Colorado, where we planned to visit the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Years ago we had briefly visited the south rim, but this was the first visit to the North Rim. After checking into our motel, which was surprisingly nice for such a small town, we drove to the north rim.

It is a fairly long drive from Hotchkiss to the canyon, but I wanted to do a bit of scouting, prior to returning for late day or early morning photos. It was early afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. We stopped at a number of canyon overlooks, where I snapped iPhone scouting photos.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone Photo

Since this is a deep canyon, direct sun light penetrates to the bottom for only a few minutes each day. The best time to photograph the canyon is probably not during the typically preferred golden hours of early morning and late day, so timing when to be here is a problem for those of us that are not highly knowledgeable of the lighting variation across the seasons here.

Much geology is revealed in the rocks of the canyon walls. One can find lots of information on the canyon’s geology via many online sources. Here is one link to check out, if interested, and another here.

The last photo in this post shows a feature referred to as “The Camel” (left of center and just above the vertical center).

My original intention was to return to the canyon with my DSLR either later today or the next morning, but given the travel time from our lodging and the uncertainty about the best time of day to be here, I decided more effort on this visit might not be adequately fruitful. Instead, we changed our travel plans and decided to move on towards home a day earlier than planned.

I know these iPhone photos are not very good, but these are all I have for this trip.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 17 – Upper Muley Twist Canyon

Upper Muley Twist Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park is accessed via a three mile four wheel drive road from the Burr Trail Road west of the the point where that road climbs out of Strike Valley. A high clearance vehicle is recommended for this roadway, as it is rugged with some sizable rocks that one must navigate over. However, we saw one or two Subaru Outbacks, that are capable vehicles, at the trailhead. So experienced drivers might be able to safely navigate this road with such vehicles; but definitely, ordinary, low clearance vehicles should not attempt this roadway. The road is narrow in portions with room for only one vehicle.

We were on this roadway several times during this visit to Capitol Reef National Park. The trailheads for both the Strike Valley Overlook and Upper Muley Twist Canyon begin at the parking area, which is large enough to accommodate at least 4 vehicles.

The full loop hike of the canyon is a nine mile round trip. The canyon hike was secondary to our purpose for being here, so we never tried to do the full hike. According to the map of the canyon, there are 4 arches in the canyon. The first arch is about 1 mile from the trailhead. We hiked to the first arch, prior to going to the Strike Valley Overlook for late day photography. We did not have time to go any further on that visit here and still get to the Strike Valley Overlook.

We returned here to hike further into the canyon one day prior to a sunset shoot at a nearby location and again we did not have time for the full hike, so we settled for shooting at the first and second arches along the hiking route.

The canyon wall has interesting features, such as the holes eroded into the solid rock walls. There were many of these similar to the one in the photo above.

The canyon walls are steep and sheer rock along portions of the route with stains from water runoff. This green tree against the colorful canyon wall made an interesting photographic subject.

We hiked past the first arch to the second one that is know as Saddle Arch. This arch is easily visible from the canyon floor, as one rounds a bend in the canyon. It is high up on the canyon wall, requiring a steep climb up a sandy slope to get nearest to it.

I made a number of images from various vantage points. The time of day was not the best for great lighting, but it was the only time we would be here. The colorful sandstone layers add interest to the photos and geologists will enjoy viewing and studying such exposed features.

I’ve included some of the neighboring canyon wall to give a contextual feeling for the setting.

I suppose a well prepared hiker/rock climber could get to the area directly beneath and behind the arch; but that would be a dangerous undertaking for a most hikers.

On the hike out we stopped by the first arch to try to get closer photos. More on that in the next post.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 3 – Capitol Gorge

South of the Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Center at the end of the paved road is the Capitol Gorge Trailhead. We hiked a short distance down the canyon, then up a short, steep trail to check out natural water tanks formed in low places along a water drainage.

I captured a few images in the canyon in route.

Standing Tall – Black and White with Selective Colorization

Defiance – Trees atop Canyon Walls – Black and White with Selective Colorization

The snow like blobs in these photos are foamy floaters in the water.

Green Gold – Tree adjacent to the tanks – Black and White with Selective Colorization

Water flow has cut through rock forming a small arch along the occasional stream bed.

Old Visitor Register – Enhanced to bring out faded writing

Early visitors in this canyon left their names and dates high up on the canyon wall. These marking are much higher than anyone other than a giant can reach. Maybe some stood on horses or wagons to leave their mark here or maybe the canyon was not as deep many years ago?

Parched, Hopeful – Capitol Reef Desert Scene

I cannot recall where in the park this final photo was taken, but I think it was shot along the unimproved dirt road that continues past the end of the paved roadway from the Capitol Gorge Trailhead parking area.

More later,

Ken

Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 7

The longest hike we did while at the Grand Canyon North Rim was one that generally followed along the canyon rim, but was mostly in forest with occasional good views of the canyon.

The first three images contain the same canyon features with varying compositions and view points.

The tree leaning into another reminded me of a couple sharing this grand view.

The sky was mostly cloudy, as was typical during our visit, and the canyon was hazy.

Again today, there was a storm in the distance and rain threatened to catch us on the trail.

I will continue with more photos from this hike in a subsequent post.

Ken

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Tag: Canyon

Buckskin Gulch

Like this:

Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch – Part 2

Like this:

Southern Utah March 2025 – Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch, Part 1

Like this:

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 11

Like this:

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023

Like this:

Colorado Route 92 to US 50

Like this:

Black Canyon of the Gunnison – North Rim

Like this:

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 17 – Upper Muley Twist Canyon

Like this:

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 3 – Capitol Gorge

Like this:

Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 7

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: