Utah – March 2026 – Part 1 – Plan C

It is spring (or almost) and time for another spring trip with my oldest son. Traveling in the U.S. for outdoor activities in the spring, one always has to consider the weather at potential destinations.

The initial plan this year was to fly into Portland, Oregon, drive to Cannon Beach for photography along the Oregon coastline, knowing that the typical rainy weather along the coast might result in last minute changes, and it did. The forecast for the time interval available for this trip was for cool, rainy, overcast weather every day, which can offer some opportunities for photography, but might not be so pleasant every day. So cancel plan A. Move to Plan B.

Plan B was to go to the same area as last year, where there were still some possibilities to see and photograph in some locales not visited during previous trips. Then a  few days before executing Plan B, Plan C came up. Plan C was to explore an area of Utah seen superficially and partially, when passing through on the way to other destinations. Plan C was executed.

I drove two long days to reach the first destination, a first come first serve, free camping area on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) public land not far off of I70 west of Green River, Utah. This area is said to be popular with off roaders and I wanted to be sure to get here to find a campsite before the weekend crowd arrived. As it turned out, while there were a few scattered campers, including those hauling their offroad vehicles, there was no large crowd and I easily found a suitable campsite, somewhat secluded from others.

Sunset Panorama

I shot the sunset panorama standing on the roof rack of my vehicle. If one looks closely, the tops of a few other campers can be seen in this image.

My son met me here to begin our exploration, making this our initial home base. Before he arrived, I had some time to walk around this area, shooting desert scenes with my iPhone. So stay tuned for part 2 to see some of those images.

Thanks for following,

Ken

 

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 10

It was a cloudy, overcast morning for this outing in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Niche

I’m always amazed at how some desert shrubs can survive with very little in the way of actual soil in which to put down roots.

Rocky Life
Scarred Monolith
Will it Rain?
Rock Spine
On The Rocks
Rock Portals
Rocky Little Canyon
Beginning or Ending?

A narrow wash with an apparent dead end, but is it the end of this canyon in the making or is this wash continuing to grow into a canyon?  I suspect erosion will continue at a very slow rate and this short, shallow wash will grow into a deeper and longer canyon over a geologic time interval.

Cholla Sentinel

This was supposed to be a sunrise shoot, but as one can see there was little sunshine early this morning.

Stay tuned for more of Valley of Fire,

Ken