Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 9 – Cathedral Valley

Even more Cathedral Valley photographs,

Pyramid

This is not really a pyramid shape, but it looks that way from this point of view.

Emerging

Sometime in the distant future there will be more monoliths here.

Big Brother
Three Rocks
Monolith Production Line
4 Rocks

Until next time,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 8 – Cathedral Valley

More Cathedral Valley photos,

Emanating
Wondrous Desert
Dominant Power
Magical Desert

I know these photos are similar, but those clouds that seem to be emanating from the monolithic rock, emphasizing its powerful magic had to be captured in numerous compositions (I have even more, that I will not impose upon the reader).

More later,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 6 – Cathedral Valley

Continued,

Volcanic Ridge beneath Blue and White Sky
Volcanic Ridge Blues
Crooked Sky
Volcanic Ridge and Rock Layers

Even more Cathedral Valley to come, but I will be traveling for awhile, so there may be some breaks in my posting schedule.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 5 – Cathedral Valley

This is a continuation of photographs shot in Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park shot in March of 2022.

Temple of the Moon
Temple of the Sun
Desert Dry
Temples of the Sun and Moon
Pandemonium
Serene Blue and Red
Gypsum Sinkhole

This sinkhole is deeper than this photo makes it appear.  Falling in would be undesirable.

Sky Line

To be continued,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 4 – Cathedral Valley

One of the most fascinating areas in Capitol Reef National Park is Cathedral Valley, located in the northeastern portion of the park.  There are two access routes into/through this area from Utah Highway 24.  The access closest to the visitor center requires a river ford, while the other, nearer Hanksville, does not require a river ford and gets into the most scenic portion much sooner than the river ford access point.

The geology in this area is varied and great for photography.  We visited numerous times and only scratched the surface of the photographic opportunities here.  I will devote a number of post to this area.

Cathedral Valley

Initially, we hit the most popular areas in this very large valley and scouted for the places we wanted to get to at golden hours, which was a challenge, given the many miles of driving to get here from our lodging and the limited time we had to work this very large area.

Cathedral Valley Monoliths
Cathedral Valley Monoliths

I see opportunities to organize my photographs of this area into themes, but rather than take the organizational time required for that at this time, I’m posting images in the order that they were taken.

Desert Shadows – Black and White
Desert Sand, Vegetation and Shadows – Black and White
Desert Life – Black and White
Dead Grass and Shadows – Black and White
Sunburst – Black and White

Enough for now, more later,

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.

Capitol Gorge and Hiker/Photographer
Capitol Gorge
Standing Tall – Black and White with Selective Colorization
Defiance – Trees atop Canyon Walls – Black and White with Selective Colorization
Reflection in a Natural Water Tank

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

Water Tank
Icy Water Tank and Arch
Green Gold – Tree adjacent to the tanks – Black and White with Selective Colorization
Arch below Tanks

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

 

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 2 – Strike Valley

Capitol Reef National Park in Utah is a narrow, but long park.  During our first visit here years ago, we saw a limited portion of the park centered near the most visited area around the park headquarters.  We were determined to see more during this visit and consequently had to spend much more time driving many miles to and from others areas of the park.  So much of our time here was spent in a scouting mode, rather than being in a particular place at the best time for landscape photography.

Strike Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

This view of Strike Valley is in the southern portion of Capitol Reef National Park, accessible via a 3 mile, rocky, 4 wheel drive road, followed by a 0.3 mile hike through forest and over slick rock.  The photos taken here were during a scouting visit, when it was mostly overcast with rain threatening, so the light was uniform with interesting clouds.

Strike Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

I paused along the quick hike back to the trailhead to snap photos of the clouds overhead with occasional drops of rain coming down.

Clouds Moving In, Rain Threatens

Until next time,

Ken

 

 

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 1

In late March of 2022, I drove to my oldest son’s home north of Denver, Colorado and we drove together to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.  We lodged in the small town of Torrey, just west of the park.

Since we arrived late in the day, we only got out for a brief visit to the park visitor center and a stop at a nearby overlook trail, where we shot a few handheld images.

Past Prime
Monochrome Tree

The sky was overcast, the light well suited for muted monochrome images.

Rock Trees
Abstract (Rock Texture)
Old and Gnarly
Truncated

This old tree stump looked different, depending upon the angle of view.

Dancing among the Rocks

The color image of this old tree stump with this angle of view reminded me of a dancer’s torso, but when I showed this one to my grandson, he saw two dogs back to back.  I have to admit that I had a similar initial interpretation, but only seeing one blunt snout dog with long ears trailing behind it.  I still prefer the dancer interpretation.

80% Expended
Life on the Edge

I have not had time to go through all of my photos from this trip and just barely got time to write this initial post, more will follow; but I may not be able to keep up with my preferred schedule of two posts per week.  (Every trip leads to much to do to catch up at home).

Be safe and well,

Ken

 

 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas, July 2021, Part 2

As sunset approached, I hiked back into the area around my campsite with my DSLR for a sunset shoot.  As usual, I went out earlier than I thought necessary.  Even so, my timing was off.  Some of the features that I had anticipated shooting, were already in shadow, well before sunset.  So I had to give up on some of the preplanned shot locations.

Golden Hour, Palo Duro Canyon

My first stop was at this vey tilted rock or hoodoo nearest to the campground.  It was in full late day sunlight and I could see that there were already shadows on the big hillside in the distance.

Cacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon

I found this batch of prickly pear cacti that were still getting some late day rays, with the red hill behind them mostly in shadow.

Tiny Desert Tree and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon

Even though the light was much less than I had planned to see, I like this composition with the small, weakly lit tree and the big red hill in the background.

Late Day Deep in Palo Duro Canyon

I like the sinuous leading line formed by this drainage with green grass contrasting with the red earth and the change in lighting from the right side to the left of this image

Boulders and Red Hills, Palo Duro Canyon
Moon over Tilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro Canyon
Desert Evening

I converted this final image, made from the top of the hill from which I had photographed during my scouting hike, to black and white, to get a more dramatic late day image.

I tried capturing more images of the moon over this hilltop, shooting from a location on the side of the hill with tilted rocks pointing at the moon, but I could not get a good image with the lens I had chosen to use today.

Thanks for following,

Ken

 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas, July 2021, Part 1

On my return trip from the Grand Canyon North Rim, my first overnight stay was near Gallup, New Mexico at Red Rocks Park.  There were large red rock formations around the park and I thought this would be a good place to check out.  It was not a bad place to stay for one night, but much less interesting than I had anticipated.  At least the weather was mild, due to overcast and rain during the day, just before I arrived at the park, then a booming thunderstorm at night.

My second overnight was at Texas’s Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo.  I had been through the park many years ago, but never spent much time here.  My campsite was deep into the canyon.  Even though it was late July, the weather was only mildly hot in the day and cooled down nicely at night.

After settling in, I walked around the area to scout potential locations for sunset and possibly sunrise photography.  All of the scouting images in this post were made with my iPhone.

The Sportsmobile in Palo Duro Canyon Campsite.
Small Cacti in Palo Duro Canyon

As in most western US deserts or arid places, cacti abound and one needs to watch where one steps.

Dinosaur Grafiti, Palo Duro Canyon

Visitors to this area have a penchant for carving into the rocks, which I assume must not be very hard rocks.  I found this image of a dinosaur in a narrow space between large boulders.

Rock Grafitti, Palo Duro Canyon

Many of the boulders near the campsite had graffiti, initials, names and/or other scratched in symbols.

Rock Signings, Palo Duro Canyon
Boulders and Hillside, Palo Duro Canyon
Boulders, Palo Duro Canyon

I captured images, testing compositions and to use as reminders, at locations that I thought might be good to return to with my DSLR at sunset.

Palo Duro Canyon Scene
Palo Duro Canyon Topagraphy
Life on a Rock, Palo Duro Canyon
Cacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon
Cacti and Red Hills, Palo Duro Canyon
Scrubby Vegetation and Red Hills, Palo Duro Canyon
Tilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro Canyon
Tilted Hoodoo Palo Duro Canyon
Hilltop view near campsite, Palo Duro Canyon
Palo Duro Canyon Pano

I posted this panoramic image to Flickr, not because I thought it was a great image, but to share with others that may want to know what the area looks like and because I intended to use it in my blog and wanted to have a link to a larger image.  Much to my surprise, this image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page and is now my most viewed and faved image on Flickr.  Maybe I’m just physically abusing myself carrying around that heavy DSLR camera and other gear, when a simple iPhone image garners this much attention.

Rock Registry, Palo Duro Canyon

Apparently, lots of people have scrambled up the steep slope to the top of this hill, since the boulders there all had some initials, names and dates carved into them.

Stay tuned for the sunset shoot here,

Ken