Utah – March 2026 – Part 17

A brief look at my camera screen in the early morning, showed that I at least got star photos during the night. I always have some concerns that the program worked as planned, after setting up the camera to shoot well after dark and then retiring to bed. Unfortunately, upon reviewing those images on a big screen it was obvious that the stars were big blurry bright spots. So apparently I either accidentally shifted the focus a little, during the final set up or maybe I forgot to switch off auto focus. I think it was most likely the first, since I vaguely recall having to shift the lens back into auto focus mode for early morning sunrise shots, after realizing the first shot was not in focus. I don’t completely trust my eyesight to get really good focus, when in manual mode.

But I still have two batches of star images to process, which I will have to get to soon.

Morning Gold 1
Morning Gold 2
Early Morning Gold 3
Early Morning Light and Shadow 1
Early Morning Light and Shadow 2
Dusty Sidewalls
Early Morning Campsite View

After shooting a few early morning images, we decided it was time to move on and headed towards the Moab area. Moab has become much more popular than it was during my first few visits here. Now it is very crowded all the time it seems and the rapid growth rate is highly evident. We considered several possibilities for finding a campsite in this high demand camping area, finally selecting a small public land camping area not very far from Dead Horse Point and we were lucky enough to have two or more empty sites from which to select.

After setting up camp, we did a bit of exploring in the local area, stopping by Dead Horse Point to scout it briefly.

Dead Horse Point 1, iPhone Image

This scene reminded me of hiking in Canyonlands NP many years ago.

Dead Horse Point 2, iPhone Photo

After this brief visit to Dead Horse Point, we will return later for sunset photography.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Utah – March 2026 – Part 15

There is an arch on a bluff just off of Buckhorn Draw Road, which we stopped to check out on our way back from Little Grand Canyon.

Arch Along Buckhorn Draw Road

As we drove back along the route we had taken to get to Utah’s Little Grand Canyon, we stopped to check out a side road near a large campground, where we were considering staying; but as we explored the side road, we discovered more interesting scenery and plenty of open campsites at which to enjoy the scenery.

Our Campsite off of Mexican Mountain Road, Utah

Look closely and my Sportsmobile can be spotted near the center of this image. If just glancing at the image, the Sportsmobile might be mistaken for a natural feature.

Campsite, Mexican Mountain Road, Utah

This zoomed in image shows the campsite location a bit better.

Mexican Mountain Road, Utah, Landscape Pano 1

This pano, made from our campsite, is of geological features across the roadway.

Across the Roadway 2
Across the Roadway 3
Near Sunset

We will shoot star photographs at this location. These images were taken not only to show the local scenery, but to select compositions for night sky foregrounds.

More local images and exploration images to follow,

Ken