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.
Mind the Step 3The Bend Ahead 2
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.
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.
We were informed about a rock feature not far from our White House Campground by another visitor. So one afternoon we hiked to that feature from our campsite.
The hike was fairly short and relatively easy, requiring about 2/10 – 3/10 of a mile hike on the road into the campground, then another 1/4 mile or so in a sandy, dry creek bed.
This rock feature is called The Nautilus, due to its twisting opening through a rock. That slope at the base of the hiker is much steeper than it looks in this image and the loose sand in it makes it a bit treacherous to walk up. Then there is another climb out on the other side that is not as steep. [This first image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore Page].
The Nautilus, Lower EndThe Nautilus, Looking down the lower slope
This image gives a better indication of the narrowness of the lower section. Climbing up the narrow channel and making the sharp turn can be a little tricky with the slippery sand on the rock. At least this is true for adults. Small kids can easily and quickly navigate the slope and turn. It is easier and safer for us old kids to go around to the top, rather than going through the crevice; but I went through, anyway. I’m told by others that small kids like to slide down through this feature. Old kids might accidentally slide down and through, if they are not careful.
The Nautilus, Lower Wall DetailsThe Nautilus, View Through
Hugging the wall on the left, it is possible to get a view through to the other side of this twisted rock crevice.
Base camp for my spring 2025 photo outing was White House Trailhead and Campground. This site is on BLM land south of Highway 89, near Big Water, Utah, west of Page, Arizona.
I don’t know why the name “White House”. Maybe it is because of the white rocks at the campsite and all around this area.
When choosing a campsite, I use online apps and websites with reviews and photos from the campsites. I’m nearly always disappointed in the photos. It seems most campers and RVers mostly like to photograph their tents and RVs in a campsite, maybe the facilities and signs, but often don’t photograph much of the area around the campsite.
The White House Campground is not a large one, with only a few sites suitable for RVs; but it is in a beautiful location with massive rock features. There are more walk in tent sites past the end of the road at the campground. The pit toilets are well maintained, too. The campsites are on a first come, first serve basis, but there were plenty of open sites, when I arrived. Payment for the campsites is via an automated kiosk at the site. No need for a check or cash, as in the old days. Now a credit card is all that is accepted and discount cards such as Senior Passes for the National Parks and Public Lands are honored.
Sportsmobile in Campsite
After setting up in my chosen site, I walked around with my iPhone to capture a few images of the area.
It seems that my March road trips always involve some sort of drama. This year was no different. The first day of my trip was extremely windy. Driving through the Texas Panhandle towards Amarillo, I held my speed down to 55-65mph due to the strong, steady and gusting winds. In spite of my reduced speed, the headwinds resulted in the lowest fuel economy that I have experienced in my Sportsmobile, which does not get very good mileage to begin with. I saw 4 eighteen wheelers laying on their sides along the way and one other sizeable trailer of some sort on its side. The crosswind assist software in my vehicle kicked in at least once.
I made it to Amarillo, safely, where I stayed overnight.
The second day of my journey was better. It was still windy, but not so much as the day before. Although, I did drive through intermittent rain, sleet and snow.
The snow was heavy enough at times to reduce the visibility, but not to such an extent as to inhibit travel.
I-40 East of Albuquerque, NM, iPhone Photo
One of my favorite portions of I-40 west of Amarillo is that approaching Albuquerque, NM, with its gently rolling hills and scenic views. West of Albuquerque, near Grants and Gallup are attractive red rock outcrops which are another portion of this drive that I like.
I spent my second night in Gallup, NM, where the temperature got down to about 17 degrees overnight.
Travel the third day was much more pleasant, mostly sunny and clear. Although, from my overnight location, my directions took me along many miles of rough back roads on Native American lands, where the speed limit was 25mph for miles, before finally getting up to 35mph for many more miles. I felt like I was speeding, when I finally got into a 55mph zone.
Much of my travel on this third travel day in New Mexico and Arizona was through Native American lands, where the speed limits are often quite lower than elsewhere, but the scenery is often beautiful for mile after mile.
I know that I’ve driven this route previously, but maybe it has been so many years that I don’t recall the scenes. For many miles, I could see a big rock feature far in the distance. Sometimes as the road changed directions, I lost sight of it for miles; but eventually my route took me right past it. So of course, I had to stop, hike up a hillside to photograph it. I later learned that this feature is called “Church Rock” and the creek just west of it is “Church Creek”.
Sometimes the sky puts on a show with a display that has to be captured.
There are always so many sight in route that I would like to photograph, but if I stopped for everything I want to photograph, I would never make my destination in the time interval alloted for travel.
I shot as the shadows creeped upward on the rock formations, pushing away the golden sunset light, so there are subtle differences between some of these images.
While waiting for sunset golden hour at the edge of the Merced River at Yosemite Valley, I continued to make a few iPhone images of the scene in front of me, experimenting with compositional variations.
Bridal Veil Falls is visible in the distance across the river from this location and is seen in many of my compositions here, but usually as a small part of the image. I zoomed in to get this shot.
Looking ahead to the next post with these last two images, after shooting the golden hour with my DSLR, I made a few images with my iPhone as the golden hour ended.
Golden Hour Reflection in Merced River, iPhone Photo
For my final evening shoot in Yosemite, I decided to check out locations in the valley, finally choosing the Yosemite Valley View Point.
I arrived early to be sure I could find a place to park in the small pull out and walked around the area with my iPhone scouting shooting locations before I retrieved my tripod and DSLR from my vehicle.
Yosemite Valley, iPhone Photo
I also experimented with test compositions, using my iPhone camera to do so.
I finally picked a place at the very edge of the Merced River at the parking lot. I would have like to have shot from farther done the river, but there were people sitting where they would be in most of my shots and lots of visitors wandering around that area, too. So I figured shooting across the river and back up the river from the parking lot area would avoid most such disturbances.
I set my tripod legs on rocks in the edge of the river and I had a rock to sit on while I waited for golden hour. While I waited, I made more images with my iPhone and a few test compositions with my DSLR.
After my early morning photography, my wife and I returned to the park to drive to Glacier Point. It is a long drive, but well worth the time, as the views from the stops along this route are spectacular.
Half Dome, Sub Dome, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls – iPhone Photo
I shot with both my iPhone and my DSLR with 24-70mm lens and 80-400mm lens with an extension tube. It was not optimal time for the best light for landscape photography, but this was the only opportunity I would have to be here for the foreseeable future, so I captured many images while I could do so.
Sub Dome blends into the background in some of these shots, but it is just above and to the left of the two waterfalls, which might appear small in these images, but those are quite large.
Sub Dome and Waterfalls, iPhone Photo
Sub Dome towers above Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.
The bridge over the stream feeding Nevada falls and the many people around the top of the falls only became apparent upon using the 80-400mm lens.
Nevada Falls 2Vernal Falls 2
There were some people standing near the top of Vernal Falls in this image, but I removed them in Lightroom. I think there may be other people in the far background, but I did not attempt removing those small, fuzzy objects.
These images are representative of the views from Glacier Point and Washburn Point overlooks.
On my final afternoon in Sedona in August, 2024, I decided to go back to Bell Rock and to take the trail up Bell Rock to shoot at sunset.
There were still tourist about, but not so many as during the middle of the day. I’m guessing most tourist had been out during the middle of the day and were back in town for dinner at this late time of the day.
The Bell Rock trail is a wide, gently sloped, gravely path at the beginning and becomes more rocky and steep fairly quickly. Yet, it is mostly easy, with a few big steps, with one notable exception.
I got to one point, where I was not sure where the official trail went. There was a big rock in front of me with an obvious trail marker on top of the rock. There were a couple of young, female hikers, sitting on a rock there, enjoying a late day meal. I asked them about the trail and they indicated that it had to continue on top of the big rock, but they could see no safe way they could continue. One either had to somehow climb the rock, which had a step like rock at its base or navigate a narrow crevice on the other side of the rock. They said it was their first day in this area and they did not want to risk an injury and not be able to enjoy the rest of their stay here, so they stopped at this point.
I considered my options and decided I agreed with them about the risk of continuing on the officially marked route. I looked around, considered and ruled out another option, before deciding I saw a possible route that I could access by backtracking a little.
That alternate route was still not as easy as it looked from a distance. It involved climbing up onto two rock ledges. I laid my tripod and camera up upon each of those ledges in turn and climbed up on my hands and knees (and those hard rocks hurt old knees). After a little more navigation, I got back onto the official trail. Now I had to hope that I could safely get back down.
I shot this panorama with my iPhone. The rock features from right to left are: Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Lee Mountain and unidentified ones on the far left.
Upon getting as high up on the Bell Rock slope as I could safely do, it was still well before sunset, yet most of Bell Rock was already in the shade of features to the west. It was obvious that the light illuminating the very peak of Bell Rock was the best “Golden Hour Light” that I would get today. So I made a couple of images and moved around on the rock ledge below this feature to photography the other local features.
This wraps up my photography in the area around Sedona, Arizona in August of 2024.
Thanks for following,
Ken
P.S. Obviously, I made it back down safely, otherwise this post would not exist. I took the official trail down, sliding down that big rock on my rear end until my feet reached the step rock at its base.
