After a day of browsing and walking around in Ouray and Telluride, quaint, old Colorado tourist towns, we had dinner in Ridgway. I had hoped to be able to rush up the highway toward or over the Dallas Divide from Ridgway, after dinner for sunset photography, but we were a little late getting out and the service was slow at our restaurant. By the time we finished dinner, it was too late to go anywhere. Arriving back at our lodging and resigned to having lost my opportunity for sunset photography today, I hoisted my camera backpack, grabbed my tripod and camera and began to walk into the lodge. Then I noted golden sunset light on the nearest mountaintops. So I jogged down the road past the inn to get past other buildings, power lines and trees to try to get into a location to shoot the rapidly changing scene before the light faded away.
EventideEventide 2Day’s Final PerformanceFinaleMoon, Sunset Clouds and Fading Mountain LightDay’s End
As the sunset light faded away, I walked back towards the inn, stopping to photograph grass and wildflowers in the dim evening light.
Grass and WildflowersGrass 1Grass 2ProgressionFuzzy, old head
Staring at this old tree I see what appears to be a fierce guardian of the hills, rising up from the desert sand, spreading its tentacles and roaring from its upper, dark center. (Viewing on a large screen can help viewers see what I see, or else maybe I’m off my tree).
ContortionistTwistedBentonite Hills 15Rest Time
This concludes the Capitol reef portion of this trip. I’ve just got a few other miscellaneous items and experiences from this trip to share.
Bentonite Hills 1, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree
On the final day of our time in Capitol Reef National Park, we photographed around some of the many bentonite hills in the northern portion of the park and/or along the roadway into Cathedral Valley. The area where we photographed may actually be outside the park boundary on BLM or private land. We had driven past these hills numerous times during out trips into and out of Cathedral Valley.
Bentonite Hills 2, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree
There were a number of old, gnarly trees in this area, so I used those and other desert vegetation as foreground for photographs of the colorful hills.
Bentonite Hills 3, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old TreeBentonite Hills 4, Desert and Bentonite HillsScrubby Desert Vegetation, Rocks and Bentonite HillsHard Rock Desert and Bentonite Hills, Early Golden HourBentonite Hills 5, Bentonite Hills Golden HourBentonite Hills 6, Bentonite Hills Golden HourBentonite Hills 7, Bentonite Hills Golden HourBentonite Hills 8, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour
Arriving at the area above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, overlooking Strike Valley, we hastened to find quick compositions before the late day light disappeared.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
We were fortunate to get golden hour sunset light on portions of the foreground rocks for a brief interval, before the foreground went entirely into shadow.
A La Georgia O’keeffe
The repeating Vs in the image above remind me of themes or patterns often seen in Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork that she did in in the New Mexico area near her home. The Vs begin in the old dead tree, continue with the intersection of the rock formations behind it and at the notch in the opposite valley wall in the background.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
The gnarly, fallen old tree in the foreground seems to mimic the rock layers behind it.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
I made a number of images with these rocks in the foreground. I’ve only included a couple of those in this post.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
Likewise, I captured a number of images similar to these two, getting a portion of the Burr Trail Road, going down into the valley. As a reminder, clicking on the photos with embedded links will take you to the photo on Flickr and viewing on a large screen will better show the details in the images.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
After shooting at the Strike Valley Overlook, we retreated back to the intersection of the the 4 wheel drive road and Burr Trail Road to shoot a window in a rock near that intersection.
I hiked along a stream bed to get better views of the window.
Window in Rock, just off of the Burr Trail Road, Capitol Reef National Park.
The window is so far away from this shooting area that it appears to be much smaller than it actually is, so the foreground scene dominates these wide angle shots.
Window 2Highs and Lows
I scrambled up a very steep slick rock slope to get the photo above and a few of the others here.
Elemental Wounds
The canyon walls along the stream had some interesting texture and features.
Rock OnPillar of SupportSculptedEndurance
Back at the open area around a parking area just off of Burr Trail Road, I looked for foreground objects to include in front of the distant window.
High Desert ViewDesert RocksTree Bone Dry
None of these shots turned out to be outstanding (although, I do like the vertical composition that I had to work hardest to get, climbing a steep slope), so we abandoned this area and headed towards an area overlooking Strike Valley above the Burr Trail Switchbacks, hoping to get there before the sunlight disappeared.
This is a continuation of a late afternoon shoot at Strike Valley Overlook in Capitol Reef National Park.
The EdgeUndulationsShadow Remains
This old tree skeleton provided a number of compositional possibilities. I think this one is the best photo I got here. If there were only a few clouds in the sky…
Evening RestLife on Edge
I had hoped to get some of these compositions with sunset light on the foreground, but this area very quickly went into shadow before the best of the late day light.
Rock ClimbersStrike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket FoldStrike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket FoldFadingDay’s EndReceding
The trail head for Upper Muley Twist Canyon and the Strike Valley Overlook both begin at the end of a three mile, rugged, high clearance, 4 wheel drive road.
There are at least four arches in Upper Muley Twist Canyon in the southern portion of Capitol Reef. The full loop hike of this canyon is a nine mile round trip. Today, our primary destination was the Strike Valley Overlook, which we had scouted earlier in our visit. We had just enough time before sunset to hike to the first arch, which is about a mile from the trailhead.
The first arch is easily missed. It is high up on the canyon wall, does not stand out sharply from the surroundings, and it is obscured by rocks and vegetation along the stream bed. We spotted the arch, though it was not easily accessible and we had no time today to try to find a route to a good vantage point for getting the best photos. The shot above is taken from a sandy bank surrounded by trees and brush just above the stream bed. We resolved to save any more exploration in this canyon for another day and hiked back towards the trailhead and the Strike Valley Overlook trail.
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket FoldStrike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket FoldStrike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
There are high rock outcrops to the west of this overlook area, so the late day shadows encroach rapidly, putting much of the area and the valley in shadow well before the best of golden hour.
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket FoldStrike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
This overlook area sits atop the geological feature called the Waterpocket Fold, which runs for miles in the park.
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket FoldLinear Features on the Waterpocket Fold
This natural, linear, geological feature looks like a shrub lined walkway.
A Very Small Portion of the Massive Waterpocket FoldResting Place
This old tree remnant, resting at the base of a small rock drop off, reminded me of a line from a German poem that I had to memorize in college. Amazingly, I can still remember the complete poem decades later. The last line translated from the original German: Just wait, soon you too will rest.
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
An old, dead tree and its shadow were good foreground objects, so this appears in a number of my compositions here.
Late one day we decided to shoot from one of the overlook areas near the visitors’ center. I shot from a little before golden hour until only the clouds on the distant horizon were illuminated and the color faded away. These are the best of the photos I obtained.
View from a Capitol Reef OverlookThe PathEarth and SkyPlanet EarthRed PlanetLate Day View from a Capitol Reef OverlookSky Mute
I will continue to test my readers patience with even more photos from Capitol Reef National Park’s Cathedral Valley.
The photographs in this post are all taken around the features called “Temple of the Sun” and “Temple of the Moon”.
Monoliths, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahMonoliths, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Sun (in right background), Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahDowncastTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Sun framed by smaller rocks, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
These photos were all taken late in the afternoon. The high ridge to the west of these features blocked much of the golden hour light, so essentially all of the foreground objects were already in shadows by the time the best golden hour light illuminated the large monoliths.
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTemples of the Sun and Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
After my unsatisfying photographic outing in Yellowwood State Forest, I waited for sunset on a little boat dock that barely jutted into Yellowwood Lake. It was mostly calm and the lake surface smooth and reflective of the sky and surroundings.
Clouds and Lake
The photographer and young couple, that I had encountered as I returned from my woodland hike, had walked past me and into the area on the right side of the photo above. I had to watch carefully to keep them out of my photo, even though I doubt that they would have been very noticeable, anyway.
I made a series of photos as the light, sky, clouds and reflections in the lake surface changed.
Softly Reflected
There were small, almost inconspicuous plants or floating, natural object in the water that made subtle foreground in my compositions. These photos are best view on a large screen to appreciate the details.
Yellowwood Lake Fall ReflectionsRadial SunsetRadial CloudsYellowwood Sunset
I alternated shooting directions from along the lake to across the lake as sunset approached. The forest blocked the actual sunset, but the cloud color and lighting changed as the minutes ticked by.
Yellowwood LakeRadial
This end of the day shoot was much more satisfying than the hike in the forest, so I’m glad that I decided to hang out here for sunset.
