Tag: U.S. Southwest

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 11 – Strike Valley

We returned to the southern portion of Capitol Reef National Park to photograph Strike Valley in the late afternoon with the intention of photographing from somewhere along the switchbacks (numerous sharp turns on the roadway as it climbs steeply from the valley).  There were no safe and suitable places to park along the switchbacks, so we settled for shooting from an area above the switchbacks.

Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Strike Valley and Beyond
Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Twisted 1
Twisted 2

In viewing some of these photographs now, I’m thinking some could benefit from cropping portions of the sky, but when I edited these, I was wanting to show the big open sky.  Maybe that was a mistake, but I’m not going to change these now.

More later,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 10 – Cathedral Valley

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, Utah
Monoliths, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Sun (in right background), Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Downcast
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Sun framed by smaller rocks, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Sun, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temple 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, Utah
Temple of the Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Temples of the Sun and Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Until next time,

Ken