Utah Landscapes – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023

In late March of 2023, I traveled to Snow Canyon State Park in Utah with the intention of staying here a full week. The park features, which are impressive, are essentially located along the roadway that goes through the park. However, due to the orientation of the canyon, sunrise works for golden hour photography in some portions of the park, but sunset golden hour is either very limited or non-existent. This was a disappointment, as that greatly limited my photographic possibilities here.

After checking into my campsite, I drove towards the south exit/entrance (I had entered via the north entrance) to check out the scenery in that direction and to get a cell phone signal. There is only a weak, at best, phone signal at the campground, but a good signal at and near the south entrance.

On my way back to the campsite, I stopped to check out Jenny’s Canyon, a very short slot canyon that is accessible via a short hike from the roadway.

Eastern Canyon Wall, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

I stopped to shoot this image of the canyon wall, that I hiked towards, which is the rock formation where Jenny’s Slot Canyon is located.

Big Mouth Rock, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

I noted this rock atop a portion of the canyon wall, that I dubbed “Big Mouth Rock” for obvious reason.

Sky Slash, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Sunlight filtering down into narrow canyons can create some remarkable color contrast on the canyon walls. The image above is shot looking upwards towards the sky from within the short slot canyon.

Sky Slash 2, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Canyon Wall Details, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Usually, I find something of interest to photograph in route to my destination, but I found nothing of special interest during my first two days of the drive. Maybe I wasn’t looking intently enough and too preoccupied with getting to my stops. Although, I did see this group of deer near the entrance to my first overnight stop.

There is always at least one in a group photo that is not looking at the camera. iPhone Photo.

I’ve picked out a general location for sunrise photos tomorrow. The results are next up.

Ken

Upper Calf Creek Falls, Escalante National Monument, Utah

As a side trip from Capitol Reef National Park, we decided to hike to Upper Calf Creek Falls in the Escalante National Monument. The trailhead to this waterfall is just off of Utah Route 12 near Boulder. We traveled this route numerous times going to and from Torrey and the southern portion of Capitol Reef National Park.

The trail to the falls is only about a mile one way, but it is very steep over slick rock for the first portion, before becoming moderately level, then moderately steep just before the base of the falls. It is so steep that not only is coming back up the trail strenuous, but going down the trail takes some effort to avoid slipping and falling. There were a few places on the trail that required big steps down and up.

The information we found for the trail says the grade is 14% at the top and my son’s trail app showed as much as 20+% grade over some portions. Anyone reasonable fit can do this trail, but care is advised.

We had planned to make the round trip to the falls in about an hour. When we signed the trailhead register, we noted that the two previous hikers had taken hours on the trail, which gave us pause to consider whether much of that time was due to the strenuous nature of the trail.

Anyway, we proceeded cautiously down the trail. I knew the trip out would require me to stop to take periodic breathers, but I had no doubt that I could safely navigate down and back.

Due to the steepness and strenuous nature of the trail, I elected not to carry the weight of my heavy DSLR and lens. So the few photos in this post are via my iPhone.

Upper Calf Creek Falls and Pool, iPhone Photo

We took time at the base of the falls for photography, snacking and hydrating, before heading back to the trailhead. Our round trip time was 90 minutes, 1.5 times as long as we had anticipated. The additional 30 minutes was mostly due to the strenuous nature of the trail both going down and coming out.

We had done the trail to the Lower Calf Creek falls years ago. That trail is three times as long, but mostly on flat, sandy ground along the creek bed.

Until next time,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 25 – Bentonite Hills

Continued from Part 24:

After sundown, I continued to shoot in the dimmer light, going back to some of the earlier locations to capture the scenes in muted light.

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).

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.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 24 – Bentonite Hills

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 Tree

Bentonite Hills 4, Desert and Bentonite Hills

Scrubby Desert Vegetation, Rocks and Bentonite Hills

Hard Rock Desert and Bentonite Hills, Early Golden Hour

Bentonite Hills 5, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour

Bentonite Hills 6, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour

Bentonite Hills 7, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour

Bentonite Hills 8, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour

To be continued,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 23 – Abandoned Drilling Rig and Scouting Photography

Heading northwards along a dirt road in the northern portion of Capitol Reef National Park (actually, this is probably outside the park boundary, maybe on private land or BLM public land), is this abandoned drilling rig. I think it was a water well rig. It reminds me of the old cable tool rigs used in the very early days of oil well drilling, with its wooden mast and wooden flywheel.

The old truck body has been used as an artist canvas and for target shooting by someone or someones.

There was a watering facility near this old rig for a local cattle herd. Some of the cattle watched me as I watched them to be sure none of them took exception to my presence.

One never knows what one might find in the great open spaces of the western U.S.

Desert Overlook, Capitol Reef National Park, iPhone Photo

Painted Hills, Capitol Reef National Park, iPhone Photo

Thanks for following,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 22 – Cathedral Valley Exploration

My readers have already seen many photos of some of the fantastic, massive geological features in the Cathedral Valley portion of Capitol Reef National Park. The long loop road through this area passes many such features. We did not have time to explore around all of these and certainly not time to visit each area for golden hour sunrise or sunset photography.

But we did stop and walk around at some of the more easily accessible areas near the roadway. Often, I would use my iPhone camera to capture the scenes, rather than lugging around a heavy DSLR and lens.

Desert Vortex – Sky and Earth, iPhone Photo

Desert Sentinels/Commander and Sidekick, iPhone Photo

Until next time,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 20 – Arches

Continued from Part 19:

Near the double arch along the 4 wheel drive to the Strike Valley Overlook and Upper Muley Twist Canyon Trailhead is another arch.

A quick glance from the roadway at this feature and one might think this is a single arch. Getting a closer look, after hiking up a sandy bank, reveals a double arch.

These second and third images helps reveal the second arch, but it is still not completely clear.

This view point now clearly reveals two arches.

But wait! Moving around a bit, clearly shows a third small arch! Not only that, but a close inspection of the large, front arch and some imagination reveals what appear to be two animals engaged in a fight. Focus on the center portion of this arch and one can imagine the face and mouth of a dog or similar creature biting down on the adjacent rock, which resembles some other creature with legs formed by the second arch and a portion of the rock on the far right.

That’s it for now,

Ken.

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 19 – Arches

On the return from Upper Muley Twist Canyon trailhead towards the Burr Trail Road, we stopped at arches we had spotted along the 4 wheel drive road to the trailhead. There are no safe ways to get very close to these arches, but one can hike up sandy banks to find a number of vantage points from which to shoot from below the arches.

This is a double arch, which may not be readily apparent at first glance.

Small portions of blue sky are visible below the two back to back arches in the photo above.

Nearby is a triple arch, which will be the subject of the next post.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 17 – Upper Muley Twist Canyon

Upper Muley Twist Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park is accessed via a three mile four wheel drive road from the Burr Trail Road west of the the point where that road climbs out of Strike Valley. A high clearance vehicle is recommended for this roadway, as it is rugged with some sizable rocks that one must navigate over. However, we saw one or two Subaru Outbacks, that are capable vehicles, at the trailhead. So experienced drivers might be able to safely navigate this road with such vehicles; but definitely, ordinary, low clearance vehicles should not attempt this roadway. The road is narrow in portions with room for only one vehicle.

We were on this roadway several times during this visit to Capitol Reef National Park. The trailheads for both the Strike Valley Overlook and Upper Muley Twist Canyon begin at the parking area, which is large enough to accommodate at least 4 vehicles.

The full loop hike of the canyon is a nine mile round trip. The canyon hike was secondary to our purpose for being here, so we never tried to do the full hike. According to the map of the canyon, there are 4 arches in the canyon. The first arch is about 1 mile from the trailhead. We hiked to the first arch, prior to going to the Strike Valley Overlook for late day photography. We did not have time to go any further on that visit here and still get to the Strike Valley Overlook.

We returned here to hike further into the canyon one day prior to a sunset shoot at a nearby location and again we did not have time for the full hike, so we settled for shooting at the first and second arches along the hiking route.

The canyon wall has interesting features, such as the holes eroded into the solid rock walls. There were many of these similar to the one in the photo above.

The canyon walls are steep and sheer rock along portions of the route with stains from water runoff. This green tree against the colorful canyon wall made an interesting photographic subject.

We hiked past the first arch to the second one that is know as Saddle Arch. This arch is easily visible from the canyon floor, as one rounds a bend in the canyon. It is high up on the canyon wall, requiring a steep climb up a sandy slope to get nearest to it.

I made a number of images from various vantage points. The time of day was not the best for great lighting, but it was the only time we would be here. The colorful sandstone layers add interest to the photos and geologists will enjoy viewing and studying such exposed features.

I’ve included some of the neighboring canyon wall to give a contextual feeling for the setting.

I suppose a well prepared hiker/rock climber could get to the area directly beneath and behind the arch; but that would be a dangerous undertaking for a most hikers.

On the hike out we stopped by the first arch to try to get closer photos. More on that in the next post.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 16

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.

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.

The gnarly, fallen old tree in the foreground seems to mimic the rock layers behind it.

I made a number of images with these rocks in the foreground. I’ve only included a couple of those in this post.

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.

This concludes today’s shoot,

Ken

Tag: Utah Landscapes

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023

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Upper Calf Creek Falls, Escalante National Monument, Utah

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 25 – Bentonite Hills

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 24 – Bentonite Hills

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 23 – Abandoned Drilling Rig and Scouting Photography

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 22 – Cathedral Valley Exploration

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 20 – Arches

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 19 – Arches

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 17 – Upper Muley Twist Canyon

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 16

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