UTAH: Part 6 - Driving to Monument Valley

Sunday, we checked out of our hotel and took a quick side trip along the Colorado River. We returned to Moab, for a quick lunch and to fuel our Jeep Patriot, then we headed south to Monument Valley. Technically, we are just over the UTAH state line, in Arizona.

We checked into our hotel "The View" which is appropriately named. We've got our cameras set up on the balcony and intend to shoot the night sky with the 3 Sisters rock formations silhouetted in the foreground. The morning sunrise should be lined up just right so we'll see what we get.

Here is a short video of our drive and at the end a glimpse of our room and the view from our balcony.

UTAH: Part 5 - Canyonlands National Park

Saturday, we visited Canyonlands National Park which has a very different perspective than Arches NP. You are up high on flat ground looking down into the Green River and Colorado River Canyons. We started the day at Mesa Arch at sunrise along with 40 other photographers. The morning sun bounces of the canyon wall and lights the arch from the underside with the most wonderful orange glow. It was stunning! We did a short but steep hike to one overlook, but most of the places we shot you drive to and take a short walk.

We finished the day at nearby Dead Horse State park overlook for sunset. Wow, what a view. Another fantastic day of photographing and enjoying the wide open spaces of UTAH.

Tomorrow we leave Moab and head south to Monument Valley on the boarder of Utah and Arizona. Should be fun!

UTAH: Part 4 - Arches National Park Day 2

Here is a video summary of Friday, the second day of sight seeing in UTAH. The video starts with our sunrise shoot at the LaSal Mountain overlook and the massive red rocks behind us being painted in the morning light. We then returned to the park later that evening to hike the trail to Landscape Arch stopping along the way to visit two other arches. It was a wonderful hike, but it wasn't the sunset location we had hoped for. We did capture some of the evening light on the distant bluff and mountains. It was a beautiful day!

I'm working on another video of Saturday's adventures. I should have it posted soon.

Thanks!

UTAH: Part 3 - Arches National Park

Here is a quick snap from the morning sunrise shoot in Arches National Park. I took this with my Sony P&S. This was taken from the Lasal Mountain overlook just as the sun peeked over the mountain tops.

We returned to Arches later in the day for a nice hike to Landscape arch and more shooting. Tomorrow we get up really early to head to Canyonlands National Park. I've been so busy shooting both images and video, that I have not had time to do a lot of editing.

We are having a great time here in Moab, UT. I'll post more when I get a chance.

UTAH: Part 2 - Arches National Park

Thursday was Day 1 of sightseeing of our trip to the canyonlands of southern UTAH and northern AZ. We began the day in beautiful Arches National Park. Our first shoot was the sunrise at Turret arch. We entered the park in nearly complete darkness, with just a hint of morning light. We setup near North Window arch and shot back toward Turret arch and waited for it to be washed in the early morning light.

After the sunrise, we walked around the Window area photographing various things before driving to Delicate Arch to scout our sunset location. We made the short but steep (0.5) hike to the upper overlook across the canyon from Delicate Arch. Then it was back into Moab for lunch and a brief nap before heading back later that day for our sunset shoot.

We arrived at the trail head a couple of hours before sunset. We hiked the 1.5 mile trail which isn't too strenuous for folks that are in shape. But for us out of shape folks carrying gear, it took a little longer than we would have liked. But we persisted and arrived just in time to setup our gear and catch our breath before the last 30 minutes of golden sunlight painted the Delicate Arch and the distant peaks of the La Sal mountains in the distant background. Totally worth the effort to get there.

The video below captures a nice summary of the day.

UTAH: Getting There

Sandra and I finally are taking a real vacation! The destination is the canyon land of southern Utah and northern Arizona. Our plan is to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Bryce's Canyon, and Zion National Parks.

Our goal is to have fun and to learn more about photographing sunrise's and sunsets while enjoying the beautiful landscapes. So we've packed our cameras, gear, and computer. It should be great fun and you are welcome to follow along with us by checking this blog.

Wed. morning we flew direct from Nashville to Las Vegas. We chose to begin our journey in Moab, UT, near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. That way, we got the long drive part of the trip out of the way and will be working our way back toward Las Vegas over the next 11 days. The long drive to Moab was made better by the rugged and beautiful scenery. Here is short video shot through the windshield of our Jeep Patriot rental. The video has a music track so set your speaker volume the way you like it and enjoy!

I'll try to post regularly, but I'm not sure how much video I can upload. So far, my connection has been a little slow. The video upload ran all night. It's now Thursday morning and we are up early to catch the sunrise. More later.....