This past week, I’ve been gone on a road-trip through Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Along the trip I stopped and shot a few sunrises and sunsets. The first couple days I was joined by Daniel Oldenburg (FB / IG) from Old Birds Photography. Good guy. Great photographer!

The Route: 1,541 miles
Actual: 1,925 miles

DAY 1: Canyonlands National Park Sunrise & Arches National Park Sunset

Behind The Scenes at Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Sunrise was expected at about the 0600 hour, so we arrived at Mesa Arch just in time; ~0430. If you’ve ever been before and actually wanted to be able to have a choice of where you set-up, you understand why I arrived so early.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah - Previous Trip Prints Available

Sunrise at Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

On this particular morning, there were only about 25 people who showed up to witness/photograph the sunrise at Mesa Arch. This was far better than the 200+ people that I’ve seen in the past. It must have had something to do with the 2° and breezy conditions.

After shooting Mesa Arch, it was time to head back to camp, catch a few zzz and get ready for the evening’s sunset and, potentially, some light painting.

A Lone Butte at Sunset in the Windows Area, Canyonlands National Park, Utah Prints Available

I came on this trip with a few images in my mind and was hoping to “bag them” before heading home to Colorado. While searching out one of those images in my mind, I began to run out of time as the sun, in all of its selfishness, wasn’t waiting on me. I glanced over at the distant mountains and saw they were beginning to catch the glow of the sunset. Glancing around for a foreground to add to the composition, I found this lone butte off in the distance. I liked the mixture of the oranges and the pinks of the background with the rusty colored rock in the foreground.

With the day’s sunset in the bag, it was time to turn our attention to Double Arch and some light painting.

Light Painting at Double Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

I was excited to get to Double Arch, set-up and begin light painting with the two low intensity lights we had. The blue hour went by fast and really pushed us to quickly get the rocks lit while the lighting was prime. After a few minutes of that, the focus switched over towards the stars and the star trails.

I was having technical difficulties with my remote shutter release, so I had to manually take my star trails. If any of you have ever done this, you’ll know it is both risky and not any fun. It definitely took what should have been a nice relaxing evening and made it stressful and a lot of work. I managed to struggle through it. The above is the result.

DAY 2: Dead Horse State Park Sunrise & Arches National Park Sunset

Dead Horse Point Overlook, Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah

The morning found us overlooking Dead Horse Point Overlook in the Dead Horse Point State Park, UT. This was definitely a beautiful place to shoot and witness a sunrise. Standing over a deep canyon, with a horseshoe bend in it, often makes for a great photograph

I had hoped the high altitude clouds would have been a bit more cooperative in reflecting some of the sun’s morning light, but they were too thin. Always a struggle with the clouds. I will definitely come back here later in the year when the plant life along / in the river is more abundant making for that green tone on the canyon floor.

Looking Through North Window towards Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

On My Own

My travel companion had to attend other priorities. From here on out, I would be coming and going as I pleased without the concern for another’s wishes. There is comfort in that. There is also comfort in having a photog buddy. Both are great problems to have. Regardless, I found myself from this point on, wondering the Earth whichever way the wind blew me.

I began my solo trip at Arches National Park. It was mid-day and the lighting was harsh. In the image above, looking through the North Window, I attempted to shield myself a bit from the harsh daylight and salvage what I could. I actually came to this spot scouting out a future sunrise shooting location.

Early Milky Way through Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

The sunset didn’t really amount to much as the sky was very clear and, in my humble opinion, boring. With that being said, I decided to hang around Delicate Arch and shoot the Milky Way, still early in its “season,” through the arch. If I wanted to wait around until about 0430 in the morning, or come back at around that time, I could get the Galactic Core through the arch. As tempting as it was, I decided to take what I could get this evening and spend the sunrise elsewhere allowing me to move on from Arches National Park and towards more southern Utah / northern Arizona images.

Milky Way Glow as seen through Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah

While setting up to shoot star trails, I decided I’d experiment with one long exposure vs multiple shorter exposures. Had I checked all of my settings, everything would, more than likely, have been fine, but I did not. I left my ISO up too high and ended up blowing out the central portion of the visible Milky Way. I basically had the entire Arch to myself and sat there exposing, for over an hour, for basically nothing. Well, okay, not for nothing. It takes mistakes like this to both educate yourself and to remind you to slow down and not get ahead of yourself. Tho the image looks kinda neat, it wasn’t what I was “shooting” for and therefore not what I wanted. Lesson learned.

Moab lights polluting the night sky behind Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

When you talk to “more experienced” photographers, they will often speak of the days when you could shoot Delicate Arch and not be concerned with light pollution coming from Moab. Well, that is no longer the case. As you can see, Moab is growing and so is the light pollution coming from the area.

DAY 3: Monument Valley Sunrise & Horseshoe Bend Sunset

Behind The Scenes at Monument Valley, Utah

Monument Valley, HWY 163, Utah - Previous Trip Prints Available

The morning found me roadside on highway 163 in Southeastern Utah. Looking southwest, towards the Arizona border, the morning sunlight plays beautifully off the buttes within Monument Valley. This iconic image has been used many commercials, movies and in print media. Some of the more famous are the Forrest Gump movie scene where Forrest stops running and The Best Of Eagles album cover.

Sunset found me along the edge of Horseshoe Bend. An often-photographed location led me to want to do something different with the image. A composite image was all I could manage given the less than spectacular conditions. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed my “day on the edge.” I mean that literally. I was out there all day.

From 0700 - 1700 a shuttle runs taking people from a distant parking lot, ~2 miles away, to the Bend’s parking lot. Once at the Bend’s parking lot, there is a short ~0.5 mile up and down trek to the edge of the Bend. Well, it was ~1300 when I arrived at the shuttle’s parking lot with sunset being my goal and being around 1800 that evening which was well after the shuttles stop running. If I took the last shuttle, I would surely be left with shadows along all of the walls of the Bend. I needed a higher sun than that and that meant I had to leave sooner. This also meant that I would be left behind as I wanted to still be shooting well after the shuttles stopped running. Oh, well. I took the 1300 shuttle and sat at the edge, taking images throughout the day, as the shadows began taking place. After sundown, I had a decent walk back to my vehicle. The things I do…

Image Note: Did you see the guy standing on the edge in the photo?

DAY 4: Horseshoe Bend Sunrise along with an afternoon in Lower Antelope Canyon & Zion

Sunrise at Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona

My itch for The Bend wasn’t satisfied with the previous day’s sunset. With that, I returned with plans of Stars and Star Trails out over The Bend. Mother Nature seemed to have other plans, as usual.

The skies were filled with high to medium elevation clouds. There would be no starry image from The Bend from me, at least not on this trip. There was still hope that the sun would be able to sneak through the clouds and put on a light show. The above image is the result of that sneaky sun finding a path through the cloud cover.

Image Note: Again, did you see the guy standing on the edge in the photo?

After arriving at Lower Antelope Canyon, I was initially let down as there was no longer a “Photographer’s Tour.” In the past, this had been a thing but was stopped as a result of the tripod legs and backpacks damaging the walls of the canyon. Now, NOTHING is allowed into the canyon besides your camera. No bags, no backpacks and definitely no tripods. You will have to shoot hand-held if you venture into the Lower Antelope Canyon.

With all of that being said, I left the canyon VERY impressed. Sure, I was impressed with the canyon, but I was more impressed by the staff running the tours. They were very pleasant, knowledgeable and did a very good job ensuring the tours ran smooth. Great job!

I took A LOT of images without much thought into any particular one as the tour was a moving one. I will post a few of them here.

I did not spend any real time in Zion. This is one of those places that I would need to spend a week and I had but a few hours available. I grabbed a quick image of sunset light hitting The Watchman and then left headed towards Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

The Watchman standing tall over Zion National Park, Utah

DAY 5: Sunrise atop Sunset Point at Bryce N.P with an afternoon snowshoe hike

Sunrise from Sunset Point in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

I drove, through the night, and found myself at Bryce Canyon National Park the next morning. With the snow being as high as it was, and the trail down to Thor’s Hammer closed off due to avalanche risk, I set up along the edge of the canyon at Sunset Point. It was here that I waited out the day’s sunrise hoping the clouds would participate.

Late afternoon from Inspiration Point in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce is another place that I visited on this road-trip that I will definitely have to go back to and visit again. It was nice to see the place covered in snow, but not so much that trails were closed due to avalanche risks. The shots that I wanted I was unable to get to.

Along the trail to Moss Cave, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bristlecone Pine in the back-country at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

The Bryce Park Rangers took me out on a snowshoe hike. It was interesting seeing the Bristlecones, one of the oldest living Species on the planet, thriving in such a harsh climate. Oddly enough, it’s the harshness of the climate that allows it to survive as it does.

DAY 6: Sunrise at the North Window in Arches N.P. with an afternoon hike in Park Avenue & a Delicate sunset

Sunrise at the North Window looking through Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

The next morning found me back in Arches National Park and back at the North Window. My previous trip here had me envisioning the possibilities of what it would look like during an amazing sunrise. Well, I managed to get here for the sunrise, but the amazing part didn’t quite materialize. Either way, I still witnessed another sunrise, so I win. :-)

I wanted another crack at a sunset at Delicate Arch and had some time to kill so I took a hike down Park Avenue in Arches National Park, Utah in order to kill a few hours.

Down Park Avenue in Arches National Park, Utah

Arches is a landscape photographer’s dream. Everywhere you turned was some sort of composition challenge.

Reflections on Park Ave in Arches National Park, Utah

While taking the stroll down Park Avenue, I decided I would try and look closer and take a different perspective than I had been shooting the past few days.

After playing around along the Park Avenue trail, finally it was time to hike up to Delicate Arch and try, again, for a sunset one more time before leaving the park.

A Delicate Sunset, Arches National Park, Utah

With my last sunset in Arches National Park, I decided to try, once more, for a decent sunset at Delicate Arch. The view off southeast towards the mountains looked like it was going to be epic, but sputtered at the last moment. With that in mind, I moved compositions and shot the South Window through Delicate Arch.

DAY 7: The Final Day, Hanging Lake, CO

As a part of this trip, I wanted to stop by Hanging Lake as I would be in the area. After spending a week traveling and taking photos, my enthusiasm for the stop was diminishing. The weather was bad and I figured the odds of me getting the lighting I wanted was slim. But, as luck would have it, I-70 had a weather-related accident up ahead that would have had me sitting in my car waiting for it to clear. Suddenly, my enthusiasm made a drastic positive increase. I decided to make the hike in.

Small Avalanche along trail to Hanging Lake, CO

I expected the slick trail, but was actually surprised at how slick it was not. This had me concerned that the temps had been too warm and the strong sunshine will have melted the ice hanging above the lake. Even more surprising was the number of small avalanches cutting across the trail; I counted two fresh ones.

A light snow began to fall once I arrived to the lake. The odds of me getting the lighting I wanted was slim to none now. No biggie tho as the icicles weren’t as plentiful as I’d hoped anyways.

All in all, the trip went mostly as planned. I doubt I will ever go out on a week-long photography trip and get all of the images to come out as I envision them. This trip definitely had Mother Nature laughing at me.

I could’ve easily spent a week at Zion and I only spent an evening. I recognized early on that I was going to not be able to do Zion any real justice and would need to revisit. With that in mind, I moved on towards Bryce that evening. With the recent snows, as well as avalanche danger on the trails, Bryce too ended up on my list of places to revisit. Both are definitely still on my list of places to photograph, hopefully sooner rather than later.

It seems I left an avalanche and a rock slide in my wake:
- Avalanche Story
- Rock-slide Story

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2019 UT/AZ/CO trip

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2019 UT/AZ/CO trip

A Return To Arches

Monument Rock Snowfall

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