Portal Arch: tallest arch in Valley of Fire

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Portal Arch  -- The biggest in Valley of Fire

Another post from photogenic Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

 I hope nobody is tired of this beautiful location.  There are still some wonderful spots that I have not written about or posted pictures from.

In planning my trip to Valley of Fire, I wanted to find Portal Arch. I'd seen some other photos of it and tried to figure out where it was and when to visit. Sometimes information is lacking. . . . A wonderful resource that I discovered was from Steffen Synnatschke.  He has created a PDF specifically about Valley of Fire and good photographic locations.  It is available for a very small cost and I found it extremely worthwhile.  I would highly recommend it.

He documents portal arch in his writing.  It sounded very intriguing to me.  I studied several pictures of it.  I was trying to discover whether it would be best at sunrise or sunset.  Taking a picture of an arch in the middle of the day is usually unsatisfying. Taking a guess that this site would be best in the morning light, I hiked in before dawn. Luck was with me this morning!

Not only did I find the arch in the morning, but I was blessed with something that typically happens only in dreams: beautiful clouds across the sky.  I took several pictures of this beautiful arch and the window across the desert that it created.  This particular location was a bit squeezed and tight because there was a rock at my back.  I took pictures with a 17 mm tilt shift lens and also my 16mm zoom lens to cope with the confined space.  

Please enjoy!
Location: Portal Arch, Valley of Fire

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