Slickrock and Shadow

Leeds Waterfall  The locked gate forced me to walk up the dirt road to Oak Grove for my hiking exercise this day.  Walking allowed me to SEE things that would overwise whiz right past me in a car.  Walking allowed me to HEAR those things too. So I HEARD falling water, I looked off the roadside and I SAW this lovely gem of a waterfall.  It's certainly worth a skinny dip to cool off on a hot day.  It's also worthy of a landscape photograph too!  

Steven's Arch high above Coyote Gulch is an excellent detour! Coyote Gulch has world-class photo opportunities and I'm here to show you the best spots to visit.  I'll share lens recommendations as well as time of day advice.  Coyote Gulch has so much to offer in scenery, relaxation, adventure.  I spent 3 days and 3 nights here and want to return again soon. Starting at the Escalante River and then going in upstream order , I shall list the sights and give you my 2¢. Stevens Arch: The most important thing to know about Stevens Arch:  it get better and better as you get closer.  The view from the Escalante River is very fine but if you climb and get up close, you will be richly rewarded. Like many days, the skies were clear in the morning, clouds gathers in the afternoon and then turned overcast.  Hiking up in the morning allowed me to have mostly blue skies and just a few clouds here and there to add interest.  I just waited a few minu...

Three twisted cottonwood trees in Escalante Canyon.  This is just one of the cool discoveries that remain on a trip through Death Hollow. Day 3 in Death Hollow was all about getting moving.  We had 8 miles from the confluence to our car and a little extra just to reach the confluence.  After a nice breakfast of oatmeal I put on a clean pair of socks.  For a whole 5 minutes I walked without sand, water and grit between my toes.  It was a brief but divine luxury.  We broke camp and started walking. The stream here is much more flat and shallow . . . so the temptation is to walk faster in the stream . . . which leads to falling down.  I had walked no more than 10 minutes before I slipped and fell hard on my left elbow.  Dang it hurt.  No sense stopping because that would do no good whatsoever. We kept walking and quickly reached the confluence.  Here the clearer waters of Death Hollow mix with the Escalante River.  The Escala...

The Old Ladder:  Only for the Brave The Kanarra Creek ladder Is a man-made structure that makes this wonderful canyon more accessible to visitors.  The ladder by itself is also very photogenic.  Or, shall I say it used to be photogenic?  Having gone up Kanarra Creek over several years time, I noticed the change.  The top picture is of the old ladder.  It is entirely made of wood.  Some of the rungs were small, loose and slippery.  You may notice that the steps stop well before the top of the log.  The old ladder required a very large last step to get to the top and this portion of the log was very wet and slippery.  You can see that in the picture!  I slipped and nearly fell on this once myself. Two or 3 years ago this ladder was enhanced by removing all of the wooden steps and replacing that with a metal ladder that is directly attached to the log.  The metal steps have teeth and texture so that they are not slippery a...

Kanarra Creek Waterfall in the Springtime:  lots of water and green trees. One of the first, if not THE first, decision a photographer must make is how to hold the camera. Horizontal or vertical?  Landscape or portrait?  Up and down or side to side?  With the old cameras, the default was landscape.  With the advent of cell-phone photography, portrait orientation has become much more popular. In my case, I don't want the easiest or most convenient shot when I have all day to compose a shot.  I want the most aesthetic shot, the one that shows off how amazing my surroundings are.  Sometimes the choice is obvious.  Sometimes it is not.  With Kanarra Creek's 3rd waterfall, the portrait shows more of the lovely red cliffs above.  With landscape orientation, the path of water is shown better as it leaves the pool at the waterfall base.  Both are good so in this case I took 2 shots. A compromise is a square photo.  For some re...

La Verkin Pool, Waterfall and Trees underneath towering cliffs. The quest for my favorite thing in the world continues in this entry:  finding desert waterfalls.  From the high elevation of Zion National Park Kolob Section, I started hiking down the trail.  This trail goes down for 4 miles without stopping.  It makes it fairly easy to get down to the valley but the grueling hike back up is another story. I was able to enjoy hiking and swimming in the beautiful La Verkin Creek.  As I enjoyed this, I kept looking for good photo opportunities within the light would allow.  I took several pictures which you can see on my website of this great location.  My favorite pictures were taken just at sunset.  As the light was fading in the sky, some beautiful clouds and soft light on the rocks made for a beautiful scene.  I took several photographs and felt like magic was captured.   Gregory Peak and La Verkin Pool Unfortunately I ...

Split Waterfall of Kanarra Creek Kanarra creek is locally referred to as a miniature version of the Narrows of Zion national park.  The slot canyon has year-round water flowing and a wonderful short slot canyon.  As a bonus, Kanarra creek also has several waterfalls.  You must hike over or around these beautiful obstacles to continue upstream. This autumn I picked Kanarra creek as my location on which to focus.  I felt the combination of trees, slot canyon and waterfalls could give me something very special.  On my chosen day, the weather was cloudy and it actually rained and lightly snowed on me.  My freezing body suffered while my creative side explored the canyon.  I have unofficially given this waterfall the name of "split falls".  I got up close with my feet and tripod legs in the water to get this particular view.  The shot below is a wider view of the waterfalls. Series of waterfalls in Kanarra Creek