THE UTAH PHOTO PAGE

Broken Arch is found in Arches National Park which is located in Eastern Utah just South of I70. We hiked out to the arch on a warm 109°F afternoon. Delicate Arch, which is seen frequently on promotional items for Utah, is also located here. Tower Arch is another popular destination in the park. It is right off the road so ya don't have to hike too far. I hope I have this oriented properly. NEW Delicate Arch is what Utah uses on it's license plates and the welcome signs as you enter the state. It's quite aways off across a canyon in this photo. Here's a closer view. It's a little fuzz because of how I enlarged it. NEW Balanced Rock is an interesting formation. From the back it kinda looks like a cobra ready to strike. NEW Along the way These formations are not in the park but on Rt 128, the highway that runs from I70 in eastern Utah to Moab which is the town nearest to Arches. One can also visit Canyon Lands National Park while staying in Moab. NEW Red Rock Canyon provides the corridor to enter the Bryce Canyon National Park Area. It proves that getting there is half the fun out West. It has been sometime since I took this photo so I do not recall the exact location. It is probably on Rt. 12 or 63 coming in the North end of the park. NEW Bryce Canyon is located in South Western Utah East of I15. It is not really a canyon geologically but an amphitheater shaped like a horseshoe. It is a great place to hike and take photos. This photo looks almost like a painting. You will see folks doing that here too. Bryce Canyon has some great photo ops. The sky stays a deep blue most of the time and you end up hoping for a white cloud or two to break up the sky. The layers in the rock can be seen in this shots. Lightning can be seen in the clouds of this passing thunder storm. The sky is not always blue but that's a good thing. This shot is at the General Store area which can be found on the park map. I think I shot an entire roll trying to get this shot which is not all I hoped for it to be. Rainbows often follow rains and Bryce Canyon offers an unobstructed view of this one. This rainbow reached from canyon edge to edge and was a double at that. Proves some of the most interesting sights occur in the least favorable weather conditions. Thor's Hammer towers over us as we hike down into Bryce Canyon. The combination of a polarizing filter and contrasty film turned the sky almost black in this photograph. This hiker is dwarfed by these rock formations. It all makes one feel very small down in the canyon. We are on Queen's trail which weaves in, out and under interesting rock formations called hoodoos. Hiking in or on the rim of the canyon can offer some interesting experiences. This is one of the tunnels formed on Queens Garden trail. At this point you are well down in the canyon which towers over you. The trail begins near the nature center and heads down into the canyon. You weave your way around the hoodoos and even an occasional tree. Take plenty of water and don't wait until you're thirsty to start drinking. By then its too late to catch up. A horntoad made famous by Yosemite Sam was found in the middle of the trail. This is an infant, the adults get about the size of your fist and look quite formidable. We placed this one off the trail so he would not get stepped on. Squirrels and deer are also present in the area. Checker Board Mesa greets you off Rt. 9 just inside the East Entrance to Zion National Park. Zion is only a short drive from Bryce, so you may wish to see both in one trip. The geology and experience of Zion is much different than that of Bryce. There are no hoodoos and most of your time is spent in this canyon, not on the rim. Hiking or in this case climbing in the park presents quite a diversity of trails. Here we are struggling up Lost Canyon Trail. It is quite strenuous and if you don't like heights, I recommend you pass this one up. In this photo we are on a 2 foot ledge 600 feet above the canyon floor, which is straight down. The park was kind enough to provide a chain attached to the cliff face. To make matters worse, this is a two-way ledge and it is covered with sand, making it very slippery. When passing, the phrase of the day was "No, you go ahead around." That would put the go around person on the outside.

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