Wild Wild West
Last spring I read an article in one of my textbooks about Glenn Canyon. Fascinated by the writing and the photos I decided to some research of my own. I was overwhelmed by some of the unbelievable things I found. I decided I had to go and see it all for myself. Funny what you can learn is school 
I asked my mom and aunt to come along for the trip and they replied... You want to go to the middle of the desert... in the middle of summer? "yes" and that was that. With a little planning, we were off.
I had just begun to develop my interest in photography and decided this was going to be my first photographic trip. I had my 3month old Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm and 70-200mm lenses.
Here is an idea of our four day trip...
Once we landed in Nevada we got our rental jeep and were off. With us... bottles and bottles of water, granola bars, sour patch kids, and of course... some tunes - yes, including Michael Jackson.
Our first stop... Zion National Park
I couldn't get over how BIG everthing was... Wisconsin is just, wow, flat.
The next photo is me, just doin what I do I guess...
Believe it or not... it almost happened... yikes.
This was a great wash on the rock we saw as we hiked up toward the Narrows.
This little guy seemed curious and was just asking to have his photo taken.
Zion was full of so many spectacular sites. We spent what was left of our first day hiking through it. You could definitly spend weeks at this place. I would have loved to have gotten further up into the Narrows and done the angels landing hike - something you should definitly check out (youtube).
We stayed the night at a Zion Lodge and were up early 3AM to head off for Arches National Park.
Sort of simplifies the HOT weather. (105* plus direct sunlight)
I hiked the long trek up the cliff side to see Delicate arch, while my travel buddies waited near the bottom of the path. It certainly was quite the task. All the hikers seemed to be sharing what little shade was available as often as they could along the way... this was at about 1:00 - HOT HOT HOT.
...and there it is in all its glory. It wasn't the best time to photograph, but its something to remember.
It was nice, because once I reached the arch it was complete solitude for quite some time. I was able to try to soak it all in. We departed Arches around 3:00pm to head down to Monument Valley. Arches was a great place as most everything there was pretty easily accesible and just incredible to be witness to.
Snapped a shot of... more rocks... along the way.
We reached Monument Valley with just enough time to get our stuff into our room, grab some water and meet with our guide for the night. His name... Indian Dave. Quite intimidating at first, but loved him!
First he took us in his open air Jeep to see Monument Valley through Teardrop arch.
Indian Dave: [points to cow] "burger king" ... yes a man of few words, but he was just too funny!
...and there he is, helping me scope out some good photo spots. He told us so much about the history and made us laugh along the way.
We were on the Mystery Valley tour for the evening and we got to see arches like the one above, the sun's eye, as well as all sorts of petroglyphs and ancient ruins. Really a remarkable place.
We arrived back to our hotel at dark and were up early again the next morning, 4AM, to get a good seat for sunrise. I was suprised at how good they turned out to be...
Stunning.
This was the totem pole at sunrise. It was nice just to sit and relax as all the colors came alive around us.
Another great wash on the rock in Monument Valley.
A quick shot back.
I loved how the landscape could change so dramatically.
This was what I was expecting the whole trip... Sand. I just wanted to go play in it, it was just perfect.
And yes... the Forrest Gump running scene was filmed on this road running through Monument Valley. Naturally I had to get a shot. -There is lots of movie history here if you get a chance to visit, just ask a local.
... And after our lovely morning tour with Indian Dave through Monument Valley it was time to depart to Page.
Lake Powell... the original interest spark for me. I loved this town, it was quite touristy, but you would have no problem driving maybe 20 minutes and finding total seclusion.
After the past days in the hot sun, the lake was very welcoming
It's a great place to get a house boat and kayaks just to cruise the canyons or get your adrenaline going in the open water with a power boat.
Some more "burger king" I guess...
After some time in the water we went back to our hotel in Page and spent the night. The next morning we ate a good breakfast and were off to Antelope Canyon - a few minutes outside of page.
The sandy road to the canyon.
Rocks in motion. These are the shots I imagined for the trip... I knew that if I could get in this canyon the whole thing would come full circle.
One of the light beam shots I took in the canyon.
After the tour it was time for the final haul back to Vegas for our flight the next morning.
Back through Zion...
And passed some fields... snapped this while on the move... it was quite lucky on timing, but a little blurry.
And trying to outrun a rain storm... ironic becuase Indian dave had switched on a local station in the jeep playing the ongoing of a rain dance... he told me a rain cloud would follow me... but... we made it. We spent the final night walking around the Vegas strip just to see the lights. Personally I would have rather been back out in the middle of the desert somewhere...
Overall it was a fantastic trip. I was so grateful that my mom and aunt were able to go with me. We have so many fun memories and I would recommend the area to anybody looking to see spectacular sites in the US. I just need some more time to go back and really get deep into the exploring.
...oh and I think I got some nice shots to remember it by... nothing fancy... but Im still learning
Thanks for checking out the thread!!!
I asked my mom and aunt to come along for the trip and they replied... You want to go to the middle of the desert... in the middle of summer? "yes" and that was that. With a little planning, we were off.
I had just begun to develop my interest in photography and decided this was going to be my first photographic trip. I had my 3month old Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm and 70-200mm lenses.
Here is an idea of our four day trip...
Once we landed in Nevada we got our rental jeep and were off. With us... bottles and bottles of water, granola bars, sour patch kids, and of course... some tunes - yes, including Michael Jackson.
Our first stop... Zion National Park
I couldn't get over how BIG everthing was... Wisconsin is just, wow, flat.
The next photo is me, just doin what I do I guess...
Believe it or not... it almost happened... yikes.
This was a great wash on the rock we saw as we hiked up toward the Narrows.
This little guy seemed curious and was just asking to have his photo taken.
Zion was full of so many spectacular sites. We spent what was left of our first day hiking through it. You could definitly spend weeks at this place. I would have loved to have gotten further up into the Narrows and done the angels landing hike - something you should definitly check out (youtube).
We stayed the night at a Zion Lodge and were up early 3AM to head off for Arches National Park.
Sort of simplifies the HOT weather. (105* plus direct sunlight)
I hiked the long trek up the cliff side to see Delicate arch, while my travel buddies waited near the bottom of the path. It certainly was quite the task. All the hikers seemed to be sharing what little shade was available as often as they could along the way... this was at about 1:00 - HOT HOT HOT.
...and there it is in all its glory. It wasn't the best time to photograph, but its something to remember.
It was nice, because once I reached the arch it was complete solitude for quite some time. I was able to try to soak it all in. We departed Arches around 3:00pm to head down to Monument Valley. Arches was a great place as most everything there was pretty easily accesible and just incredible to be witness to.
Snapped a shot of... more rocks... along the way.
We reached Monument Valley with just enough time to get our stuff into our room, grab some water and meet with our guide for the night. His name... Indian Dave. Quite intimidating at first, but loved him!
First he took us in his open air Jeep to see Monument Valley through Teardrop arch.
Indian Dave: [points to cow] "burger king" ... yes a man of few words, but he was just too funny!
...and there he is, helping me scope out some good photo spots. He told us so much about the history and made us laugh along the way.
We were on the Mystery Valley tour for the evening and we got to see arches like the one above, the sun's eye, as well as all sorts of petroglyphs and ancient ruins. Really a remarkable place.
We arrived back to our hotel at dark and were up early again the next morning, 4AM, to get a good seat for sunrise. I was suprised at how good they turned out to be...
Stunning.
This was the totem pole at sunrise. It was nice just to sit and relax as all the colors came alive around us.
Another great wash on the rock in Monument Valley.
A quick shot back.
I loved how the landscape could change so dramatically.
This was what I was expecting the whole trip... Sand. I just wanted to go play in it, it was just perfect.
And yes... the Forrest Gump running scene was filmed on this road running through Monument Valley. Naturally I had to get a shot. -There is lots of movie history here if you get a chance to visit, just ask a local.
... And after our lovely morning tour with Indian Dave through Monument Valley it was time to depart to Page.
Lake Powell... the original interest spark for me. I loved this town, it was quite touristy, but you would have no problem driving maybe 20 minutes and finding total seclusion.
After the past days in the hot sun, the lake was very welcoming
It's a great place to get a house boat and kayaks just to cruise the canyons or get your adrenaline going in the open water with a power boat.
Some more "burger king" I guess...
After some time in the water we went back to our hotel in Page and spent the night. The next morning we ate a good breakfast and were off to Antelope Canyon - a few minutes outside of page.
The sandy road to the canyon.
Rocks in motion. These are the shots I imagined for the trip... I knew that if I could get in this canyon the whole thing would come full circle.
One of the light beam shots I took in the canyon.
After the tour it was time for the final haul back to Vegas for our flight the next morning.
Back through Zion...
And passed some fields... snapped this while on the move... it was quite lucky on timing, but a little blurry.
And trying to outrun a rain storm... ironic becuase Indian dave had switched on a local station in the jeep playing the ongoing of a rain dance... he told me a rain cloud would follow me... but... we made it. We spent the final night walking around the Vegas strip just to see the lights. Personally I would have rather been back out in the middle of the desert somewhere...
Overall it was a fantastic trip. I was so grateful that my mom and aunt were able to go with me. We have so many fun memories and I would recommend the area to anybody looking to see spectacular sites in the US. I just need some more time to go back and really get deep into the exploring.
...oh and I think I got some nice shots to remember it by... nothing fancy... but Im still learning
Thanks for checking out the thread!!!
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Comments
Cheers, Richard.
Thanks for sharing.
D40
18 - 55 kit lens
55- 200 VR kit lens
Lots of desires
You were just beginning to develop your interest in photography when you took those shots? Holy Burger King! I've been playing with SLRs for 10 years and I'm not that good.
I guess some people are born with it, and I'm not one of them...
Earlier this year I made my first trip to the desert, too (to celebrate my 40th birthday - you may play Taps in the background if you like). I spent a week in Vegas and took day trips to Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon Nat/ Conservation Area, Valley of Fire State Park, and Grand Canyon Village. I highly recommend any or all of those places for your next trip; the scenery is spectacular, and neither Red Rock nor Valley of Fire were terribly crowded.
I like your driving route; I may have to steal it whenever I finally make a return trip to the Southwest.
http://2062point5.smugmug.com
I was with my family on that trip. It was mainly for my cousin's wedding in Arizona, but sometime I'd like to go back on one of the workshops to just take pictures the whole trip. We spent most of the time in the car. which wasn't very fun.
I just checked out some Red Rock Canyon photos. Looks like quite the place... my list just keeps getting longer
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=9538
One day I will do a trip like that
Next time when you go back, try driving into what you drove around the edge of with your route ( which is a great route too ) - down to Hanksville, Excalante, Boulder Mountain etc.
Southern Utah has enough to keep you busy for years of exploration!
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
My own pics from Red Rock, Valley of Fire, Hoover, and GCNP can be found here (I don't use any fancy album software or photo site, I just post them on my own web site and make HTML pages for them):
http://willcad.org/photos/2009/2009.html
Though, as I indicated earlier, they are not in the same league as yours. I'm insanely jealous...
My blog: HERE