[This post is part of The Accidental Photo Adventure]
Capitol Reef National Park
After a light breakfast in the motel lobby, we’re back on the road. Capitol Reef kept coming up as a notable place to visit, so we mapped a route through it on the way to Canyonlands. It’d only cost us about 90 minutes, plus we’d started to wonder how many national parks we could hit in one road trip.
Near the entrance, it wasn’t obvious how Capitol Reef got its name, but we were fascinated by the contrast in rocks. A deep red base topped by very white boulders.
The red soil was odd, like slate or shale – thin, brittle layers:
Past the visitor’s center, the scene starts to explain the name – here’s Capitol Rock:
A bit further, and the “Reef” part of the name starts to make sense – the canyon walls look like Swiss cheese.
Canyonlands National Park
We reached Canyonlands later in the day, and sunset was approaching by the time we reached the furthest observation point. There were several observation areas along the way, but I think the point at the end of the road gave the best view by far.
An easy half-mile hike from the main viewing platform was a less obstructed view with a nice panorama of the valley below, and the canyons beneath. It was about an hour before dusk, and the shadows were starting to grow longer (and also add some depth to the landscape). I doubt this vantage point would be good at sunrise; not only would you be shooting toward the sun, but a lot of the shadows would fall where you couldn’t see them.
We were staying in nearby Moab for the night, and Arches National Park was just outside town. By the time we reached town, it was dark and we were hungry. After dinner, we toyed with the idea of popping into Arches, but then decided against it since we wouldn’t be able to see much anyway. Besides, the politicians weren’t going to let the US federal budget expire and shutdown the federal government overnight, right? Surely, they’d reach a compromise at the last minute…
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Intro | Day 1: Getting Started, Zion | Day 2: Zion
Day 3: Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon | Day 4: Capitol Reef, Canyonlands
Day 5: Dead Horse Point | Day 6: Monument Valley | Day 7: Grand Mesa
Day 8: McClure Pass, Aspen, Garden of the Gods | Day 9: Wolf Creek Pass
Day 10: Durango & Silverton Railroad, Albuquerque Balloon Festival
Day 11: Pre-dawn Balloon Launch, The End | Trip Prep | The Gear
FotoMomenti – My Comrade’s Portfolio
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Bit Twiddler's Rant 