Archive for the ‘Arches/Moab/Canyonlands’ Category
Friday, April 20th, 2012
Typically our first family camping trip of the year happens around my birthday in March but due to our already jam packed spring camping schedule Clint and I made a quick trip to the Moab area to celebrate the occasion. The plan was to make a quick cheap trip in the Camry to and shoot some star trails and do a bit of hiking.
We left Thursday after work and went directly to Island in the Sky with plans to shoot stat trails at False Kiva followed by a Mesa Arch sunrise. We grabbed the last site in the campground and drove out to the False Kiva trail head and began hiking just after sunset. We rushed down the trail and got the cameras setup just in time to catch the last trickle of day light. I forgot my flash in the car so I used my black diamond orbit lantern to illuminate the the Kiva and alcove and it worked out pretty well. We spent a few hours in the dark shooting then hiked out from False Kiva and drove back to our camp site. After setting up our tents we went for a walk to the green river overlook where it was so dark you couldn’t see anything but stars.
Friday morning we were up before sunrise and headed to Mesa Arch. To our delight only 8 or so other photographers there. I’ve heard at times it can be a real nightmare of people trying to capture this iconic shot so we were pretty lucky to have such a small crowd. (more…)
Tags: arches national park, cable arch, Canyonlands, False Kiva, fin, funnel arch, longs expsoure, mesa arch, moab, night, star trails, stars, sunrise, Utah
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Friday, March 9th, 2012
Every year we make at least one winter trip to Moab during the off season. Hotels are cheap and the trails are typically empty aside from the few people willing to deal with a bit of cold weather. For our 2012 trip we got an early start Saturday morning and drove out to Island in the Sky . We had epic skies and dark clouds for our entire drive down but of course as soon as we got to the False Kiva trail head the sky became clear and blue. The kids are amazing hikers especially our 5yo, I have a feeling that kid will be pounding out some serious miles later this year.
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Tags: Arches, Canyonlands, cold, Corona Arch, Courthouse Towers, Crystal ball, devils garden, False Kiva, hiking, mesa arch, north window, sunrise, Utah, winter
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Friday, May 20th, 2011
Every time I visited the Island in the Sky or Needles districts of Canyonlands National Park I always gaze to the East at the Maze wondering what it would be like. Due to its extreme remoteness and rugged 4×4 roads it always felt like an untouchable far off place until Nick invited Clint and I to tag along on his permit. In the months leading up to the trip we poured over maps and tried to soak up as much information as we could find. The plan was to spend 6 days and 5 nights in the area and to see as much as possible.
Day1:
Probably the longest half day of work I had ever experienced. We loaded our gear, gassed up, packed the cooler full of ice blocks and headed south around 2pm. A few hours later we were topping off the fuel tanks in Green River and hit the San Rafael Desert road where we left pavement for the next 6 days. The road was in great shape and we made excellent time so we decided to hike Moonshine Wash before meeting up with Nick. We did a quick hike down to the old sheep bridge and made it back to the truck just as it was getting dark. We then drove out to Keg Knoll to meet up with Nick and his friends for a night of camping at one of my favorite sites, we stayed up late shooting star trails and making sure we burned all of Nick’s firewood.
Me in Moonshine
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Clint in Moonshine
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Day 2:
I was up early to shoot the sunrise and quickly packed up my gear. We drove about an hour south to the Hans Flat Ranger station where we received a short lecture of the rules and regulations within the Maze from the Ranger. We hit the road and made a quick stop at the Flint Trail overlook to make sure no one else was headed up before we started down the narrow switchbacks. (more…)
Tags: 4x4, 5 days, backpacking, camping, Canyonlands, chimney rock, clouds, colorado river overlook, DH3, dollhouse, flint trail, jasper canyon, keg knoll, loop, moonshine wash, night, point to point, standing rock, star trails, sweet alice canyon, teapot canyon, the doll house, the drops, the harvest pannel, the mave overlook, the maze, water canyon
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