Packslinger

Monday, March 23, 2015

Additional Pictures

Waiting for the snow to melt!

I know we need the water but I can't wait for that snow to melt! I look at the Wasatch front everyday dreaming about my next visit. In the interim, I have been taking and processing picture while waiting, here are some of my latest.

Midnight Elephant Parade

HDR, Fisherman's Friend

Single exposure, Fisherman's Friend

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Bryce Canyon Sunrise

Beautiful!

No hike again, but I had to post about the sunrise at Bryce Canyon National Park I witnessed this morning. I was up at five and had everything ready to go by five thirty. No one was manning the entrance to the park, but I have a pass, so I headed straight for Sunrise point. The wind was blowing and there was only one other person there, she to was waiting for the sun to rise. The trail to the top was a little treacherous and slick. The snow was deep, but frozen enough to walk on top of without sinking. It was a cold thirty five minutes waiting for the moment the sun was going to show itself. A steady stream of people began trudging up the slick hill to join us. Right before official sunrise the sun crested and I took this!

It may not be the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen but it's close!

Another shot from the same morning!

Monday, February 16, 2015

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

Long over due trip!

I left Friday after work with my boy and pointed the truck south. I have been through Moab many times but never visited any of the sights. A nagging regret that needed to be satisfied! We arrived late and had an issue with hotel; my reservations were made two months prior but the National park service decided to do a free entrance weekend and every hotel in town was over flowing. Once settled in for the night we were up at 6:30 am and eating breakfast shortly after. I meet with a new friend and we hit Arches first. My original plans fell through and I had expected a few more people to join me so I made the best of it and we decided on visiting the Devils Garden and hunt for The Dark Angel! Arches is quite the large park and it takes quite a while to navigate through because of all the distractions along way. We started around 10:00 am at the trailhead and the first arch we ran into was Landscape Arch.

Next was Partition Arch.

Navajo Arch after.

Double Arch.

After Double O arch the trail verse to the left and you cross open desert to The Dark Angel!

A beautiful formation and a great place for a sun burst!

After visiting for a short time we headed back towards the trail head to see the rest of the park.

Double O from the north side.

There is a large fin in the middle of the trail that offers a incredible view of the Snow capped La Sal Mountains.

Landscape arch again!

We made it back to the truck after the 7 mile round trip and decided to visit Delicate Arch next.

This was the busiest Arch by far and it took quite a long time to wait for the selfie crowd to get out of the way long enough to snap a picture or two. I had to crop the above pictures quite a bit to eliminate the interlopers! Since we had to wait we decided to catch the sunset.

We hiked down from Delicate and headed for dinner; once dinner was out of the way we headed back into the park to try few star shots.

I was in bed just after midnight and planned on heading to Canyonlands to take the iconic sunrise shot at Mesa Arch.

After being squeezed between 30 or 40 other photographers I took a few shots and headed back to the hotel for breakfast. Soon after w were back in arches to see a few more arches.