Successful trip to Utah

We are just driving to Vail ski area after a very succesful week in Utah. Blue skies all the time and snow on the ground made for some spectacular shots.

Over 90 rolls (10 shots per roll) so far, lots more to come.

Breckenridge was very snowy so no shots but the next day we moved on to the Keystone ski area in sunshine for the first shots of the trip (apart from Chicago city shots).

This was followed by Goblin Valley, fantastic shaped rock formations and very photogenic.

On to Capitol Reef for more rock formations, petroglyphs and great tree shadows on cliff faces.

Then snowy trees as we drove over a pass at 9600 feet before continuing on to Bryce in the dark.

In Bryce Canyon there was a couple of feet of snow and some icy trails. Great for photos.we did quite a.bit of walking round the rim and down amongst the strange rock formations..Ruby’s Inn was good too – fortunately as it happened as nothing else was open!

From Bryce we travelled via Capitol Reef to Moab, our base for 3 days.Not much open but enough to keep us fed and watered. The biggest disappointment was the Moab Brewery being closed for refurbishment!

Arches was fantastic too. Small patches of snow and great light. Lots of arches too with Delicate Arch being the highlight.

This was followed by Dead Horse Point, a great view over canyonlands and the Green River..Then on to Island in the Sky in Canyonlands and one of the best arches of the trip! Mesa Arch has a reasonable span but more importantly a great view of the snow capped Manti La Sal mountains can be framed by the arch. The Green River Overlook was next and late morning gave good light over the plateau and canyons below. Grand View was also good but would have been better a couple of hours later.

Our hotel had local photographs on the walls, great shots too. Spotted one location I didn’t recognise but a little research soon identified it as Castle Rock. This is a pillar of rock at one end of a long butte. This is about 20 odd miles north of Moab and looks great both in late afternoon and mid morning, even found a creek to put in the foreground.

Then along Colorado River canyon with a few shots here and there, including some heavily frosted trees at 6000 feet.

Heavy snow forecast for next few days so keeping fingers crossed for showers rather than continuous storms.

That’s it for now.
Dave Butcher
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