last october i (jeffrey) went back home to do a southeastern utah photography trip with my dad. this trip had been in the works for about two years but since we're living away from home, i had a tough time scheduling it. i was eventually able to take a few days off of work to fly out last october and finally make the trip.
the plan was to see some old anasazi ruins and also to explore some of the wild landscape in that area.
the first stop was the valley of the gods (a huge expanse of sandstone towers and mesas) but to get there we first drove down the moki dugway - a series of switchbacks that drop 1000 feet in just over 2 miles. it was constructed in the 50's to be able to transport uranium ore from a nearby mine.
this is the view from the top.
this is what the road looks like on a topographical map as it meanders down the cliff wall.
here are a couple of views of the valley of the gods. in the second one we stopped just in time to see the rain coming in over the cliffs.
the initial plan was to camp out during the trip but that only lasted one night. the price of a hotel room starts to look better and better as the temperature drops lower and lower.
here's a shot from that night. you'd be surprised at how much light there actually is when you photograph under a full moon.
and here's a shot of the sunrise the next morning.
the next morning we headed off to see our next site, the 'fallen roof ruin'. all over the mesa there are canyons that were formed by water runoff. they start very small and then get deeper and wider as they go along. a lot of the anasazi ruins were built in these canyons. because of the water that collects in these canyons, they're usually a lot greener than the surrounding landscape.
this is the canyon that leads to the fallen roof ruin.
and here's the ruin. over the years slabs of sandstone have fallen from the roof exposing mineral-stained layers of sandstone.
an amazing thing happens in the late morning here. the sun hits the opposite side of the canyon and reflects this brilliant red light onto the ruin. the sandstone usually has kind of a coral/pink color to it but when the light hits it right it glows a brilliant red orange.
these hand prints are located up on the lower left side of the roof just above the left window. it's kind of weird, it makes the place feel more human and less relic.
this next ruin gets the same effect from the late morning light and for obvious reasons is called the 'house on fire ruin'.
later that day we moved on to our 3rd location, the citadel. this one required a bit more of a hike to get to - about 2 miles in - as well as some pretty nauseating exposed edges. nothing too dangerous, just enough to make you appreciate staying on the top of the cliff as opposed to ending up at the bottom.
here's one of the little critters we saw on the way in.
and here's the hungry cactus-pillar.
this place is called the citadel because it's only accessible by an isthmus that's only about 20 feet wide at the narrowest point. in the picture below i'm actually standing about 100 feet above the formation looking down at it.
this is the ruin that you find after crossing the land bridge. it's on the right hand side of the 'cap' of the formation. it's in extremely good condition - presumably from the relative obscurity of this ruin.
right next to the ruin is this huge boulder - probably about 40 feet high - that not only looks like a giant head, but also is balanced on a surface only about 5 feet by 5 feet. it was kind of nerve racking walking past it.
here's the view of the ruin when you first see it after hiking around the 'cap'. after scrambling up that angled rock you have to work your way up a 5 foot ledge. i have to say it pushed my practically nonexistant rock climbing skills to their limits to make it up there.
here's dad looking back the direction we came from.
we started back just before sunset in order to get back to the car before dark. the moon rose up behind us as we hiked.
we also got a nice cloud show on our way back.
after we got back to the car we headed off to blanding, utah - the 'base camp to adventure' - to spend our first non-camping night. the next morning we drove up to canyonlands national park to find a sunset shot.
on the way up we saw this crazy sandstone monolith out in the open. we looked on the map and found out that it's named 'church rock'. i looked it up and discovered that in the 1930's a woman named marie ogden led a utopian community called 'home of the truth' who had grand plans for this rock. they intended to hollow it out to make a church out of it. although they didn't get too far on the project, you can see the entrance to the unfinished church - a doorway chiseled into the bottom of the rock.
this next shot is from the green river overlook in the island in the sky district of canyonlands.
this is looking east from the grand view point overlook at the la sal mountains.
we set up for a sunset shot looking over the green river overlook but the sunset never came. just cloud cover on the horizon.
looking east at the moonrise from the green river overlook.
we spent the next night in moab and then got up for a sunrise shot of mesa arch. we got there well before sunrise but found about fifteen other photographers lined up tripod to tripod who had gotten there before us. i wish i had taken a picture of that scene. it was pretty absurd.
we quickly changed our plans and made for the dead horse point overlook. we got there just as the sun was peeking over the la sal mountains. here's the view we were rewarded with.
