I spent a crazy nine days exploring areas I hadn't been to before, trying to capture some fall color. The Weather Gods gave me clouds only on one day, so most of the time was spent searching for more intimate scenes that would not have sky in them.
After flying into Las Vegas, I made it up to Snow Canyon State Park for sunset. I hiked out to an area called Petrified Dunes, which seemed like a perfect name, as the mounds of rock looked as though they might have been sand at one point. I even got a few clouds, though that would be the last I saw of them for days.
The following was a long day to get up to Hanksville to explore the canyons south of there to Hite, Utah and the area around Lake Powell. On a previous trip there in August, I did not get the chance to photograph the east side of Factory Butte before sunrise during what is known as “blue hour” for the bluish cast that you get before the sun comes up.
With that accomplished, it was down to the area of red rock canyons around Hite. This was the one day that I actually had clouds! I did my best to make the most of it. The Cottonwood trees turn yellow that time of year and the ones there did not disappoint.
Capitol Reef National Park is west of Hanksville, Utah, and while a small national park, it has some neat rock formations and some really nice Cottonwood trees, some very old.
After three days there, it was time to head back down to Zion National Park to see what fall color scenes I could get there. On the way there, I wanted to stop at the colorful Paria Canyon, a place that had simply escaped my attention before. I arrived at the perfect time, late in the afternoon. This was just an unexpected bonus and exceeded my expectations.
I finished up with three days in Zion National Park. Photographing the towering rock formations was just not an option as there was not one wisp of a cloud. Plain blue skies just don’t cut it. So, the challenge was on. I have been to Zion before, but always had nice clouds. I was now going to have to work for it, finding good scenes without clouds.
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