Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (9) - “The Wave” and Coyote Buttes
“The Wave”, part of the Coyote Buttes North Region - it had been on my “must-go” list even since I first saw its photos two years ago. Been waiting for today to come since day 1 of the trip!
Left Page on Hwy 89 toward Kanab. After about 40 mins drive, made a left turn into a primitive road called House Rock Valley. The drive on the dirt road was about 8 miles / 30 mins at 20 MPH. Had to cross two or three washes en route. I guessed that was why the BLM officer told me “when it rains it will be impassible.” At the last a mile or so, there was a large fallen rock on the road, luckily my car was small enough to get around it. Finally reached the Wire Pass trail head at about 10 AM.
Signed in at the self-registration box, then started my hike to The Wave. As the BLM officer told me, it was a moderate hike, with somewhat steep ascends and descends (several times during the hike I had to hike up and down across small sandstone buttes). The only major challenge was navigation, because there was no established trail and since about half of the trail was on sandy surface, footprints were not reliable at all.
Thanks to the detailed instructions given out by the BLM officer (which I received together with my hiking permit), I was able to orient myself smoothly and reached The Wave at about 11:30 AM, just about the right time for taking photos at The Wave - at noon when the Sun was directly above the colorful sandstone canyon.
IMHO, “The Wave” was truly an amazing place to visit, with or without a camera. Time seemed to freeze as the seemingly endless curves flowed right in front of my eyes… Spent two hours at The Wave and headed back at about 2 PM.
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (8) - Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell
Today was a relaxing day. Had only two items on schedule: photograph the Upper Antelope Canyon in the late morning / noon, and then photograph sunset at Wahweap Bay of Lake Powell.
After breakfast, I joined the 9:30 AM departure 1.5-hours tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. I chose this slot because it was also at 9:30 AM that the 2.5-hours photography tour started. When I first arrived at the canyon, there wasn’t much light. Talked with the guide and she told me to “just wait for 20 minutes.” To my delight, she was absolutely right about the timing! About half an hour at the canyon, the Sun light began to fall onto the narrow canyon walls and created some dramatic lighting and colors. I kept shooting with a camera mounted on my tripod, and didn’t realize the elapse of time until the guide came to look for me me as the bus was leaving. Anyway, it was an amazing experience and I’d definitely come back once again during summer time when the lighting was said to be even better.
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (7) - Horseshoe Bend and Grand Canyon
Got up at 6:30 AM and drove via Hwy 89 to BLM Field Office at Kanab, AZ to secure a special permit for hiking to “The Wave” two days later. It’s a 1.5 hours drive from Page. Drove passed Glen Canyon NRA. I saw the sunrise on my rear sight mirror. It was breathtakingly colorful! It was such an enjoyable ride. The distant cliffs at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument were all bathed in the early morning sun light. Little traffic on the highway, so I set at cruise speed and listened to my favorite music. Wished the road never ends…
Arrived at BLM office at 8:35 AM. There were already several groups of people there for the permit lottery. Drawing started at 9 AM sharp. I was lucky - won one of the only 10 hiking permits! Drove back to Page at about 10:30 AM. Took a quick shower and then headed for Grand Canyon National Park.
Stopped by Horseshoe Bend Overlook en route. Nice view. The wind was calm and the weather was warm. I could have spent more time there but would love to catch sunset at GC. So I just stayed there for about 15 mins and then got back on the road.
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (6) - Goosenecks and Monument Valley
Today I moved my “base camp” from Moab UT to Page AZ. The drive was about 10 hours for me, since I made two stops en route.
First stop was at Goosenecks State Park, about four miles off Utah Highway 261 near Mexican Hat. I got to confront the San Juan River 1000-foot below. The river meanders back and forth, flowing for more than five miles while progressing only one linear mile toward the Colorado River and Lake Powell. It was quite windy and I felt somewhat unsafe to stand near the cliff edge to take photos. So I just backed off and took some in the hope to get a stitched panorama.
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (5) - Canyonlands National Park
Today’s my second day in Canyonlands National Park. My plan was to do a day trip to the Needles District in Canyonlands National Park. Got up at 7 AM and drove from Moab toward the Needles visitor center via SR 211. Called the park ranger office and was told that the road condition was OK even though there had been a snow storm last night.
In fact, once I turned onto SR 211, the road was covered in snow, much thicker than that in Island in the Sky district. Drove really slow with extreme care. Had a brief stopover at Newspaper Rock State Park. Interesting petroglyph.
Some fresh snow on the road into The Needle:
Newspaper Rock
Entering the Needles at about 11:30 AM. The Sun began to show up. Oh yeah!
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (4) - Canyonlands National Park
Plan to visit Canyonlands in two days. Today’s to visit the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands National Park during the day, and go to Dead Horse Point State Park to photograph sunset.
It was much colder today than the last two days in Arches, possibly due to the higher altitude and the lack of surrounding sandstone fins to block the chilly wind. The Sun was hiding behind the thick dark clouds until after about 10 AM. I canceled my plan to photograph sunrise at Mesa Arch.
This photo was taken at “the neck”, the narrow place connecting the Island in the Sky area to outside of the park, overlooking Shafer Canyon. As you can see, the clouds were thick:
Seen through Mesa Arch, late morning. The Sun was just beginning to stick his head out:
