Shenandoah National Park
Made a short visit to Shenandoah National Park two weeks ago. It is the 21st national park I have been to. Still on track to visit all the 58 national parks in 10 years.
I’ve been told that Shenandoah is the “most boring” national park. Hmm, I agree it is kinda boring. :) Saw lots of deer though, on the trail, at the campground, crossing the highway…
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (End) - Great Salt Lake
The last day of my trip. I drove back to Salt Lake City from Bryce Canyon National Park. Surprise but quite happy to learn that I-15 had a speed limit of 75 mph…
Arrived in Salt Lake City at about 3 PM. Looked like there would be another two hours before sunset, so I went to Antelope Island State Park about half an hour’s drive north of SLC.
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (11) - Bryce Canyon
Got up at 6:30 AM. Drove to Bryce Point to photography sunrise. It was 1F outside as shown on my car’s dashboard display. As I was putting my nose close to my camera when taking pictures, my breath literally got the cold air “froze” and turned into slices of thin ice on my camera body…
The first light on the horizon:
The amphitheatre was gradually lit up:
Photographers at work at Bryce Point:
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (10) - Bryce Canyon
Woke up at 9 AM from a good night sleep, feeling refreshed from yesterday’s hike to “The Wave”. Today’s plan was to drive to Bryce Canyon National Park.
The drive took about 2.5 hours. Arrived at Best Western Ruby’s Inn right outside the park entrance. It was a very nice hotel, probably the best among all that I had stayed so far since this road trip started. Checked in, took some rests, and I set out to photography sunset at Bryce Canyon.
Drove to Sunset Point, then hiked the rim trail to Sunrise Point. Then drove to Inspiration Point, and eventually, to Bryce Point. It was very cold and windy, so I quickly finished the shooting, retreated back into my car, and drove back to Ruby’s Inn.
Today’s New Year’s Eve. So I decided to reward myself with the most expensive steak dinner at Ruby’s restaurant, and went to enjoy the indoor spa afterwards. It was fun to bath in a hot spa while watching the falling snow flakes. Goodbye 2007. Hello 2008.
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.
