Kodachrome Basin

Now you can probably see why it is called Kodachrome Basin. The main area of the strange pipe is enclosed in a high ridge. You might have to click on this photo to enlarge it to see all the detail. There is one very large pipe near the middle of the photo and many smaller ones in the area. This is in the middle of the Colorado Plateau and the different bands of sedimentary rocks are clearly visible.

Kodachrome Basin Pipes

One of my favorite camping spots in Utah or Arizona is Kodachrome Basin State Park almost to the border of Arizona deep in the sandstone cliffs of Southern Utah. It is a relatively small area with lot of interesting formations. Unlike some of the more popular national parks, Kodachrome is not nearly as busy or crowded. It is not particularly on the road to anywhere so there is less traffic than some other areas of Southern Utah. If you are thinking of camping, you will need reservations.

Lake Clouds

When you are standing there beside the lake, you can see the reflection, but there is no sense of unreality. When you look at the same scene through the eye of the camera, you can see that the whole landscape is transformed into a surreal abstract. You need to focus on the water and soon it will appear to be floating in the air in like a solid wall in an apparently ordinary looking landscape.

Storm over Bryce Canyon

We might all like to have warm, sunny weather all of the time. If so, we can move north and south with the seasons. But I like weather, no matter what kind comes along. I have found that images like this are not as popular as those showing people basking in the sun on a tropical beach, but Bryce Canyon and other such locations are my preferred venue. I would much rather be in a storm on the Colorado Plateau than sitting on a beach with a calm ocean. The images that result from my standing out in the rain or snow are not as bright as those with sunshine, but they do depict what is going on when I took the photo.

Back to Winter Again

Well, it is that time of year again. We see all this strange white stuff falling out of the air and it piles up and looks like Winter. We get to wear a lot more clothes than we were used to from living in the low desert for years. Despite the inconvenience I really do like snow. It is a pleasant change from brown and green for a while. Of course, Winter is just beginning and I might become less enthusiastic as the months roll on. 

Cross Bedding

The pattern of the sandstone in this image indicates that the formation was composed of ancient sand dunes. The theory is that the sand dunes became frozen in place when they were cemented by water with a high concentration of calcium. The different patterns in the rock were caused by changes in the pattern of the winds. The vertical lines come from the stresses imposed on the rocks as they were uplifted to their present level.

Zion Vista

Even when the temperatures outside say that Winter is on its way, I still remember the summer days in Southern Utah and particularly days spent in Zion Canyon. I just read that Zion had a record number of visitors so far in 2015. We added to that number, but I am almost sure that most of them were there the days we visited. I have been there many times and have never seen such crowds. I think we will concentrate on other areas of the state and maybe return to our favorite places in Arizona. The only other place with so many people is the Grand Canyon and Zion is a lot smaller area and the canyon concentrates all the people together. At the Grand Canyon there are a lot of people but they are spread out over miles of the Rim.