Buttes and Peaks

Every part of the Colorado Plateau could be a photograph. This shot was taken with a long telephoto lens and so the various features shown are really separated by long open spaces. I am guessing that the sharp butte you can see in the center is about three to fours miles away from where I was standing. By road, it is more like ten to fifteen miles away. Distances are deceiving. When I was very young, I took a walk towards a cliff that I considered to be only a short distance away and soon found myself a long way from where I started and no much closer to the cliff.

The Wooden Shoe Arch

Wooden Shoe formation is one of the most recognizable rock formations in the Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah. We have stayed in a campground where this rock formation was visible on two occasions. The rock itself is not all that accessible. Distances in the canyons can be very deceiving. There is a large canyon between where I was standing and the Wooden Shoe and it would take a long walk and a technical climb to get to the small arch in the formation.

Rough Country

When people talk about trying to travel in rough country, they usually do not have a concept about what is really rough country. This is the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. You have no idea what it would take to walk over to the needles in the background. You will have to wonder where I was standing to take this photo and how I got there.

Wandering on the slickrock

There are places on the Colorado Plateau where you can walk for miles on nearly level sandstone. This phenomena is collectively called slickrock. There are vast areas where the rock makes an uneven paved surface and nothing grows. Mostly the slickrock is broken into huge sections and in the cracks between there are trees and other plants growing. This is a bizarre world of canyons, cliffs and rock outcroppings all made of sandstone.

Canyonlands National Park

I was talking to some neighbors the other day and mentioned that we were camping in Canyonlands National Park. I was surprised when they said they had never heard of it. I have been camping in and around Canyonlands for about 40 years and that is about the entire history of the National Park since it was created in 1964, just a few short years before my first visit. Almost any direction you point a camera you have a wonderful shot.

Giant Poppies

We probably have an idea of what certain things are supposed to look like. That also goes for the size of common items. The poppy flowers I have seen are all about the same size. These are about ten times larger than any I had seen before. I suppose that somewhere in the world these are normal, but I really wasn't prepared for this large flower.

Sunset in Kodachrome Basin

I never tire of the wealth of land forms in Utah and Arizona. Why should I travel to exotic places when some of the most remarkable and exotic are in my own backyard? Kodachrome Basin in Southern Utah is one of the most remarkable of all those locations. It is only the vagaries of politics that keeps this and many similar locations from becoming National Parks. Although, I would not be in favor of declaring all these areas as National Parks simply because to do so would attract many more visitors, most of whom would come simply because the area was declared a National Park and not for the scenery or solitude.