Light Chasers

Category: Color Nature - All Other Plants and Trees

A trio of Ponderosa Pines reach for the sky from the dark confines of Wall Street, a slot canyon in Bryce Canyon National Park.

I'm always amazed at the determination displayed by trees. If you spend any time in the desert or mountains of the Southwest United States, you see trees growing - and thriving - in the most inhospitable locations. As someone from the mid-Atlantic United States, where there is so much greenery and balanced, temperate seasons, this is foreign to my experience, and I am consistently awed by the tenacity displayed in nature.

Hiking along the Navajo Loop just after sunrise on a late Spring morning, the Wall Street Canyon was pretty dark, but one look up revealed this scene where the organisms living here had learned to seek out the light on their own.

The Guiding Light

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Category: Large Print

It had rained the night before, so despite having stopped on our travels from San Diego to specifically hike Kanarra Falls, my wife and I awoke to an overcast morning and were hesitant to return to the start point. We waited much later than we planned, with a long drive ahead of us for the day, but finally decided to attempt the hike at 9 AM.

I am so glad we did. Had we beeen there earlier, this shot would have been even better, and as it was, this is barely what I saw as I tried to put the tripod together and in place before snapping off the images. There was still quite a bit of mist from the morning's cool waters hanging in this portion of the slot canyon and as we turned the corner, the single ray of sunlight illuminating that mist was a "Wow" moment. I got this one shot, before it was too warm, the mist had evaporated completely, and the sun proceeded to move past this angle.

That's how it goes sometimes...

The Virgin's Path to the Mountain of the Sun

Category: Large Print

The lower latitude of the setting sun in winter brilliantly isolates the Mountain of the Sun in this image from the bank of the Virgin River.

At it's peak, Mountain of the Sun reaches 6722', which is about 2500' above this view point. The cool waters of the Virgin River flow through Zion Canyon, continuing to carve this gorge deeper and bringing ever more rocks into the stream.

Although the Lower Emerald Pools Trail is currently closed, the bridge across the Virgin River from the National Park Lodge remains open and allows one to reach this spectacular vantage.

Images of the World in Which We Live

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