Visit to Canyonlands National Park - June 14 & 15, 2011

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I made a 111 day trip across the US & Canada during the summer of 2011. On the trip I visited 20 National Parks & 40 State Parks. Although my stay at Canyonlands was only 2 days, I managed to take some of my favorite photographs there. A beautiful park with many different hikes & photo locations! The first group of images were taken at Mesa Arch. Although a wonderful view anytime, the colors during sunrise are spectacular (and popular). Although it was 5:30 AM at the end of a 35 mile drive from my campground to the Islands in the Sky section of the park, there were already 5-6 photographers set up to take sunrise photos through the arch. The first couple of photos shows what the arch looks like during the daylight hours. The rest are during the 15 minutes of the sunrise hitting the arch:

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT	Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT	Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT Before Sunrise	Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT During Sunrise
Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT During Sunrise	Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT During Sunrise	Buck Canyon Overlook	A Tree

After that I continued through the park for some morning shots of Buck Canyon & an interesting tree.

The afternoon of the 15th, I decided to try to photograph the False Kiva. This is a location that is not an "official" hike, however the rangers at the visitor's center will help you with directions to the site. I managed to get lost on the way and arrived too late in the afternoon for a good photograph (the sun was cutting across the Kiva by the time I got there) but I included the images because of the striking location:

The Ledge Over the Trail	A Section of the Trail	Arriving at the False Kiva	Too Late For Good Lighting

I also visited the Needles District:

Newspaper Rock, UT	Canyonlands National Park, UT	Rock, Canyonlands	Rock, Canyonlands
Puebloan Granary, Canyonlands	Cowboy Camp, Canyonlands	Cave Spring, Canyonlands	Cave Spring, Canyonlands
Tree, Canyonlands	Tree, Canyonlands	Rock, Canyonlands	Rock, Canyonlands
Rock, Canyonlands	Rock, Canyonlands	The Needles, Canyonlands	Canyonlands National Park, UT
Canyonlands National Park

Overall, I highly recommend spending some time at Canyonlands. I plan on a longer visit next summer.

This page is maintained by: vermilye@oswego.edu
Last Update: November 8, 2011