I’m continuing with the random sharing of holiday pics. The date I chose for this post was September 10, which had us enjoying Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.
Bryce Canyon is like no other place on Earth. And, thanks to Annelies, we experienced it in a very memorable fashion. Instead of just looking at the canyon from its rim…
View from the Rim
…which would have been gorgeous enough, we ventured down into the canyon on the Navajo Trail. This trail, as described on the Bryce Canyon National Park website, is a 1.3-mile loop. That distance may sound easy, but there were lots of ups and downs. It was a bit strenuous at times, but well worth it.
Another View from the Rim
In my last post, I said I like rocks, right? It was the unique rocks in Bryce Canyon that were responsible for it being declared a national park. The spires in Bryce, called “hoodoos,” are formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone. Erosion also created lots of other shapes like slot canyons (deep, narrow canyons), windows, and fins, all of which are “tinted with colors too numerous and subtle to name, these whimsically arranged rocks create a wondrous landscape of mazes, offering some of the most exciting and memorable walks and hikes imaginable.”
Think that’s a bit of an exaggeration? Think again.
View from Just Below Trailhead
Annelies and Yves had done this hike before, so they knew which end to start from. Descending the seemingly never-ending series of switchbacks was difficult enough, climbing out of the canyon that way would have been torture.
Hubby on the Trail
I wish I would have counted the number of switchbacks that carried us down into the canyon.
SwitchbacksLooking Up and Out of the Canyon
If you click on any of the images in this post, you’ll get a larger version to peruse. In the shot immediately above, those dots in the lower middle part of the frame are other hikers coming down the switchbacks we had just navigated.
Flat Spot in the Canyon
There were hoodoos everywhere, not just on the walls of the canyon.
I'm Guessing This is a Fin?Blue Skies Peeking ThroughMe, Annelies, and YvesBlue Skies Made Quite a Dramatic BackdropInteresting Shapes and Colors were EverywhereMore Cool Shapes and ColorsThe Ground Didn't Stay Flat for LongGorgeousnessOne of My Favorite Shots
It almost doesn’t look real, right?
Climbing Out of the CanyonMe and HubbyAnnelies, Hubby, and YvesBeauty on a Grand Scale
That spot in the lower, right-hand corner is a person. I left her in there so you could get a better idea of the enormous scale of the place.
See what I mean about it being memorable? That’s definitely a vacation moment/experience I will never forget.
Our vacation ended over two months ago. But I’ve been busy. So busy that I haven’t had time to go through all the pictures to post on my blog in any sort of orderly fashion.
Wednesday evening, I actually had some downtime. Imagine that. So I did some photo organizing. Not just vacation pics, mind you. I had images on my hard drive going way back to June!
Those of you who are also into photography know how many files that might be. Hundreds. Maybe even thousands. And image files are huge. So that little clean-up was long overdue.
While I was deleting and moving files, I saw the vacation pics. Which I never did share. So I figured I’d take advantage of this long holiday weekend and share some of those images with you. Instead of trying to be all orderly about it, I decided to pick a date at random. The date was September 7. The location was the Moab, Utah area. That was the day we visited Dead Horse Point State Park and Arches National Park.
As you will see, the scenery was amazing.
I’ve always been fascinated by rocks. I don’t know why. Cool rock formations were EVERYWHERE.
I found the colors and lines on the cliff walls particularly fascinating. It wasn’t until later in the day, after asking a park ranger, that I learned about desert varnish.
If you didn’t follow that link, I’ll just tell you that desert varnish is what’s responsible for a lot of the varying dark colors on the rock faces.
Utah is one of the most picturesque, diverse places I have ever seen. Everyone knows about the Grand Canyon in Arizona. And lots know about the canyons and red rock country of Utah. Have you ever head of Dead Horse Point State Park?
Stroll along the Rim Walk, towering 2,000 feet directly above the Colorado River. The mesa that is Dead Horse Point provides breathtaking views of the canyon country of southeastern Utah and the pinnacles and buttes of Canyonlands National Park.
It is very close to Moab, where we were staying. If you are ever in the area, it’s a must-see destination. You don’t have to hike to see views like the one shown above either. I’m pretty sure that was taken from the parking lot of the visitor center. Or a scenic viewpoint. I’m not sure which of the two. The point is, views like this are mere steps from the comfort of your car.
The state and national parks in Utah area amazing. But so is the landscape in general. The image above was just a random snapshot captured while driving down the road, between destinations.
Speaking of destinations… at Arches National Park, Annelies and I wisely (if I do say so myself) decided to sign our group up for the ranger-led Fiery Furnace Tour.
That’s the Fiery Furnace, pictured above. If I remember correctly, it wasn’t named that for any reason other than to intrigue people. It’s much more interesting to say “I’m going to see the Fiery Furnace” than it is to say “I’m going to see a bunch of cool rocks.” If you’d like to learn more, you can watch this National Park Service video.
Essentially it was a walk down into and among the sandstone rock formations.
We really got an up close and personal look at the rocks. And listened to the ranger’s explanation for how erosion, over millions of years, has shaped the landscape.
Walking in the Fiery Furnace
It wasn’t an easy walk. We had to scramble up and over rocks. Through small passageways. Up steep walls. But it was all so worth it.
Dwarfed by Rock
It’s one thing to see the beautiful landscape from afar, but to get down into and among the rocks was amazing. We were all very happy to have taken the tour.
In terms of geographic area, Arches is one of the smaller, if not the smallest, national parks in Utah. Yet, as the park’s website explains…
Arches National Park preserves over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, like the world-famous Delicate Arch, as well as many other unusual rock formations. In some areas, the forces of nature have exposed millions of years of geologic history. The extraordinary features of the park create a landscape of contrasting colors, landforms and textures that is unlike any other in the world.
Again, you don’t have to hike to see gorgeous scenery. Going into the Fiery Furnace was a plus. But just driving around and/or stopping at the various viewpoints will yield vistas unlike any you may ever experience elsewhere.
It really was a fabulous vacation. In fact, it was one of the best vacations we’ve ever taken. Part of what made it so enjoyable was having such great travel companions. I swear, we all laughed for two weeks straight.
Think I am exaggerating? Check out this little slideshow of what we had to go through to capture what should have been a simple group shot.
I’m smiling now, thinking about it, and will smile again every time I see these pictures.
During our recent visit to Grand Teton National Park, we decided to do an easy hike. It started near our cabin, went along Jackson Lake (the big one) and through the woods on relatively level ground past a couple of smaller bodies of water.
Colter Bay in Jackson Lake
Have I said before that Grand Teton National Park is one of my favorite places on Earth?
As you can see from the pics, we got pretty lucky with the weather. Mornings were cool, but the days warmed-up nicely.
Heron Pond
After leaving the shore of Jackson Lake, we wound through the woods to the much-smaller Heron Pond. Heron Pond is only separated from Jackson Lake at one point by a narrow strip of land. If you look at the center of the image above, the lake in the foreground is Heron Pond while the water in the background (in front of the mountain) is Half Moon Bay in Jackson Lake. This MAP will give you a better idea as to the scale of this place.
My companions laughed at me when I was shooting the image above. In order to capture those flowers in the foreground of my shot, I had to get down on my hands and knees with my butt up in the air and face almost on the ground. Sure, I looked stupid. (Annelies took a picture to prove it!) But I got a great shot, right?
After a bit, we continued on to Swan Lake (pictured below).
Reflections at Swan Lake
Even though you can’t see the Teton Range (mountains) in this shot, I like it for the cool cloud reflection.
I captured another version of the same scene in the image below.
Swan Lake Reflections
I like the second shot better. I like how much depth it has thanks to the grass in the foreground.
Hubby isn’t a fan of images shot in the portrait orientation used for the second image. He prefers the wider, landscape view.
Which one do you like better?
Perfectly Positioned Log
The stunning view of Swan Lake captured in those images is what we saw from this log. I sat there for a while, too, which is why there’s a gap between Hubby and Annelies. But I just couldn’t sit still with those very cool cloud reflections just waiting to be captured.
Finishing the Hike
Our men were great sports about letting us take pictures to our hearts’ content. After a few more shots and some leisurely poking around, we finished our hike.
Despite having both of our windshields covered with frost in the morning, yesterday turned out to be quite a nice day.
Brilliant Blue Sky
The shot above was taken at an overlook that was above treeline (11,700 or so feet). The views were pretty nice.
The High Road
Since it’s a holiday weekend, the park is pretty crowded. We need to leave a bit earlier tomorrow to get to the trailhead before the parking lot fills.
Mike and ShannonAnnelies and KathyL-R, Kathy, Shannon, Mike, Yves, and Annelies
I really like that group shot. I got lots of great images, but for some reason, this fisherman image I shot at Sprague Lake is one of my favorite landscape photos of the day.
We arrived safely yesterday. Shannon met us at the airport, which made the arrival extra-sweet. We’ve both really missed that kid.
Driving into the Mountains
Our house is in Estes Park, which is about two hours from the airport. We hadn’t eaten all day, so we stopped for a quick bite at Chick Fil-a. Then it was back into our big-ass car (that’s another story) and on to Estes Park.
View from Our Deck
The mountains are beautiful, but Estes Park, as with most communities that serve as gateways to big national parks, is a bit of a tourist trap.
After we got settled into our house, I went to the grocery store. It was crazy busy. But then, it is Labor Day Weekend.
Annelies and Yves arrived around 8:30 or so and we had a nice dinner. We were all pretty beat and went to bed relatively early.
This is what I saw when I woke up…
Brrr
Our first stop of the day will be the visitor’s center at Rocky Mountain National Park for new sweatshirts.
A much-needed (oh, the stress) but poorly timed (shouldn’t we be packing?) vacation.
Rocky Mountain National Park by Mark Newman
We actually started planning for this vacation in late-2010. We had such a good time visiting with our friends Annelies and Yves in Belgium, that we all decided it was only fair if we took turns traveling to each others’ continent on a regular basis. Last year, we were in Europe. This year, they’re in the US.
We couldn’t just have them come to our place. That would be boring. Plus, we know they like traveling in the same fashion as us. By that I mean, visiting national parks, seeing different states, etc.
Originally, we were going to join them for a week. Then, when Annelies told me they were going to Grand Teton National Park (GTNP, one of my favorite places in the whole world!) and Yellowstone after we went home, I wisely decided that we should extend our stay. After all, since we’ve already been to GTNP, and there are so many other places we still need to visit, chances of us going back there “just because” anytime soon are quite slim.
It’ll be interesting to see if we all still like each other as much after two weeks of togetherness. LOL.
Each couple will have their own car (a logistics thing), so that should help. Although Annelies tells me she drives like an old woman and Hubby and I are physically incapable of driving slow…
We’ll just have to say “see ya when you get there” when we go from destination to destination.
We’ve got quite an itinerary planed.
First up, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. As an added bonus, because Shannon (recently moved to California) has been wanting to meet Annelies and Yves for ages, and we’ll be renting a house during our stay, and it’s relatively inexpensive to fly from CA to CO, Shannon will be joining us for that part of the trip.
From there we head down to Utah. We’ll be stopping at the Colorado National Monument on our way. Then we’ll hit Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park near Moab. We’ll also be visiting Capitol Reef National Park near Torrey, Utah. And we can’t forget Bryce Canyon National Park a bit further west.
After all that nature-stuff, we’re heading north into Salt Lake City for a visit to Temple Square. That’s like Mormon Central. It’s a convenient stopping point for us. After we see the sites there, we will be taking a peek at the Great Salt Lake. That’ll just be a quick stop on our way further north to Grand Teton National Park. After a few days there, it’s off to Yellowstone National Park.
See what I mean about the itinerary? Annelies and I are the designated vacation planners, for travels with respective couples and for this trip. We collaborated via e-mail quite a bit. And by Skype, too. I think we’ve done a pretty good job.
She made a remark the other day wondering how many pictures we would end up with between the four of us. Hmmm, two weeks, eight national parks, and myriad other sights in between… my guess is THOUSANDS.
That’s what I mean when I say things will be getting colorful. I’ll be sharing some pics here as well as uploading them to my Flickr site.
