Monument Valley and Beyond

I couldn’t do a post yesterday, because the WiFi at my campground sucked. Well, that’s being too kind, I never managed to get a single byte in or out. So today’s post covers two days at Monument Valley, and the journey northward to Moab, Utah. I also did quite a bit of flying in Monument Valley. Since it is a Navajo park, they take a much friendlier attitude to Quadcopters. They actually think it’s pretty cool (which it is).

This was the view from my campground. I hate to say it, but it would be significantly improved if the campground wasn’t there at all:


This is East Mitten Butte in the late afternoon:


The gap between these two Mesas is called the North Window:


Lots of Navajos set up souvenir and jewelry stands any place a tourist is likely to stop. This one says it’s open, but the selection and service leave something to be desired:


Here is West Mitten and East Mitten at sunset:


These next two photos are not named locations. They are just spots along the road North:




I stopped at Natural Bridge National Monument, here is the Sipapu Bridge:


And the Kachina Bridge:


A thunderstorm was threatening on the Mesa:


And here is Wilson Arch. Not in any park, just along the side of the road to Moab:

Coal Mine Canyon and Canyon de Chelly

I had a busy day again, but this time I was on the move from Page, Arizona to Canyon de Chelly with a stop in the middle at Coal Mine Canyon. I felt like an NBA Point Guard all day, Drive and shoot, drive and shoot. I also did some great flying with the DJI Inspire. I did scenes at Horseshow Bend (again), some really cool stuff at Coal Mine Canyon, and two different locations in Canyon de Chelly. I will fly some more in Canyon de Chelly in the AM before I leave for Monument Valley.

I also shot some panoramas with my iPhone 6 Plus. Brad would be proud of me. He shot a lot of them in Africa, but I kept forgetting to do them. Here are some from today:

Horseshoe Bend ala iPhone Pano:


Coal Mine Canyon:


Canyon de Chelly from the “White House” overlook:


Here’s a shot of the “White House” with my GH4:


One of my favorite places in Canyon de Chelly is Spider Rock. I flew the Inspire there this afternoon because the morning light tomorrow won’t be as good.
I’ll stop and have a look, but I think the shots this afternoon will be best:

Cathedral Canyon and Antelope Canyon

I had a busy day of shooting today. In the AM, I did a trip to Cathedral Canyon and hiked through a couple of the slot canyons there. After that, I went back to Horseshoe Bend and did another shot of the bend in full light and flew the DJI Inspire out over the edge of the cliff. Then in the afternoon, I went to Upper Antelope Canyon for the beautiful slot canyon there.

Cathedral Canyon:
























Horseshoe Bend in daylight ( much easier to shoot than sunset):


Upper Antelope Canyon:

Zion Naional Park and Horseshoe Bend

I decided to take yesterday off and do some advanced planning. I only had a vague ida of where I was going next, and no idea of where I would be staying, so a bit of organizing was in order. Today I got an early start from Las Vegas and was in Zion National Park by noon. In Zion, you have to take the park shuttle buses to get to some of the scenic viewpoints. They were crowded and hot, but I rode one up as far as I wanted to go, then got out to shoot and caught the downward shuttle to the next stop. Then I would catch the next shuttle again and go down one more stop to shoot. I managed to get all of what I wanted without having to wait too long for shuttles.

I departed Zion and headed to Page Arizona where I will spend 2 days. The only thing that I managed to get done today in Page was a sunset shot of Horseshoe Bend. I will shoot it again tomorrow in the daylight, and with the DJI Inspire. I will also shoot in some of the slot canyons on Navajo Land. You can’t go into the area without a Navajo guide, so I have arranged guides for Cathedral Canyon in the AM and Antelope Canyon in the afternoon. I will do Horseshoe Bend again in between the two canyon trips. It will be a busy day.

Zion from the high road:


Big Bend:


Like most canyons, a river runs through it:


Checkerboard Mesa:


The Horseshoe Bend cliffs at sunset:


Horseshoe Bend at Sunset:

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park

This was a long day. My goal was to get from Fresno, Ca to Nevada with a swing up through Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. I wound up behind the wheel for about 12 hours to cover that all in one day. Kings Canyon is pretty far off the beaten path. I don’t think I’d recommend doing all of this in one day. It’s not that there are that many things to shoot in the parks (at east compared to Yosemite). It’s just a lot of miles on twisty hilly small roads. I didn’t finally get in to Las Vegas until after 10:30 tonight. It’s hot here, still 95 at midnight. Tomorrow I will head Northeast into the Utah/Arizona canyon country.

This is the General Grant Tree, the one that instigated the initial protection of the Sequoias over 125 years ago. It is approximately 1650 years old. The only way to be absolutely sure of it’s age would be to cut it down and count the rings, but that would sort of defeat the purpose.:


This is one of the groves in the Forest of Giants. Didn’t see any Ewoks:


This black lizard is well camouflaged on a piece of burned wood:


Kings Canyon doesn’t have as many panoramic viewpoints as Yosemite. Too many big trees:


The Kings river flows through the center of the canyon:


The canyon was carved glacially like Yosemite, so it has some steep canyon walls:

Yosemite

I spent the night in Mariposa (ridiculously expensive), then headed up to Yosemite Valley after breakfast. In all of my California travels, I had never managed to make it to this corner of the state. I had been within 50 miles dozens of times, but never made the drive up to the Valley. It’s a truly lovely place, and probably worth all the hype that it gets, but also deserves the jabs it gets for being crowded. I’m glad I didn’t camp there, the campgrounds were all full and they reminded me of refugee camps with tents pegged next to each other in every direction. Not exactly a memorable wilderness experience. As the day progressed, more and more people came out to crown the trails and it got hotter and hotter, so by 1600 I had fortunately completed everything I felt I could do and bailed out. If you haven’t seen much of the great outdoors, Yosemite would be an OMGTISA experience for you. If you’ve been around a bit, then it’s still nice, but not mind blowing.

If you come in from the south, you get an initial view of the valley right after you exit the last tunnel, unsurprisingly, this is called the Tunnel View (not to be confused with tunnel vision) El Capitan on the left and Half Dome in the back Center:


The source of the Merced river is in the Yosemite Valley:


It makes a scenic foreground for El Capitan:


There are a couple places that you can get a nice reflection of El Capitan:


You can also get good views of Half Dome with the Merced River:


Lots of nice meadows give you good views of Half Home:


This deer walked right by me as I was heading down one of the trails to the river:


Yosemite Falls is an impressive drop, but it’s a dry year so June looks more like August. In August it will probably be almost dry:

Road Trip

Well, I’ve been quiet since my return to the US. That’s because I’ve been busy prepping for the trip I just started yesterday. It is a long looping journey down through Oregon to the Northern California coast, through the Redwoods, then East to Yosemite (and maybe Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, then to the deserts and canyon lands of Arizona, New Mexico and Southern Utah. And finally, up through Utah and Southern Idaho to re-enter Oregon from the East and head back to Portland. This is a road trip in the classic American Style. I’m driving the whole loop and camping in many of the locations. My first stop was in the Redwoods near Crescent City, California.

My First Campsite:


Afternoon light in the Redwoods:


Yes, there’s wildlife in America too! Here is a portion of an Elk Herd I encountered:


Some ferns in the Redwoods:


A grove in the Avenue of the Giants: