This Labor Day weekend, I and three other friends drove down south for a night of camping in Arizona, then a night of hiking in Moab, before heading back to Salt Lake.
The six hours of driving from 6 am down to the Lees Ferry campsite in northern Arizona were boring, but the desert scenery doesn't much compare to anything else in the US (that I've been to so far). Once we got to our campsite and set up the tent, we backtracked to a beach next to the Colorado river. It was great to break out my waders again to feel the refreshing coolness of the river without getting wet at all.
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| One side of the river was a huge rock face, remains of how deep the Colorado River used to be. |
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| Gerry wanted to dig up something breathing underneath the sand; didn't end up finding anything though. |
After spending some time at the river, we went up to the Navajo Bridge just off of the Lees Ferry recreation area. This destination was a big motivation for this trip, because this site turned out to the location for at least three images taken by my grandpa sometime between the 60s and 70s. That means we got to do some more shots for my overlay project!
One major challenge that came up when we got to the bridge was that another bridge was constructed to accommodate traffic, while the original bridge that my grandpa must've seen was now a pedestrian crossing bridge. They've walled off the area underneath the bridges, where apparently there was a trail that originally allowed folks to get precariously close to the edge of the canyon over the Colorado river.
Without being discouraged by the employees, Gerry and I hopped the walls and slowly made our way underneath the car bridge, eventually finding the locations for these three pictures. At the time I didn't have the tripod, so we couldn't do any precise recreations like in Idaho Falls, but I think the idea is still pretty clear.
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| The new bridge for cars was placed in front of the original, so it's difficult to see exactly where my grandpa was standing. |
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| Still don't know who these people are. |
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| This too was difficult to line up without the tripod, but this worked for me. |
After about an hour of figuring out these three photos, we headed back up to the road and drove to Page for dinner. Our original plan was to spend some time in Lake Powell, but we needed to get back to the campsite before it got too dark.
That night at the campground, we saw the Milky Way and several unfamiliar stars in the summer night sky. I had my first go at some astrophotography, but my lens was not wide enough to really capture anything in good composition. The image of a clear Milky Way and the summer night sky will be ingrained in my own memories, to be recaptured at a later date.
The day after camping, we headed out towards Moab, stopping at Page again to resupply and eat breakfast. Nearby, along the way, we stopped at Horseshoe Bend, a spot around the Colorado River where it meanders and curves around on itself.
Much like the astrophotography, my lens just wasn't wide enough to capture the entire scene I wanted, so I've definitely gotta come back with the proper gear to get the iconic shot I envisioned.
After finally making it to Moab and dropping our things in our condo, we made haste to Arches National Park to see the Delicate Arch. Not only was it my first time in Arches, but it was our first night hike. By the time we got to the arch, it was well into the night. This gave me a chance to practice some more astrophotography and light painting. I'm rather pleased with the results.
After spending lots of time just admiring the arch and the clear summer night sky above us, we got back to the condo and prepared for the long drive back home. This was a great trip to look forward to after planning for two months, but now I think we've realized that we should plan less and leave plenty of time to just chill at any location we wanna go to. We definitely need more than a day to spend in Moab to really take in the sights, but night hiking isn't so bad in the summer.
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