Moab, UT

Canyonlands National Park

About 20 minutes from my camp site was Canyonlands National Park. I headed there sometime in the afternoon to check it out. I talked to the ranger at the desk to find out the best sunset and sunrise photos.

While I was sitting outside of the visitor center I saw Wesley (my campsite buddy) ride up on his bike. He was planning on a 2 night backpacking trip on The White Rim. Next time here I’ll do something like that.

I only had 3-4 hours until sunset so I drove the length of the park to check out some of the viewpoints and a couple quick hikes. The view at the very end was pretty awesome. The canyons look really cool with all the different colors and different rock types. It looks extremely different from Arches, and it’s only 45 minutes away.

Scoping out my sunrise shot for the next morning at Mesa Arch, i thought I pre-picked a good spot to shoot for.

Continuing to a different part of the park I made some lunch in my newly purchased cooking pot (I needed a bigger one to make some of those instant pasta pouches). After lunch I hiked Whale Rock which was a quick 30 minute hike where I climbed onto a massive rounded rock formation that looked like a whale from the ground. There were some great views up there, basically a 360 degree view of both of the canyons. Island in the Sky (this portion of the park) is a high plateau that is surrounded on both sides by rivers, the Colorado and the Green River.

Heading to Green River Overlook I posted up on the edge of some large rocks overlooking a massive view of canyons, mesas, and hoodoos. It was a pretty spectacular view. I spent about an hour trying to get a good sunset shot. Fingers crossed.

Day 2

I woke up a bit late, somehow I didn’t hear my alarm and it automatically snoozed itself. When I got to Mesa Arch there were a dozen people standing in front of my “perfect spot”. It turns out that they were all in the perfect spot. I ended up scrambling around the rocks trying to find some good angles, basically shooting everything else besides the arch.

A bit of a way off the trail a nice man tells me to try and shoot something with a bush in the foreground. This is also a pretty spectacular view. Again, I’m hoping that I came away with some photos that are keepers!

Looking back at this picture (above) it’s one of, if not my favorite from the entire trip. And I never would have moved to this spot if it wasn’t for the group of people in the way or that random human who was giving me suggestions. It’s pretty cool to think about how small decisions and the impact of others and can make such a big difference in an experience.