Tag Archives: grand staircase

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn in the Canyon

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Autumn in the Canyon
A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage deep in the canyon of the Escalante River.

Autumn in the Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage deep in the canyon of the Escalante River.

In my previous post I mentioned something about the experience of wandering down canyons such as this one, in particular the seductive nature of the continuous pattern of “next bend,” straight section, and the next “next bend” — and the difficulty of resisting the lure of exploring just one more twist of the canyon. On this. day I ran into that temptation as your pre-set turn-around time arrived… and passed… and we continued through a couple more of these bends.

This was one of the earlier bends, a point where we came back down to the stream after passing over some higher ground in a straight section. Here we had to wade to cross the stream since the route now followed the opposite bank. After crossing I climbed up a bit to place this colorful cottonwood tree in a composition that included the canyon beyond, and as I photographed a string of horses forded the stream.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Wall and Reflections

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Canyon Wall and Reflections
A vertical canyon wall is reflected in the Utah canyon stream.

Canyon Wall and Reflections. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A vertical canyon wall is reflected in the Utah canyon stream.

A small group of photographers spent a couple days exploring this canyon, walking in from its wide mouth and soon being surrounded by tall sandstone cliffs and cut off from the outside world. On the first day it was quite cold and we faced the challenge of wind — which created some big challenges when photographing in the shadowed depths of the canyon. We had some success, but a few days later we decided to return and try for a day with less wind.

In this canyon I recognized a lesson that I suppose I already knew subconsciously. As we worked out way downstream we were balancing the distance we could travel against the amount of time we spend on each subject and calculating our necessary turn-around time if we were to exit the canyon in daylight. But it is hard to stop exploring such a place, and more that once we would round a bend, see another section of canyon come into view, and say, “just this one more section.” Then we’d reach the next bend, feel the need to explore it, catch a glimpse of what was around the next bend and, well, you get the idea. If I recall correctly, this was the final bend at which we realized that we had to reverse course. It was a lovely spot, extremely still and quiet, with the small stream flowing gently past the bottom of a very large and rugged cliff in deep shadows.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Trees, Slot Canyon

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Creek, Canyon Light
A stream flows through the lower reaches of a Utah slot canyon, illuminated by lautumn ight reflected from canyon walls.

Autumn Trees, Slot Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn colors along a stream in a winding Utah red rock slot canyon.

On this lovely October day we left our lodgings and headed out on a long, quiet gravel backroad, eventually coming to a semi-hidden turn-off where we found a place to park. We loaded packs with camera equipment, switched into shoes appropriate for mud and wading, and headed up a shallow stream through flat terrain. Soon sandstone walls began to rise along the creek, and quickly we were in this intimate winding canyon with its combination of colors of autumn and light reflected on red rock cliffs.

This is the canyon where I stepped in my first quicksand. (Just enough to get my attention!) Once in the canyons, in addition to seeing photographic subjects everywhere, a series of sensory experiences stuck with me. Our voices were quiet as we ascended the stream’s shallow course, and sounds in the canyon were muted, mostly being the gentle sounds of water. The air was still for the most part, and the world outside the canyon disappeared, aside from that thin strip of blue sky straight overhead. At this bend leaves littered the sandy bank where the stream curved around rocks, the water glowed in the light reflected from upper canyon walls, and a few autumn trees stood with yellow leaves.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Wall

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Canyon Wall
Broken boulders and strata at the base of a slot canyon wall.

Canyon Wall. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Broken boulders and strata at the base of a slot canyon wall.

These canyons are simply full of fascinating details. Unlike much of my familiar Sierra Nevada landscape, where vistas can often go on for many miles, here the size of your world is much smaller. It is constricted to the width of the canyon, the distance to the upper rims (plus some sky), and upstream and downstream to only the next bends. So you are almost forced to focus on smaller details, of which there are many.

Here my attention was drawn to the rocks. I’m no geologist, and I only know enough to speculate about these things. But a close look at the rocks in this scene show material that was created in layers. Near the upper right corner, if you look closely, you can spot a place where there is a striking convergence of angles in the strata. And although this material was laid down in horizontal layers, over time it has been pushed and stretched and lifted until the formerly horizontal now angles up distinctly to the left. There is also an interesting almost vertical fracture between the more solid (and darker) rock on the right, and the lighter color of the broken rocks stacked up on the left.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.