Tag Archives: leaves

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

Canyon Bend and Tree

November 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A box elder with autumn foliage grows along the stream at the bend in a red rock canyon

There are many patterns familiar to those who enter these canyons. In many cases, the creeks and rivers meander back and forth, and over time they may have cut paths deep into the sandstone layers that also meander in the same way. Walking along such a small creek, looking up, and realizing that a winding canyon hundreds of feet deep was cut but the little creek gives you a sense of deep time… and also a clear indication that such creeks are not always so gentle. The winding patterns also lead you on as you descend the creeks. Each time you round a bend like this one you get a view further along in the canyon… to the next bend, where the creek turns out of sight again. And you say/think to yourself, “just one more bend and then I’ll turn around.” So you keep going and round that next bend, where you can see a bit further into the canyon… to the next bend. And you say/think to yourself, “just one more bend and then I’ll turn around…”

This creek doesn’t follow the perfect pattern of consecutive meanders that are found in some canyons, but it did in this section where I found a single box elder tree growing at the edge of a rock that butted up against the wetter, sandy section of the water course. And far above, the gigantic walls of this canyon mirrored, as expected, the curves of the bottom of the canyon, and warm light bouncing among the canyon walls filtered down here to gently illuminate the depths of this red canyon.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Zion Canyon Trees — Three Photographs

November 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Not wanting to string this out too long, I’m grouping some photographs together in single posts. This set includes three from Zion Canyon, near the road’s end and the beginning of the route into the Narrows. (My hiking on this visit was largely limited to this short walk, as I had messed up my knee a few days earlier.)

I find the juxtaposition of canyon trees, especially when the foliage is taking on fall colors, and the sandstone cliff walls to be irresistible. Here the trees are mostly cottonwoods — including some very large and old specimens — and perhaps a few box elders. The coloration of the sandstone in this part of the world varies, sometimes in obvious ways (such as the contrasting red and white layers higher in the park) and sometimes more subtly. Here the contrast is subtle, with some of these rocks picking up an almost purple quality, which is then further modified by the color of light reflecting down from canyon walls high above.

And old cottonwood tree towers over streamside autumn foliage deep in a sandstone canyon

This giant and magnificent tree stands near a trail junction in a curve of the canyon, from some angle forming an impressive centerpiece of this amphitheater-like location.

Box elder trees with autumn foliage along the base of a sandstone cliff

The box elder trees provide much the same fall color as the aspens, but they have a more delicate form, with thinner branches that seem to more likely bend and drop toward the ground.

Autumn color along a canyon stream at the base of sandstone cliffs

These colorful trees are just a few of many that grow along the edges of the Virgin River as it flows right along the base of this sandstone cliff at the bottom of the canyon.

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

Canyon Cottonwood Trees, Autumn

November 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with autumn foliage fill the bottom of a red rock canyon near Boulder, Utah

After a week or so of camping out in a range of Utah locations, one of which was rather remote, I emerged from this backcountry of gravel roads and red rock and canyons and came back to the (relative) civilization of Escalante, Utah. Gas stations! Espresso! Restaurants! Even better, I had an appointment to meet my cousin and her husband over in Boulder, Utah… and dinner was on the calendar!

I arrived in Boulder a bit early, and having a bit of extra time I decided to use it by traveling out on the Burr Trail. I’ve been on that road a few times in the past, so I figured that it would be fairly easy to find red rock canyon walls and perhaps more cottonwood color. As I arrived at the first narrow section of canyon the road traversed the side of a ridge and offered overhead views looking down into the canyon and up a larger nearby wash. While elsewhere in the state I had seen a combination of green cottonwoods and other trees that were just about at peak color, here is seemed that the cottonwood color had already peaked, and instead of a wall of gold I saw a mixture of a few intense golden trees and many others that had lost leaves and exposed their trunks and branches. In this spot the trees lined up against canyon walls, and a nearby they marched off down the canyon.

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

Two From the Waterpocket Fold Area

November 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

I’m going to double-up here and share two photographs in a single post — both are from the Waterpocket Fold (Strike Valley) area just to the east of Capitol Reef National Park.

Utah’s Waterpocket fold, viewed from high in the southern part of Capitol Reef National Park

The “Waterpocket Fold” is a gigantic geologic formation in Utah, a good portion of which runs the length of Capitol Reef National Park and beyond. As I understand it, the formation is a monocline, where strata change depth at a fairly steep angle, and subsequent erosion has worn away and exposed these strata in amazing ways, especially where the up-trending layers end. This photograph, made from a high point along the ridge of Capitol Reef, looks south into the waterpocket valley as it bends and continues to head south.

Cottonwood trees with autumn foliage follow a wash up a canyon toward Waterpocket Fold area cliffs

This photograph looks to the east across the strike valley of the Waterpocket Fold feature from along the ridge of Capitol Reef. A wash (which may be Bitter Creek?) winds away and upwards toward the giant cliffs along the east side of the Valley. The scene illustrates, I think, quite a few common features of this terrain. It is quite arid and rugged — except that along the bottom of the wash, which periodically floods, a long grove of cottonwood trees and other vegetation has taken hold and seems to thrive.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: leaves

Canyon Bend and Tree

Zion Canyon Trees — Three Photographs

Canyon Cottonwood Trees, Autumn

Two From the Waterpocket Fold Area

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