This has got to be my best photography day yet on this trip. Remember I said a few days ago that I couldn’t imagine Zion being more spectacular than Bryce? Well, today was absolutely incredible. We went up the Weeping Rock trail, which was pretty icy. At one point there was an ice landslide covering the trail, and we had to walk across giant cubes of ice to get to the other side. And the weeping rock was very cool. It’s a cliff face that has water dripping-falling down from various points, and even though Zion isn’t nearly as cold as Bryce was, icicles have formed all over. So that was a good start to the day. But then it started snowing. So the nearby cliffs were clear and dark colored, whereas the farther the cliff, the more shrouded in mist. This resulted in some beautiful black and white photos with a lot of depth. But better yet, by late afternoon, the snow began to slow, and the clouds began to part. This halfway point between misty and clear was spectacular. I’ve got one HDR panorama that is just magnificent. So, where is it, you say? Well, the next batch of photos won out. A friend of mine, Alan Simmons, has visited Zion before and sent me some tips on where to go. He said that the Canyon Junction near the entrance to the park is terrific for sunsets. We got down there a bit late, but were greeted by the last light on the cliff faces. I have never seen anything like it, not even at Arches. The cliff faces weren’t just glowing, they were on fire! They looked like volcanos! It was just so gorgeous. I really wish we had gotten down there earlier to see more cliffs illuminated, but what we did see was definitely worth our trip. I guess we were lucky too – the cliffs have to be wet (and there have to be clouds?) to get this fiery glow. Also motivates us to get out of bed early for the sunrise tomorrow, before we head out to our next stop – Capitol Reef National Park.
Photo of the fiery glow of the cliffs of Zion National Park, Utah at sunset
Anyway, here it is – today’s photo. Like I’ve said, I love HDR, so I couldn’t help but put this one in HDR too – 67mm focal length, ISO 50, f/8, and shutter speeds of 1/4, 1/2, and 1 second. (If you don’t know what HDR is, see my previous blog post about it.) Notice the detail in the trees at the base of the cliff? A standard image would have been too dark to get any detail there – the HDR brings it out. So…if this doesn’t make you want to visit Zion, I don’t know what will!
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Irene, your pictures are really beautiful. I enjoyed them so much.