Setting off on an Adventure
Posted on 9th May 2015
Barbara has always wanted to see Monument Valley, so we set out from Michigan in the car loaded,fully loaded with our camera gear,
3 Nikon bodies (D3s,DF,D700),18-35mm wide angle,28-300mm zoom,80-400mm zoom, and the kitchen sink,
on a 1700 mile journey. Down I80 to I70 on on into Utah and the town of Moab. We did not stay here as accomodation was sparse to say the least.
We ended up in Green River about a 45 minute drive from Moab.
This gave us access to the Canyonlands and the Arches national parks.
Mesa Arch,Island in the Sky, in Canyonlands national park, close to Green River is a must visit for this area.
Another area close by is Dead Horse point, so called because they rounded up horses here and forgot to release them from the corall they were in.
They died from thirst,within spitting distance of the Green river seen below.
Moving on from here to Arches National Park.
The striking thing is the color of the rocks,a deep red is everywhere you look. The other element is lots of tourists, traffic congestion and heat.
Not a place to be without lots of water. There are however many photo opportunities presented to you of the way nature has shaped the landscape.
below is just an example of one such arch.
Another much photographed rock, is Balanced Rock, one day it may fall and I would not like to be beneath it when it does.
From here our journey continued south to the border between Utah and Arizona where Monument valley is situated, about 180 miles.
Monument valley has appeared in many movie scenes, such as The Lone ranger,Forest Gump, to name but two that have been shot in the Navajo tribal Park.
The iconoc view that everyone recognises below.
It can be extremely hot during the day and cold in the first light of day, so if you visit here, layered clothing is the thing to wear.
Having spent two days at the valley we headed north to Jackson Hole, our base to head out from for the next three days.
To be cont'd...........