Spring is a wonderful time to visit Moab, UT. The weather is manageable and tourism is low. These two combine to produce optimum camping and exploration conditions. I have been to the Moab area many times, but this time I was accompanied by a first-time visitor. I decided to assemble a classic itinerary to see Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. You can see these photos and a couple additional shots on my Flickr page.
We started off the trip with a visit to the northern portion of Canyonlands. We lucked out and saw a huge thunderstorm just before sunset on our first night. This resulted in lovely light at the end of the day.
Morning light revealed the true beauty of our first camping location.
After making our way to the southern portion of Canyonlands, we did a couple scenic loop hikes. I took many photos of the local flora.
This particular hike had a placard at the start asking hikers not to disturb any Native American petroglyphs or pictograms. Obviously, we had to try and find some of these amazing drawings. I believe the hand print is fairly common and is a sign of life or energy. This set was found near a water source and an overhang that could have served as a shelter.
Soon after the pictograms, we stumbled upon a preserved cowboy shelter. There were a number of remnants as well as a corral for livestock.
On the way back to Moab we stopped for pictures at an abandoned service station and possible hotel.
Below is the Lazy Lizard hostel, a Moab classic. We stopped here mid-trip for a shower. Twilight seems to last forever in this area. I wish I had taken more shots around town during this time of the day. Perhaps I will remember this detail for my next trip.
The next day we made our way through Arches National Park and then to a campsite in the National Forest. Unfortunately, I did not take too many photos of our drive around Arches, but I did manage to take a few shots of our beautiful campground.
We had amazing star viewing weather at night. Our campsite was deep inside a small canyon, but we managed to find a way to get up the east side of the canyon walls and photograph down on our neighbor's site inside a thick cottonwood and oak grove. I'm very pleased with a recent print I made of this last shot. It enlarged perfectly to 16" x 24" and is currently my largest installed print!
Gear: Square photos were taken with a Fuji GF670 camera in 6" x 6" mode on Kodak Ektar film. 2:3 format photos were taken on my Nikon D610 with 14mm and 28mm lenses.
© 2010 - Andrew Reineberg