I have been to Calf Creek in Escalante many times, but it is one of my favorite spots to go. As you can see in my Calf Creek Gallery that it is a hard place to take a bad photo. I have been getting tired of taking the same old shots over and over so I came up with an idea! Lets take some night shots! I have been trying more star shots this year, but still get to get prime conditions so I figured we might as well give it a shot. At least we were lucky to get a spot at the campground or I would have changed my plans. We got there early so we hung out in the shade as tons of other people went up for the 5 1/2 mile hike in the heat of the day. We did some sightseeing and just took it easy for the day. It was one of the nicest days I have had in a long time, and I need more like it. We finally started the hike up to the waterfall about 7pm. Loaded with flashlights, batteries, camera goods, and a 2 person hammock. We pass a bunch of people coming out and I wondered if they thought we were nuts going up that late, little did they know. Once we got to the Falls we had the place to ourselves! Even with all the people we saw going up I thought some would have hung around, but nope! We set up the hammock since we had a bit of some time before the Sun would be gone and it would get dark. I took a handfull of shots looking for different angles to try. We kept wondering if anyone else would show up and got a bit spooked as some Deer showed up behind us. The Bats came out and swooped right above us laying in the hammock, they were fun to watch. Finally it was time to try some shots. I hate to say but things didn’t go how I hoped they would in my mind, but thats how it goes. I made the best with what we had. However next time I would love to have a small spotlight. Plus the moonlight could help depending on where it is at. We had a half Moon on this trip and they way it lit up the rocks in a long exposure were pretty cool. However the Moon does hid some of the Stars too.
It was just after 10pm and we figured it was time to head back. Hiking in the dark, in the desert can be nerveracking cause you don’t know what you will run into. At least we only saw a million spiders, and no cougars! We got back to our tent about Midnight and we were ready for some sleep! It was a long drive from home to where we ended up that day, but was worth every bit of it.
Lower Calf Creek Falls
F-Stop bag product shot for my friend who got me the bag.
This shows that the hammock was well worth getting.
Best spot in the canyon!
Markai ran around shining the light in the water, you can see her ghost.
Lit up with flashlight at about a 1 minute exposure
Just after 11pm on the trail
