Where's the adventure?

Markai picked up a couple lights the other day to keep tha cats from getting to bored, yes bored. Monkey really wants to get out of the house, but since an unfortunate accident the other day he is staying in the house. It is funny to watch the cats when they hear us pick up the laser pointer and start batting at the floor even if we haven’t shined it there yet. It does get boring after a little while when they realize they can’t catch that little red light. Meka finally tried to get the pointer out of Markai’s hand, he isn’t stupid. Well I had an idea in my head to try and take a picture of a shadow made with the laser pointer, so we gave it a shot. Wasn’t as awesome as I hoped. Then the crappy art came into play, but it was fun trying to guess what the other was going to draw.

I have had 2 sisters get married this year, and only have 1 left to go. Not sure if that will happen soon or not, but there is no problem with waiting. The nice thing is when I get to go to a wedding and not be the “photographer.” It is nice to sit back and enjoy visiting others, and watch the others stress, along with a few trips to get more food.

I have been thinking of doing some family photos lately to make a few extra bucks. It isn’t my favorite thing to do, but it was some good practice this weekend. My cousin was wanting some pictures done, so what better practice then to shoot the family. It was a little tough finding a good spot, but we finally did. I bought my umbrellas and things seemed to work out great. The colors were nice so I didn’t have to do much editing at all. Thats just the way I like it. However I think if I did this more often I would need a better lens. Some of the pictures seem a little soft on the sides and I don’t like that. But heres a few samples from that day. If you need some pictures done then feel free to hit me up and see if we can work something out…

We had arrived back to my home in Orem after a week of hiking and chasing the light in Southern Utah, now it was time to find some Fall color. We started with the Alpine Loop by Sundance which is the best place to soak in the Fall colors around here. The nice thing is there are so many different types of trees that you could go every week for over a month and still have some nice color. There is only one downside to this place and it is the road is small and windy with tons of traffic. We did a quick loop up and over to see where the best place might be to take some shots the following day. There were many good spots but the Sun was going down fast and the glow was dissappearing. We followed it down the canyon and ended up at Cableas…. I thought this would be a good place to stop and show our Aussie friends since our gun laws are so relaxed compared to down under. It was like kids at a candy store.

The next morning we were up early for sunrise at Squaw Peak overlooking Utah Valley. This was the first time all week that we had some clouds to light up in the sky for us this whole trip! It was nice for about 10 minutes as the color faded away and we moved on. Bridal Viel Falls was the next stop not far away from were we were just taking sunrise pictures, however you would have thought you had changed seasons. The temerature difference was huge and we about froze trying to get some shots here. The wind was blowing making it hard to get a good steady shot.

The Crew finding a spot to shoot.

Sunrise from Squaw Peak

Bridal Viel Falls

The plan was to head back up to Apsen Grove today and get some shots, but we took the backway past Deer Creek and through Heber for some Scones. Since our version of a Scone in the U.S. is different then what they are in Australia, and they were worth the stop. We headed up through Midway and to Cascade Springs hoping for some nice color, but there wasn’t much going on here. I think that Cascade Springs is better in the Summer before the Sun comes up with the yellow flowers blooming.

Deer Creek

Finally stopping at Aspen Grove we had to turn around a few times to find a pull out that looked good and not full of people cause they were out today! While we were exploring along came some film crew shooting at Ferrrai driving up the Road. Not sure what they were doing but the background was nice with all the yellow trees. The night before there was a Mini Cooper with a huge camera strapped to the side shooting at the couple driving up and back through that same section. Tells you this is a popluar spot.

Danny finding some color.

Markai and Rod waiting for the Ferrari to pass by.

The last stop for our trip ended up at Utah Lake hoping for a good sunset. It wasn’t to bad, and the one thing I wish to make it better was that there would have been no mosquitos out. I should have wore a jacket or somthing since I spent most of my time swatting them. At least it was a nice evening bringing this road trip to and end. The guys left the following morning to head for the Tetons. I had a great time with my long distance friends and was sad to see them go. However we did get to hang out one last day on their way back through town a few days later. They are welcome here anytime. Now it is my turn to go visit them in Australia. That will be a sweet adventure!

Sunset at Provo Boat Harbor over Utah Lake

So we had left Page in time to make it to Monument Valley where we were supposed to meet up with a guide to take us to a place called Hunts Mesa. We waited and talked with some other lady who was tracking him down so we could get this show on the road, but it wasn’t looking very good. After having no clouds in the sky, and not enought time to get to our campsite, get food, and make it to the spot to shoot pictures, we said forget it! We just got a room there at The View hotel overlooking Monument Valley instead. That guide just lost a grand…… Maybe next time he will show up on time! As the Sun was about to go down it wasn’t looking very good. In order to get some nice shots around here you need some clouds! At least we had a full Moon, but still that wasn’t much. The next morning we got up for Sunrise shots and hoped for something better……. NOPE! Monument Valley was very dissapointing, again! I don’t enjoy this place cause it is so remote that who knows if you will get a good shot or not. So off we went to shoot the long road that heads toward the valley……. all I can say about this area is ….neh..

Full Moon in Monument Valley

Danny and Rod getting the road shot of Monument Valley

Since we left the Valley in no time we headed through the Valley of the Gods and did a quick loop through Natural Bridges National Monument. To enjoy this place you need to spend some time there and do some hiking to see how big these Bridges are. Some day I want to hike the loop through the bottom of the wash. Maybe next year. Not far down the road we pulled over to hike Mule Canyon to House on Fire Ruin. I have been here once before but made my own trail down the side of the cliff into the canyon. I suggest you stay on the trail and hike the mile in over doing that. This spot can be hard for pictures just cause it is under an overhang and the Sun lights up everything but the ruin. We packed in a foil cooler bag to use as a reflector to try and light it up. Nope that didn’t work. The first time I went I did take a good reflector, so I will do the same next time too. And then I will hike further up the Canyon since I hear there are more Ruins, but I haven’t see any pictures of them. Guess I need to be the guy that gets the shot of them.

House on Fire Ruin

We finally made it into Moab, which was the first big town in a week that we had been to. Instanly the guys loved it and we had not gotten out of the car yet. We found a spot to camp in town, and then headed into Arches for some Sunset shots. Now there are only a few places that I have taken Sunset pictures here and I tried to think of the area I thought was sweet the first time I went to Arches. So we headed over to the Windows section since there is a bit of things to shoot at there. Now days I don’t go there because I have been there so many times. However we ended up spending 2 nights shooting this spot, and that was the only place we looked at. There is so much more to see, but you need more time too. This first night we finally had some clouds that didn’t ruin the shot at Sunset. The Sun set and then the Full Moon was out again, however this gave us some ideas for the next night. I am always looking for some new way to shoot the same old thing too.

The next morning we were up early to shoot Sunrise at Mesa Arch…… what a Zoo that was. I have never seen that many people there before. I felt bad for Rod, Mike, and Danny since nobody would step aside so they could take a few shots too. Another reason I love to go here in the COLD, it weeds out a lot of people. After here we did the La Sal loop to shoot something other then red rocks, and blue skies. We had a small stream with snow, and Fall colors. It was a nice change of pace. That night we hiked back into the Windows of Arches and did some night shots and time laps. I got a couple that I really liked but would like to try again. The following morning we decided to head to my house a couple days early. Not having clouds in the sky were putting a damper on this trip for landscape pictures. So off we went to find some Mountains and Fall colors……….. which we found…

Turret Arch

Night shot of Turret Arch through North Window Arch

To many people at Mesa Arch

360 degree Pano of the Windows section in Arches

Antelope Canyon, it is good and bad….. As for the good part pictures speak for themselves, and the bad you will be lucky to be there with less then 20 other people. After the long drive from Zion to Bryce then to Page one day we finally went to stop by a place I have never shot pictures in. Lower Antelope Canyon, even though you still have to pay to get in, you can just drive up and hike it yourself. For 2 hours in the canyon it cost $27 a person, which was more then enough time to go exploring and take some shots. The nice thing was a few small groups went through and you could take your time getting the picture you were after. Now there weren’t any beams of light but I am sure if you came the right time of the day you could make that happen. The glow coming through the canyon was pretty awesome though, and this being my first time here I didn’t know where to get the best shots. I sort of hurried through the canyon and took shots on the way through. I think they came out alright. This section of the canyon is also a tighter squeeze then the Upper section along with a bit of elevation change. As you can see there are some ladders added in this canyon to make it easier to go through. Next time I go through Page I will stop by here again.

Lower Antelope Canyon

Tring my version of what I remember off Backpacker Magazine.

Danny getting the right angle.

Small arch in Lower Antelope

Michael taking the easy steps down, see the orignal on the left.

Now the next morning we were on a tour to do Upper Antelope Canyon, but had to rush through it. We had to be in Monument Valley later that day so we took the early tour. We were told it was the earliest tour they did too. That was FALSE, by the time we got up there to the canyon we had passed many other groups coming back from the canyon. At least our tour guide let us do our own thing as long as we stayed close by and with in the allowed time. This tour cost $34 per person, and it was not the Photographers tour, that cost $50. Now if we went later in the day we would have gotten some better color and even some light beams, which you won’t find on the early tour. Sure there will be less people, but you will not get the good shots, you have to go with the other couple hundred people wanting to see that too. I will say it is worth seeing at least once, but plan on crowds. The sad thing was I didn’t get very many good photos from this trip, the light was to dull. After we left and saw the huge groups waiting for their tour and comparing Upper vs. Lower the winner is Lower Antelope Canyon. Not sure if I will ever go back to Upper again…..

Trying a little SandFall, before the crowds show up.

With no light beams I found sunburst instead.

The Wave if you haven’t been there is a place that can be very hard to see. This happened to be my 2nd time there this year, I must be lucky. Getting the permits here were very challenging since you have to enter a lottery to see if you get picked to hike here. Planning a trip around a maybe hike isn’t fun to do. 3 of us entered to get passes, and they give you 3 dates to pick, so you hope you just get 1. They only let a handful off people in here everyday, 1 by lotto and 1 by tring for a walk in permit. Being that The Wave is away from most everything I don’t ever want to try for the walk in permit. There were over 10,000 requests for the month of October to enter into The Wave…. So what were our odds? Well I was denied, Rod was denied, but wait Danny was picked!! Untill an email came out 3 days later saying there was a malfuntion in the lotto picking and that 3 times to many people were picked and if your emailed link didn’t work then that is to bad for you. Well that wasn’t going to fly since Danny, Mike, and Rod were all flying in from Australia to do this hike. After some emailing and proving plane tickets were bought they gave us 5 permits to do this hike. Whew!

We left our camp in Zion early, but then got side tracked by the Sun coming up and lighting up the cliffs. Michael Fletcher doesn’t shoot photos, but is an excellent videographer. So we hung out behind the Zion Museum for a little bit so he could get a timelaps of the sun hitting the cliffs. To bad there were no clouds to light up with it. However this was the beginning of a long trip with NO clouds. We made our way out to The Wave trailhead, and got our gear together, which was enought $$ in camera gear to pay off all of my cars. They hike had more sand then I remembered, but we had some good company which made the hike no as bad. This time we had some water in the bottom which gave me the chance to do something different then when I was there in January. We all got some good shots, but wished for 2 things…. Clouds, and for all the other people there to get out of the shot. Mike was doing a timelaps waiting for the sun to peak over the rock and as soon as it did 2 German people were standing in front of his camera. I learned a few new Aussie swear words this day. Finally after a few hours a few wispy clouds came through to add a little extra to the photos instead of clear blue skies.

We then hiked back to the car and headed back to Zion. This is the end of the trip for my friend Brian Johnson, who I met in Arches years ago. The Wave was one place he hasn’t been to till this trip either. It was good to have him along, but since we had cut out doing The Subway he was heading home. Our trip did get changed a bit from what we had been planning, but the weather was a bit colder then we hoped for and the water of the Subway we weren’t looking forward to. Plus with some slight injuries we decided to pass on it this trip. The next morning we got up at 4:30am packed up and went to Bryce Canyon for a couple hours then we headed of to Page, Arizona to hike Antelope Canyon……..

Now the next couple of weeks stories were of course not during this week posted except 1, but we did so much I think it will take up the full month just to go through everything we did. This trip has been being planned for the past 3 years with my friend Rod Thomas from down under. We met back in 2008 on a trip to Zion and it was time for him to come back. The first major thing we were going to do on this trip was The Narrows. Markai, Ryan, and I had just done it a month earlier and the weather was pretty good, and water wasn’t cold. We this time it was different, the temp down there was a bit colder then we were planning and so was the water. There were 7 of us that went up to face the cold water, manly style, without drysuits, or wet suits. Well I think we were the only ones that dared go that way. The water was very cold but tolerable, even with neopreme socks on it was still tough. There weren’t as many people going up this hike today, they all thought we were nuts standing there in shorts. We had some great light for pictures and took our time going up the canyon. I think it was the most time I have spent up there too. It is getting harder for me to take new pictures up there since I have done it so many times, however it is fun to try. The only thing I can suggest about this hike, is to do it in the warmer weather, then you can swim too. This was also the first time up this canyon for 4 of them, so I hope they had the same awesome feeling the first time I did it years ago.

I have been looking at doing this hike for years, but never planned to do it till a few months ago. My wife and I have heard great things about Coyote Gulch so we took some time off to give it a shot. Now there are so many ways that you can do this hike that is the major battle in planning….. Which way to go? Originally we planned to hike down The Crack and spend a few day heading up and then back out. After looking at other peoples hikes and seeing that they do a loop I thought we could do that too. We once it came down to it we were going to head down the steep section at Jacob Hamblin Arch and hang around a few days then come back up. That was the plan anyway.

Wednesday night we headed down to Hole in the Rock road after work and we were going to camp out somewhere and get an early start. Well the weather wasn’t the best this week, tons of rain, and you know slot canyons and rain bring on floods! We made it about 5 miles down the dirt road till we hit some mud that was so slick that I would have rather been in snow. Being dark we turned back to town and hit a Cowboy Theme Motel….. We talked about bagging the trip and heading to Moab instead. The next morning we headed back out now that we could see! Still a little slick but not to bad this time, and that one spot was the worst. We made it all the way out to the trailhead with no issues. The weather didn’t look to bad other then the puffy clouds. So we packed up and off we headed for Hamblin.

Markai, the Happy Hiker for now.

The hike out across the sand and slick rock wasn’t too bad, and had some great sights and tons of pools of water. Looked like it had been raining a bit to have pools everywere. We passed a group of about 8 guys heading back to the trailhead and told us to watch out ahead cause of the steep trail dropping in they made a mess in their shorts if you know what I mean as they were climbing out. As we got closer to the canyon I started to wonder if this was really the trail, but I followed my GPS and the Carins so it had to be. I have talked to a few people that have dropped in here so we came with a rope, and good thing we did to lower our packs down and play it a little safe. It was slow going down, we made sure we found the right and safe route to the bottom. By the time we were down our legs were wore out! So we found a spot down the canyon to figure out what we were really going to do. After we got some food in us and our energy level back up then we put together a plan to do the loop and hike out The Crack. We didn’t what to hike back up that steep face, not with packs on anyway. While we were sitting there 2 other people came hiking by to chat. They had a rough night cause the rain rose the river a foot and they had to get to a safe spot. They were hiking out the Red Well area, which is the longest route that I know of. After them we headed down to the place I wanted to see the most, Swiss Cheese Falls.

The steep trail down to Jacob Hamblin Arch.

I didn’t really know what to expect with this spot since I have only seen pictures. The first time I saw it I thought it would be bigger, but it really wasn’t. Still this was an awesome area with a nice campsite to stay at. We thought about staying here, but it was to early in the day and we wanted to keep moving. So after a bit of some photos we headed on our way. The guy we had just talked to said that Coyote Bridge wasn’t in the Sun when they passed it but it should be for us. That was our next spot to get to, but all the quicksand made it a little challenging.

Swiss Cheese Falls

We got the the Bridge and we were both feeling great. We took a handfull of pictures and even thought this would be our next Christmas card photo. It is always fun to send out a photo like this in the cold winter to everyone to try and make them jealous. Hope it works this year. We both realized that since we have been in the canyon we have only seen 2 people. I thought this place would have had tons of people in it since September is one of the best times of year to go there. Maybe all the rain forcasts scared people away. As for this day of hiking there wasn’t any rain or storm clouds to be seen. I couldn’t believe that mother nature was going to be nice to me for once. We continued down the canyon and started looking for a good spot to camp for the night. We wanted to stay up a little higher cause who knew what the night was going to be like, and I already have horrible dreams of sleeping in a river that I didn’t what it to come true. Still the quicksand was everywhere, and we found a nasty spot. It sunk me past my knees in no time. I grabed Markai’s feet just in case, and she had a hold of some branches on the bank. She got up out of it and then I was able to crawl out too. That isn’t fun with a big pack on, but made for something to remember.

Us at Coyote Natural Bridge

I saw some Carins heading up the side of a hill and wondered where they were going. It was to Cliff Arch, and to a flat spot high above the water. This was the spot we were going to stay. We set up camp and looked at the map to see how far we made it down. We went further then we though, and discussed just hiking all the way out the following day. It was mid afternoon when we got there so we had a long rest and enjoyed the veiws. We had a big scare while sitting there at camp, 3 F-16s flew right over us just above the rim of the canyon. It was so loud, but also pretty sweet since it had been so quiet on this hike not seeing anyone.

Middle of the night taking some shots.

I wanted to take some pictures once the Sun went down and I woke up about 9 to see some stars out. Yeah I said woke up at 9! We went to bed early. There were some bright Stars out, but I could tell the Moon was rising soon and it started to wash out the sky a little. I woke up again about 3:30am and was surprised how warm it still was. Plus I was glad it wasn’t raining on us either. I took some more shots now that the Moon lite up the cliffs to add a bit of some color. I would like to do more with night shots, but don’t like to leave my camera out while I am sleeping.

Don't let the photo fool you, but hiking up this sucks.

So our plan was to hike down the canyon, then head up the sandy hill, go up the crack, trek back the the road, stash our packs, and then walk to the truck. It was easier said then done, however that is what we did with no problems, other then the challenge of the trail heading up and the hot sun. The rest of the canyon down was pretty awesome, and the funny thing is the smell of it reminds me of the Jungle smell in Mexico. We passed one other group that was down about a mile or so from where we were camping next to the best looking bathroom I have ever seen out in the middle of nowhere. I had to make sure to make the best of that one! There were a few waterfalls that I always thought I would stop and take some long delay shots of in my original plans for this hike, but that didn’t happen. Some other time maybe. We stopped for lunch at a Spring that was flowing pretty nice and easy to fill up our water with. I really didn’t want to have to drink out of the muddy river and that was another reason my pack weight a bit more then I would like. Since I packed a ton of water with. We only had to filter 32oz of water, but that filtered water still tastes better then the plastic taste out of my 6 liter Dromlite bag. All ready for the sand hill………. the worst thing ever to hike up in the Sun. I forgot my hat and sunscreen was buried. We slowly went up the hill, and I pointed to where we were going to. My wife didn’t like that one bit! It was to far away. But we made it and also realized that coming down this way would be so fast. At least the sand was holding some moisture so it wasn’t as bad as most sand to hike in. It was the Sun and heat the made it bad.

Me squeezing through the crack

Now to get up the Crack…. it is really easy to do unless you have a pack to get up, and who wouldn’t have one out here. This is another spot you really need a rope to pull your back up past the skinny section. There are some groves in the rocks from the years of people doing this. The downside is I had a skinny rope for the light weight of it, but it made it hard to pull up the bags with not much to grip. A little rope burn happend but it was all worth it to be on top of the hill. While we were getting up this spot some guy was yelling to see if he could get a jump on his car. His battery was dead and he needed help. I told him we were 2 miles past his spot, but we would come back to help him. We stashed our packs once we got to the road so we make the last coupld miles not so bad. But he was no where to be seen once we got to the road. We still had some hiking back to the truck though and he knew that. There were footprints going all over the place, it looked like he had been there a while, and in a car too. This isn’t a road I would drive my car down cause of the sand. Still we hadn’t seen many people at all on this trip, and we wondered what this guys story was. Finally the truck!! Best thing I had seen in the past 4 miles. The funny thing is once we got to the truck people started showing up all over the place. We went back to get our packs and help this guy who was waiting at his car for us. At least it fired right up once we hooked it up. He told us they had been there like 6 days and he stayed back to wait for help while his friend hiked down to the river to camp. I gave him a gallon of water since I had 3 gallons in the truck just in case. I don’t know what he did for all those days by himself but we were glad to help.

So the original planned for 3 night hike turned into an overnighter, but it was a good time and gave me something to think about next time I plan to do this hike.
See most of our pictures from this trip check them out here…. wesleyaston.com
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