RED ROCK COUNTRY PHOTO ALBUM

About RRC Photo Album

The whole Red Rock Country Web Site contains about 120 photos of the area, mostly photographed by the author. In most cases the very best of the photos were used with the nine main web pages. However, less than half of the photos were included in the web pages. Why? The idea was to keep the download times for the pages from becoming excessive, which of course, they already are, grossly so, for dial-up modems. I considered dividing this album into four alblums to make each download time shorter, as many designers do, but decided most users would prefer to do the download once and be finished. Most of these are good photos which lovers of RRC will probably enjoy. With each photo I've attempted to include the location where it was taken, and in some cases a few other interesting facts. In general, most of the photos are 640 x 480 pixels, but a few are of even higher resolution. I claim no copy write for these photos, so you are free to use them in any way you please for your non-commercial enjoyment.

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

This is a view down into the beginning of Courthouse Wash, lined by the walls of Park Avenue. Just around the wall on the right is the spot where so many scenes for the movie, Thelma and Louise, were filmed.

Certainly it would be difficult to find many sights more beautiful than Delicate Arch. The hike to the arch, passes some lovely hanging gardens and a great variety of formations. The final 200 yards hugs a shear cliff face on a semi natural trail. When the cliff face suddenly ends, WHAM! Instantly there stands Delicate Arch, just a hundred feet away. This photo was taken on a clear, late June evening in 2001. Rarely have I hit a sunset at such a perfect time. Hiking back to the parking lot required a flashlight.

This scene is located in the Windows Section of the park. There are several names for these arches, but the most commonly used is Double Arch. Arches National Park, unlike so many other National Parks, still allows the visitor to get a real feel for the park by climbing into the arches and hiking into the back country.

This is Delicate Arch, probably the most famous arch in all the world, but by no means the largest, having a vertical opening of only 65 feet. As you can see, this arch stands near a ledge nearly 150 feet high. This view was taken after climbing about 200 vertical feet from the parking lot. If you are in a Jeep, leave the parking lot on the Jeep trail exiting the east end of the lot. You'll have to do some challenging Jeep handling, but if you do, you'll enjoy some fabulous views of the Colorado River from atop a canyon wall, as well as experiencing some unique geology.

This beautiful Halfbell formation is in the canyon directly behind and under Delicate Arch. It is a very interesting formation of nature, but sadly not seen by many because of the steep hike from the parking lot to the top of the canyon wall above Halfbell. This is an excellent area to do some climbing and hiking, but without a lot of predetermined trails.

The hike to Double O Arch is one of the most enjoyable in Arches. It's a loop trail which adds to the enjoyment. After Double O (the only large stacked arches I've even seen) the primitive trail leads down into Fin Canyon. Exciting hike, but one point can be a little tricky after a heavy rain. The round trip is five miles and you will pass many arches including Landscape, the longest arch in the world. I've made this hike six times and enjoy it more each time.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

This is the top of the switchbacks on Schafer Trail. In 1993 I took my new Roadmaster down this trail and it cost me a $1200 transmission repair caused by hitting a rock in the middle of the trail I could not miss. On the other hand, my brother made it all the way to Potash in his new Town Car in 1987 with no problem. However, high clearance trucks can easily make this trail back to the paved road at Potash; it's a fabulous drive. It was on the Potash Trail that the final scenes for Thelma and Louise were filmed.

This view is from the "Neck" on the Island In The Sky. In the foreground (unseen) Schafer Trail follows the switchbacks (shown in the above photo) and then connects with the two trails (lower center, white winding lines) seen in this photo. The trail going left is the Potash Trail and the one going right is the White Rim Trail. The White Rim is a fabulous eighty mile Jeep trip. It's a 155 mile round trip from Moab and can be made it one day, although it's nice to make it a two day trip and camp on Murphy's Hogback, at about the mid-point of the trail.

One of the well known formations in the Island In The Sky section of Canyonlands is the Washer Woman Arch and Pioneer Man, The formation is in the Wingate Sandstone. It can be viewed from both the upper and White Rim levels of the park. This photo was taken from a small side canyon at the White Rim level. Just north of this location on the White Rim Trail is the Airport Tower formation. Early uranium explorers (1949-1958) used this landmark to navigate between the numerous small landing strips in the area.

This photo was taken in the Needles section of the park, near the location where Salt Creek drops into the Colorado River, and just south of the big loop in the river. This location can only be reached by an eight mile rough Jeep trip with some very nice sights along the way. In the distance is Junction Butte on the left and the Island In The Sky on the right. The monolith on the "Island" is Airport Tower.

This photo is taken on the "back" side of world famous Elephant Hill. The first time I ever drove a Jeep, back in '72, I drove it over Elephant Hill with my wife and two small daughters . What a challenge, what a thrill! Everyone should drive a Jeep over "The Hill" at least once in their life. I've made six trips over it; just wish it had been sixty. Behind the hill lays the most beautiful section of the Needles.

Shortly after crossing Elephant Hill you encounter the view shown in this photo. I think it is one of the most beautiful in Canyonlands and certainly shows why the name "Needles". The Jeep trail is at the bottom of the photo and is about to drop into a small canyon. At the time the Needles were formed, a large inland sea was waxing and waning, and this resulted in the red and white banding you see in the Needles.

This is the end of the Cyclone Canyon Jeep trail in the Needles. If you hike up through the notch in the photo and continue on west for a mile, you will come to the trail that descends 1200 feet to the Colorado River in Cataract Canyon at a location called Spanish Bottom..

This photo was taken along Devils Lane in the Needles section. This trail leads to Chesler Park and the beginning of a hiking trail which will take you to Druid Arch. This hike through the Joint Trail, across Chesler Park, then down to and up Elephant Canyon to Druid Arch, is six miles one way, and the most beautiful hike in all of RRC, except many for some slot canyons.

Everywhere you look in Canyonlands there is always something new and interesting to see. The photo at left is called Wooden Shoe Butte. I have so many great photos of Canyonlands that I wish I could include many more, but I realize I must limit the size of my web site.

This is just one of the many, many outstanding views you will see as you hike Elephant Canyon to Druid Arch. You can either Jeep to Chesler park and hike from there, or park you car as the base of Elephant Hill and hike over the south end of the Hill to Druid Arch. In either case the round trip hike is about twelve miles.

This arch is know as Paul Bunion's Potty. It is in a side canyon, known as Horse Canyon, which leaves Salt Creek in the Needles district a couple miles from the trail's beginning. You are still allowed to Jeep up Salt Creek to the junction with Horse creek, and Jeep up Horse Canyon a couple miles. There are a number of Indian ruins in Horse Creek. You may also Jeep up Salt Creek a couple miles past the Horse Canyon junction to a camp ground called Willow Springs.

Once upon a time you could make the thirteen mile Jeep trip up Salt Creek to Angel Arch and the formation shown here, Molar Rock. However, in June of '98 the extreme environmentalist decided that these scenes shall henceforth be viewed only by a select few and some chipmunks. Sad, isn't it? It was nice back when all US citizens owned and could use their National Parks, not just a select few.

Since I first saw it in 1973, I've always felt that Druid Arch is the Canyonlands' masterpiece. How gorgeous it is, setting on its lovely pedestal high above magnificant Elephant Canyon. The arch is in the Cedar Mesa Sandstone but rests upon the fabulous Elephant Canyon Formation which adds so much to the Needles section of Canyonlands. I consider the 5.4 mile hike over Elephant Hill and then up Elephant Canyon to Druid Arch to be the most beauitful hiking trail anywhere in the Western United States.

One of the most interesting sights in the Maze district is Cleopatra's Chair. It is hundreds of feet higher than anything else in the Maze. It can be seen from many places on the Island. And it looks exactly like her chair. It's a huge mass of Navajo Sandstone capped with a little Carmel Formation. In this view of the chair close-up, it doesn't look as much like Cleopatra's chair as it does from a greater distance.

The Maze is full of many unusual formations. Here is a unique formation called "The Wall". Two others nearby are "The Plug" and "The Chocolate Bars". The Maze has many miles of Jeep trails, but the area is remote and only visited by a few hundred each year. We can thank the need for Uranium back in the Fifties for most of the Jeep trails in Red Rock Country today.

Here is Sandy looking well rested, after having slept two nights in "The Doll House". The Maze is an amazing district, no pun intended, because within short distances you can see the whole red rock geological stack from the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation in Cataract Canyon, up through the Jurassic Entrada Formation.

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK

Factory Butte is not actually in Capitol Reef, but it is only a few miles to the east, near Caineville. This is a much newer formation than the red rocks of the canyons, and the youngest significant formation to found in Red Rock Country. The top sandstone of Factory Butte is the bottom of the Mesa Verde Formation and the ugly gray sloping formation is the Mancos Shale, named for its type site, the town of Mancos in southwestern Colorado.

A small portion of the Escarpment, generated by the Water Pocket Fold which begins in Capitol Reef and runs south for over a hundred miles, is breathtaking at sunset, as can be seen in this photograph.

This is more of the Escarpment of Capitol Reef as seen from the north east end of the Aquarius Plateau. You can see this is an October picture from the golden Aspen in the foreground. The Henry Mountains are in the background.

It looks like I got carried away with the Escarpment. Here is a photo of the Escarpment taken in the evening which nearly makes it look to be on fire. I have been taking photos in Capitol Reef for thirty years. The top of the wall in the photo is Kayenta Sandstone, the sheer wall is Wingate Sandstone, the sloping formation is Chinle, and the nearby ground is the Moenkopi Formation. The Visitor's Center in the park is built of Moenkopi.

A final, and my favorite, evening view of Capitol Reef Escarpment. Please do not leave with the feeling that the escarpement is all there is to see in Capitol Reef. On my Capitol Reef web page are photos of Hickman Natural Bridge, the Golden Throne, Chimney Rock, Capitol Dome and Grand Wash. And one seldom visits Capital Reef without seeing at least one deer.

CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Cedar Breaks National Monument and Bryce Canyon National Park are composed of the same formations and therefore look a lot a like. The Bryce Formation at Cedar Breaks tends to be orange, whereas in Bryce it tends toward more pinkish. Cedar Breaks is higher, the rim averages 9500 feet and the "canyon" is deeper than at Bryce. The formations in the Breaks are not quite as varied as at Bryce.

ESCALANTE COUNTRY

Just after you cross the Escalante River going south on Route 12 from Bolder, the State of Utah has built a great view point. This is a grand location to see just how rugged and colorful, Escalante Country can be. Just three miles north of here is Calf Creek Campground; with its waterfalls it's probably the most beautiful setting you could find for a campground. Route 12 between Escalante and Boulder has to be the second most beautiful highway in RRC, right after Route 128 from Moab to the Dewey Bridge.

This photo is of Hell's Backbone. It was taken about ten miles southwest of Boulder, on a dirt road five miles west from Route 12. Although I had just driven across the narrow log bridge hundreds of feet above the canyon floor, I did not have the nerve to walk out on the bridge again to take the best picture, so this poor photo of Hell's Backbone is taken from the east end of the bridge.

Here is a view of Hell's Backbone from the west end of the bridge. The Backbone is far more impressive to see in person than it is to see in a photo. Maybe that's because we drove twenty miles of rough dirt road from Escalante without a great deal of scenery up to this point.

Escalante Country has all kinds of scary things. First it's Hell, next it's the Devil. This is a picture of the Parade of Hobgoblins with Sandy. Can you find her? This and many other goblins are located in Devil's Garden. You can find Devil's Garden 12.5 miles from the start of the famous Mormon "Hole In The Rock" road. This road branches southeast from Route 12 about five miles east of Escalante.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

This is a view of the Grand Canyon taken just east of Desert View. This is an early evening photo of The Canyon which greatly helps bring out all the wonderful colors of The Canyon.

This, and the following five pictures were taken from the back of a mule, but no photography was allowed while the mules were moving. The trip was on a couple beautiful days in September 1994. Most pictures of Grand Canyon are either taken from one of the rims, or from a raft on the river. These pictures are mostly taken from either the Bright Angel or Kaibab Trail.

This picture is taken at river level between the two foot bridges that cross the Colorado. A mile up this trail is Phantom Ranch. The "Ranch" was built in the 1920s and consists of a mess hall, a shower building and a few commune cottages. Reservations must be made many months in advance, but are automatic for the mule trip. The mess hall served an excellent steak dinner and a good breakfast.

This view is from the Kaibab Trail just before beginning the steep decent into the inner gorge. It is one of the most beautiful spots in the Canyon.

This photo was taken several miles beyond Indian Gardens with Indian Creek in the foreground. You have just completed the grueling grind of the Devil's Corkscrew, but of course this time the mule is doing all the work. I once hiked to the river via Bright Angel Trail and back to the rim in one day. I'll tell you that coming up the Corkscrew on a hot day is pure hell when you are tired and very worried about making before darkness sets in and traps you in the Canyon with no overnight gear. And you know you are still facing Jacob's Ladder up the Redwall Limestone.

This is a view from the Kaibab Trail shortly after crossing the new bridge, going through the tunnel, and climbing a few hundred feet. The bridge is to the very right of the photo and you can see its reflection in the river. You get more chances to take pictures coming up the Canyon since you must stop and rest your mule on a regular schedule.

On a hot September afternoon, on a mule's back, you are about to drop into the bowels of the Grand Canyon. When photographing the Canyon I normally use Kodachrome 25 film with both a polaroid and skykight filter. With an HP 6200 scanner I find that slides scan into the PC better than prints, and you can certainly capture richer colors on Kodachrome than on Kodacolor film. During the summer, photos shot before 10:00 AM and after 3:00 PM, on a cloudless day, will give you the brightest colors.

One of the most beautiful views of the Grand Canyon is from Point Imperial on the North Rim. The pointed cream colored rock in the center of this photo is Mt. Hayden. This location is not visited by too many, therefore it is an excellent place to enjoy a picnic at one of the nearby tables, and spend a little extra time relaxing in the grandeur. Hanging in my kitchen is a fabulous sunrise photo of Mt. Hayden, taken at daybreak one very cold May morning. I once saw a commercial photograph of My Hayden, also taken at early morning, which looked amazingly similar to my photograph.

MOAB And VICINITY

Twenty-five miles east of Moab on Utah 128 you will arrive at a crossing of the Colorado River on a new bridge. Until 1985 you had to cross the river at this point on the historic Dewey bridge. This bridge was built early in the 20th century and remained in use for about seventy-five years. Take a walk across the bridge and imagine driving a car across. I across it many times, the first time being 1959, and my fingernails still haven't grown out.

This is probably the best photo I have ever taken. It happened three miles west of Dewey bridge, at 5:00 PM on September 3, 1959, using an Argus C-4 and Kodachrome 25 film. It could not be duplicated today as the white sand dune washed away over thirty years ago, and the very rough single lane dirt road (see center-left in photo) became a paved highway twenty years ago. But it was so scary and exciting back then, with three creeks to ford before reaching Moab. This was my first view of the fabulous red monoliths in the center background which I later learned are the Fisher Towers.

A dirt road, with a sign saying Fisher Valley, leaves Route 128 to the south (left) about eighteen miles from Moab. This road soon joins Onion Creek and fords that creek thirty-one times on its climb to Fisher Valley, a thousand feet above the paved highway. It's possible to make this climb in a car, but a truck or Jeep are the preferred means. Fisher Valley is a large mountain valley ranch fed with water from the La Sal Mountains.

Much of the travel up Onion Creek is in the Cutler Formation, a deep red arkose which erodes into many unusual shapes. Two miles after you reach the top, a slight dirt trail branches on the left. A few miles on this Jeep trail will bring you to Rose Garden Hill, the steepest extended grade, over one-fourth mile, in Canyon Country. If you reach the top, continue on and you will first reach the Delores River Overlook. Then take a left and return to Dewey Bridge on a good gravel road.

On the Delores River Overlook Road, which is the gravel road leaving Route 128 on your right just before crossing the Colorado River, you will pass through a large area of these Rainbow Rocks, which are in the Entrada Formation. If you continue across the river at Dewey Bridge in a short distance a Jeep road will leave on your left climbing up through the Morrison Formation. This area is good for rock hounding and is called the Yellowcat.

One of the wonderful sights along Route 128 are the Fisher Towers. These towers, in the Cutler formation, stand high above the valley floor, and have been climbed by members of the National Geographic Society. This photo was taken on the 1 1/2 mile trail built by the Moab Boy Scouts in 1978.

There is a Jeep trail which leaves the Delores River Overlook Road and heads west and upward, upward. After five or six miles of very rough trail you come to an overlook called the Top Of The World. This overlook is directly above the Fisher Towers and gives you a fabulous view of Richardson's Amphitheater and the Colorado River Gorge.

One of the interesting sights along Route 128 is the Priest and the Nuns at one end of a butte and Castle Rock at the other end, as shown here. You can take the Castle Valley road branching south, which goes up into the La Sal Mountains, and you will pass close to the base of Castle Rock. You will also see some interesting volcanic upthrusts in this area.

Going south in Moab, turn right onto Kane Creek Road at the Golden Arches. This road, partly paved and partly well graded gravel will handle any sedan for the next eight miles. In my opinion, the views along this road cannot be surpassed. In a car, turn around just before the road begins its ascent to Hurrah Pass.

You will see this view on you right just as you break out of the canyon. The road is closed to Jeeps, but you can hike up to three old Uranium mines. Don't enter!! One of these mines produced a lot of yellow cake up into the early eighties from the Chinle Formation; the sloping formation with yellows, grays, greens and purples. The road handled big mining trucks at that time, yet in about fifteen years it has almost completely eroded away.

On Route 313 to Dead Horse Point just after a steep climb on a new section of highway you will see the Monitor and the Merrimack buttes in the distance, on your right.. Stop and enjoy the scene. The ships are primarily in the Entrada Sandstone. You will be standing on Navajo Sandstone. There are some very interesting Jeep trails around the buttes, and a fabulous formation called the Determinations Towers.

This is an end view of the Determination Towers found along the Monitor and Merrimac Jeep trail, which starts sixteen miles north of Moab , leaving US 191 on the left, to cross the RR tracks, right when the high ridge comes to an end. A frontal view of these towers can be seen on my Moab Page. This is a wonderful Jeep trail for beginners. There are a number of interesting formations in this area. The scenery is in the Carmel, Entrada, Curtis, Summerville, and Morrison formations.

I truly believe the view from Dead Horse Point must be among the five most beautiful in the world. Guess why the place you are looking down on (slightly east) has been named Thelma and Louise Point. From here you can see all the way to the Needles Section. The high mesa to the west is the Island In The Sky. This photo was taken late in the evening.

Drive about twelve miles down the Potash Road, Utah 279, and you will find the parking lot and trail head to Corona and Bow Tie Arches. This is a moderate 1 1/2 mile trail that ends at Corona Arch. Corona Arch is sometimes called Little Rainbow because it looks a lot like Rainbow Bridge. Bow Tie Arch makes an excellent background for photographing people with its colorful seeps. The first large flat area you encounter on you hike is a good place for rock hounding.

PARIA OLD PARIAH

Midway between Kanab Utah and Page Arizona on US 89 a dirt road with a sign heads north for five miles. The road will first take you to new Paria and then old Pariah. New Paria still retains the store fronts for the movie set used to make the famous TV western, Gunsmoke. People claim they sometimes see Matt's ghost. Old Paria, a little further along the road which degrades quickly, is the ghost town remains of a pioneer village of the 1880s.

It is doubtful if either Paria(h) site or sight is worth the drive, but what is worth the drive is the drive. Like it's always the road to Hanna, rather than Hanna itself, in Hawaii. On the short dive you will pass through several examples of the most beautiful painted deserts to be found in Utah. The painted desert is always found in the Chinle Formation so this road can become extremely slick when it is wet, and therefore it is recommended you do not enter this area during or soon after a rain.

House Rock Road to Buckskin Gulch trail head also leaves US 89 between Kanab and Page, just on the edge west of the Cockscomb. Follow this gravel road eight miles south to the parking lot. This photo was taken shortly before Buckskin narrows into a slot canyon, which is only three to five feet wide, for most of its fifteen miles until it enters the Paria River Canyon. Buckskin is a difficult hike over large rocks in the bottom of the slot and often requires swimming across several deep pools of water. However, you can hike in just several miles, see the beauty, then hike out the same way.

The Cottonwood Canyon dirt road which leads north to Kodachrome Basin also leaves US 89 about twenty-five miles west of Page. Follow this road north for forty miles and it will join Utah 12 between Bryce Canyon and Escalante. The scenery along this road is extremely varied, ranging from interestingly ugly to extremely beautiful. Visit my RRC/Lake Powell web page for more information and photos of Cottonwood Canyon.

ZION NATIONAL PARK

Zion is so beautiful and peaceful that a photographer could take hundreds of photos in the park. These are some of the giant monoliths along the west side of the river in the Virgin River Canyon.

But Zion isn't always peaceful. In February 1995 a huge landslide occurred in the Virgin River Canyon. It covered the highway and prevented those in the canyon from leaving Zion Park for several days. You can still see this scar just south of The Three Patriots parking lot.

This is a view of the Virgin River as it exits the Narrows. It's located at the end of the Virgin River Canyon road. Park, if you can, and make the easy mile hike along the river and deeper into the Narrows. If you are brave, you can hike the river after the trail ends for miles as the canyon gets narrower and narrower. Be aware this water comes from as high as 10,000 feet and is very cold, even in the summer.

The beauty in Zion never ends. Here are some more lovely monoliths. The vast majority of the rock exposed in Zion is Navajo Sandstone. Depending on the iron in the air when these sand dunes were formed, the Navajo can vary from nearly white, to buff, to coral pink, to areas of deep red. These contrasting colors add much to the wonders of Zion.

More beauty in Zion, but this section is fifty road miles northwest of the main park. This portion of Zion National Park is called the Kolob Canyons. It is absolutely spectacular. Seven miles of soaring red cliffs, the deepest red cliffs to be found in RRC. Don't miss this cool drive; cool because the highway rises to an elevation of 7000 feet and allows you to view some of the fabulous monoliths in the Zion Canyon section of the park. There are four hiking trails here, but the most beautiful scenery can be seen from the car window.

It is genuinely sad that less than 0.1% of the visitors to Zion ever see this view of the Park. It is absolutely breathtaking. To enjoy this sight drive west from the Park entrance about four miles to Rockville. Keep looking left for an old steel bridge across the Virgin River. There is a street sign which says Bridge Street. This is a steep rough road, but my big low family sedans have made it many times. Drive "up" this road about 4 miles to the best view. At the fork, take the left road; the right fork goes to a very old and interesting cemetary.