The weather was fantastic this weekend. It was great all week long, which meant that there was no fresh snow to go snowshoeing. Since we knew that we wouldn't find any fresh snow, we decided to not even try to pick something that had snow potential and we stayed at the (relatively) lower altitude in Estes Park. The weather was in the 60's which makes for perfect hiking weather. Not too cold that the hiking can't warm you up and not so hot that you're sweating (although I did sweat a little on this hike).

We got to the trailhead around 11am and at 3.5 miles and 1,000ft elevation gain, the hike took us 2 hours. Since it was mid-day, the sun was in a horrible spot in the sky and washed out a lot of the Western mountain photos of Longs Peak. All things aside, it was a pretty mild hike for our hiking range, but my only complaint was the lighting. I guess that's what happens when you wake up late and slowly get to the trailhead.

Sunday, March 14, 2021

March Snowstorm

Every year we get at least one late winter or spring snow that just dumps a lot of really heavy wet snow. This year it came pretty early, but it didn't disappoint. We got about 12-24 inches of snow depending on where you measured it. It was a pretty windy snowstorm, so the snow ended up everywhere and because of the combination of wetness and wind, there were a lot of broken trees everywhere.

Sunday, March 21, 2021

First Day in Arches National Park

We went to Moab to explore the area and do some photography exploration over a week-long period. We arrived late on Sunday and left early on Friday which gave us 4 full days of hiking in this beautiful area. The weather cooperated most mornings and a few evenings for golden hour photography, but we got a variety of lighting from overcast, snowing, foggy, and full sun. In total, we hiked a little over 30 miles and over a mile in elevation on this trip. We came to the same conclusion that our favorite type of hiking is the type where we're alone or hiking with very few people so that we can enjoy nature to the fullest extent, as well as get a perfect photo with no one in it.

We arrive in Moab around 2PM after a 6 hour drive from our home. It was a long drive, but we were excited to get there and the drive went by pretty quickly. When we got to Moab, we went into Arches National Park to just wander around a little bit with nowhere in particular that we wanted to really go.

We first stopped at Balance rock, right off the road and pretty easy to walk around. The lighting was a little harsh but since you can walk around the entire thing, there's always a side that's lit up. We then ventured on to the North and South Windows as well at Turret Arch. This one was barely considered a hike since it was less than a mile and paved almost the entire way. There was always someone up close to or in the South window, which made it pretty hard to get a good photo. There were a few spots where I could get low enough to cover most of the people up with brush or the trail went off to the side that I could get almost no one in the photo, but for the most part, this area was packed. The South Window had fewer people on it. Maybe because you don't quite walk right up to it, so it was nice that we could at least get photos of one of the windows. Turret Arch was shooting directly into the sun and not very photogenic. Maybe we'll come back to this spot a little later in our trip to get Turret Arch in the early or mid morning.

Our final destination for an evening was Tower Arch. We have several hikes planned out in the early morning or late afternoon to try and get some good golden hour lighting. The first thing we had to do to get to this hike was to drive on a dirt road, which made us feel pretty secluded which was nice after coming from the packed Windows area. When we got to the parking lot, there were only 2 other cars there, and one group was on their way out. When we got to Tower Arch, there was a couple with their children running around screaming, but they left shortly after we got there and had the arch all to ourselves for the entire evening. The sunset wasn't all that great because there were too many clouds in the way, although I'm not sure that sunset was the right time to be there anyway because of the location of some prominent features directly to the West of Tower Arch that cast a shadow. Even though we weren't there at just the perfect time for the lighting, we still enjoyed being there alone in the quiet vastness that is Arches National Park.

Monday, March 22, 2021

Mesa Arch and Delicate Arch

On our first full day of being in Moab we did our two most important hikes; Mesa Arch at sunrise and Delicate Arch at sunset. We woke up before sunrise and got to the trailhead for Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park right around 6:45. With sunrise being around 7:15, we figured that would give us enough time to get to the arch (less than a quarter-mile hike) and get set up with our cameras. When we got to the parking lot, we got one of the last spots - I guess everyone else had the same idea that we did. We got to the arch and it was packed with at least two dozen other people, mostly there with their tripods set up to take a photo of the sunrise lighting up the underside of the arch. There were some clouds in the Eastern horizon, so the sunrise didn't actually break through the clouds until about 7:45, all while we and everyone else were eagerly waiting for the perfect photo. The only complaint I had was that everyone was so close to the arch that I couldn't get a full photo of the arch because I didn't have a wide enough lens. But I guess that's what happens when you're an amateur photographer showing up to professional photographer "events". As we were waiting for the sun to rise, we chatted up a few people and there was one person who got there at 4am in the pitch dark to get his spot right at the center of the arch. The weather was in the 30's which isn't terrible, but the wind was blowing pretty strong, and even stronger after the sun rose, which made waiting a little bit miserable. Everyone was completely frozen but everyone was dedicated to wait for the sun to come up. Even though it was cold and packed, at least we were there with like-minded people just trying to get a good photo. The wait and the cold was worth it in the end.

After our early morning hike we decided to stay in Canyonlands National Park and drive the Shafer trail and back to Moab via Potash road. First, we drove through the park to look at the canyons since we couldn't see them as we were driving up in the dark. But because the sun was low, the canyons were a bit washed out and we didn't get any good shots or really even any good views of them. The Shafer trail is a 40-mile dirt road that requires an all-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance. We were a little unsure if we'd be able to make it in Katie's Subaru Crostrek, but when we asked the park ranger he said that it was "super easy" so we figured we'd give it a shot. Shafer trail was pretty steep and winding, but it wasn't all that technical and was pretty easy to drive. Potash Road on the other hand was not all that steep but a wildly bumpy ride, but we made it out without any problems. I can definitely see why all wheel drive and high clearance was required for that portion of the drive. The drive took us about two and a half hours in total including stopping several spots along the way to take photos.

During the day we rested and went into town to do some shopping and see what the downtown area was like. You can definitely tell that this area only exists for tourism, but it's a cute town nonetheless.

In the evening we did the cliche Delicate Arch hike which everyone who comes to Arches National Park does, even though it's rated as a moderately difficult hike. We wanted to get good sunset photos but unfortunately, there really was no sunset. There were clouds in the West and the whole hike was pretty overcast so the lighting wasn't great. The lighting was still better than the last time I was on this hike in 2014 in which I hiked that at noon and there were pretty harsh shadows. The hike itself wasn't terribly difficult, it was just incredibly steep in a very short distance so it was easy to get winded quickly. Once we got up there, it was a magnificent view, but the number of people ruined it. The hike we did yesterday evening was by far more interesting and spectacular because there weren't screaming kids running around in the foreground. We stayed up there for nearly 2 hours to try and get some photos without people in them, which we barely did, and also to see if the lighting would get any better. We cut our losses right around sunset and hiked back to the car before it got too dark.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Small Hikes

We did so many little hikes on our second full day in Moab. We started pretty early to try and get some earlyish morning photos, but the sun didn't come out. In fact, it started snowing as we were driving through the park and was snowing pretty hard as we got to the far end of the park in Devils Garden. But we were there and we're in Moab to hike, so we got out of the car and headed to Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch, which were a short half mile to get to. The snow wasn't ideal, but the temperature wasn't too terrible and there was a slight breeze but overall made the hike pretty tolerable. Tunnel arch wasn't much to look at, and neither was Pine Tree Arch, but we did get some cool views of fog rolling through the area we were hiking.

After leaving the Devil's Garden area, we stopped quickly at Skyline Arch, which is right off the side of the road and I wouldn't even consider a hike.

We moved onto Sandstone arch and Broken Arch after that which was the first real hike of the day at just over 2 miles long. It was still snowing when we started the hike, but only barely so. By the time we finished the hike, the sun was starting to peek out of the clouds. Sandstone arch is very aptly named since you hike through very thick sand that holds your feet down as you take each step. It wasn't very far, but the sand makes it much harder to walk. The hike to Broken Arch was different from the rest - we hiked through a prairie instead of between canyons or walls of sandstone. There were great views in every direction of the hike, including being able to see Broken Arch the entire time. When we got to Broken arch we wandered around to the backside and got a bunch of different views. Right before we left, the sun lit up the prairie behind Broken arch for us to get a well-lit photo.

We then went back to the Windows area to try and get some better photos from a lighting perspective. With the sun being covered by clouds, we figured the photos would be different than the first day of this trip when we walked up to the Windows. We were also able to get some better photos of Turret Arch since the sun was still in the East and that's an arch that you shoot looking West. We took the "primitive" trail around the Windows which wasn't primitive at all, and wandered down to Double Arch which was just covered with people. There is no way we'd be able to get a photograph without people in Double Arch, but we weren't expecting too so the Arch met our expectations.

After resting in the hotel for a little bit and getting some ice cream from downtown, we headed into Canyonlands to spend our evening. We weren't expecting a good sunset because of the clouds and forecast, so we ventured to take a look at the White Rim Overlook which has spectacular views on the Eastern side of the Canyonlands National Park area. The White Rime Overlook provided a better-than-expected view of the White Rim that was very surreal to look at. On our way driving back into town for some dinner we saw the sun peek through the clouds as it was setting and provided some perfect light, which made us a little sad that we didn't pick a destination for an evening hike to catch golden hour, but we were exhausted and it was what it was at that point.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Landscape and Corona Arch

Wer're right at half-way through our trip at the start of this day and we're pretty exhausted. But we're here so we knew we had to venture on. Because the forecast for our last day was looking pretty bad, we decided to try and do all the things we had left on our list today. The morning started out early, which resulted in us getting to the Devil's Garden area before anyone else to make sure we were at Landscape Arch before the sun came up. We ended up getting there a little too early and waited around for about an hour at Landscape Arch before the sun finally broke through the clouds and above the large rock features to the East of the arch that was providing shade to it. I'm not sure that this arch even gets to benefit from a golden hour, but as soon as it lit up we got some good lighting that we took some photos and continued on.

We didn't intend to keep hiking past Landscape Arch, but Double O Arch was only one more mile from where we were, or so the sign said. It was closer to 1.5 miles, but we didn't know that when we decided to keep going. We didn't have adequate footwear or water (because we weren't planning on continuing on) which definitely made this hike harder than it should have been. Double O Arch was just as I remembered it 7 years ago in that it wasn't very photogenic. I don't think there's a time where the arch is ever fully lit up, so there were some harsh shadows on it. But the hike to get there was pretty scenic with Fin Canyon just to the East of us. Knowing that I wasn't going to get any good photos of Double O Arch helped me enjoy the hike a little bit more.

We took a pretty large break in the middle of the day. The morning hike was over 5 miles and resulted in us being outside for over three hours, so we knew we had to rest up to do another somewhat lengthy hike in the evening. Our evening plan was to head over to Bowtie Arch and Corona Arch which is supposed to get good evening golden hour lighting. This time, we decided to grab some sandwiches to take with us since all our evening hikes have started around 5 and we haven't gotten back into town until about 8. We got to the trailhead and hiked up to the arch and it did not disappoint. Corona Arch is in a pretty open area and we got there about 45 minutes before sunset which gave us plenty of time to take photos of both sides of the arch and eat our dinner and relax while the sun went down. I ended up running back and forth between the East and West side of the arch, and the map reflects that craziness that is being a photographer.

Of all the places we went on this trip, both Katie and I liked Corona Arch the best because of the spectacular sun setting views and also the lack of people. We definitely went on hikes with fewer people, but the people that we encountered were other photographers (who stayed out of our way) or courteous picnickers (who also stayed out of our way).

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Funnel Arch and Longbow Arch

Thursday was our last full day in Moab, and we weren't too sure if the weather would be permitting us to do very much because the forecast had light rain the entire day. Because of this, we decided to sleep in and start the day whenever we got up. We didn't leave the hotel until a little after 8 and even then we were pretty slow to get going. Our first stop of the day wasn't even to an arch, but instead to Faux Falls, a manmade waterfall that was created to divert some water. The falls were kinda cool, but the hike itself and the fact that it was manmade made it pretty boring, especially compared to all the cool natural features that we've been seeing all week.

Our second trip of the day was over to Funnel Arch which requires a pretty steep scramble to get to. When we go to the area that we had to climb up, there was a tour group coming back down that was using ropes to repel down the section that we climbed up and down with no problems. It was definitely more rock climbing than scrambling, but it was a fun experience and not terribly dangerous. When we got to Funnel Arch, we were the only ones there, which is our favorite type of destination hike. We shot some photos of the arch in both directions (definitely better shooting from the North looking South through the arch), and I decided to climb around the backside to get on top of the arch. Since this arch was in the BLM lands, there were no restrictions on climbing ontop, and in fact, this arch even had some clip-ins specifically for repelling down through the arch. It was a pretty steep slick rock face that was incredibly exposed to get to the top of the arch, but I made it up and back down without falling to my death. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done that without ropes, but that's a lesson learned for the next time we're in this area. Funnel Arch might be my favorite arch of this trip from a non-photography standpoint. The rock climbing and the great secluded views made it pretty awesome.

After taking a break in the middle of the day, the final destination of our trip was Longbow Arch. This one was also out in the middle of nowhere which meant once again, we'd get to hike alone. When we got to the arch there was a group leaving which left us the arch all to ourselves. We spent half an hour up there and on our way out, we passed a group of hikers heading to the arch and we were able to give them the same enjoyment that we had of being alone at the arch. Longbow arch isn't terribly photogenic since there's a wall of rick right behind it as well as the lack of great lighting (this arch faces North, so our overcast hike was probably the best lighting that this arch gets). It was a good hike and we were glad we did it, but it wasn't as spectacular as some of the other arches that we did yesterday (Corona Arch) or this morning (Funnel Arch).