Overnight trip to Yant Flats, August 2018

I've been many times to Yant Flats. Sunrise, sunset, during the day, but I've never been out here at night. One of the things I really wanted to do for a long time was to spend the night out there and shoot the area with some stars.
August came and despite being in the midst of monsoon season, there were a few days that looked pretty promising. The moon cycle also cooperated and the moon wouldn't rise until 3 am in the morning.
I decided to give it a try. Because it is such a short hike in, I didn't start until later in the afternoon.
It was a hot day with temperatures above a hundred degrees and because of it, I decided to pack as light as possible. Just enough water, dinner, my camp chair, and a sleeping bag. I did not bring a tent or sleeping pad, the sandstone would be more than enough.
The drive from Hurricane was not super long and the road was in good condition with only a few ruts. I was the only one at the trailhead. It was pretty cloudy but I hoped the clouds would move out later today.
It was a pretty short hike but very sandy in some spots. I've never been a big fan of sandy trails but at least I knew that this one wasn't last for long.
After about 40 minutes I reached the rim of the area where you look down into the massive sandstone bowl of Yant Flats to the East. This was by far the best area to explore and I always preferred this part over the other part.
I descended down into the sandstone bowl and picked one of my favorite spots to start my exploration of the area.

The entire area was created by massive Jurassic sand dunes piling up several hundred feet high. Once lithified into Navajo sandstone, Iron oxide provided the color variations. The variety of colors was just amazing, even after I've visited the area so many times.
The clouds were still hanging in the area and I hoped for a break around sunset to take advantage of all the colors.

Cross-Bedding tells about the wind direction during the time the dunes were piled up

Closer to sunset I git a break in the clouds and I took advantage of it goofing around a bit and creating some selfie shots.

Around sunset, I still had quite a few clouds in the sky but it looked that it was slowly clearing out to the west.

It wasn't the best sunset but I got some colors in the sky.

A bit after sunset I got a really intense afterglow that was well worth the wait.
It always surprised me how colorful it can get out here in the summertime.

The afterglow lasted for quite a while and when it was finally over, I set up my camp right in the middle of the sandstone bowl, had a quick dinner, relaxed, reading a bit.
Then I was waiting for darkness to arrive. In the distance, I could hear coyotes and some owls and once in a while, a light breeze went through the area.
It was a beautiful night and gradually it cleared out.
Finally, it was dark enough and I set up my camera.

Since the lights from St. George reflected on the sandstone, I did not need to do any light painting to light up the foreground. It actually worked pretty well into my favor.

It was pretty cool and I enjoyed the time shooting before the moon was rising.
The night was warm and I slept most of the time on top of my sleeping bag. The sandstone had conserved some of the heat of the day as well and reflected it off right now. At one point I fell asleep and woke up shortly before sunrise.

my camp in early morning light

lines of cross-bedding

I packed up everything and hiked back to my car. It was still nice and cool and I reached the trailhead pretty fast.
It was a fun trip and I definitely want to do it again in the future.

More monsoon storms, August 2018

Monsoon season really got a good start and continued all the way through August. Almost every week, I encountered a perfect storm, and I was able to shoot quite a bit.
The first August storm happened on August 2, and it dumped so much rain in such a short amount of time, that several creeks flash flooded. My original intention was to shoot the storm on Kolob Terrace Road, but I barely made it halfway up when I was caught in the midst of it. There was so much rain coming down that I couldn' see more than 10 feet ahead of me.
When the rain finally receded a bit, I saw waterfalls coming down Tabernacle Dome.

In the distance, I heard the roaring sound of rushing water and eventually saw that Left Fork of North Creek had a flash flood. I really wanted to see it up close, so I drove back down to Virgin and waited at one of the overpasses for the water to come. I didn't need to wait for long. It was definitely cool to see the beginning of a flash flood happening right n front of me.

here it comes

seconds later the entire creek has flooded

On August 11, I had the next chance to shoot some unique storm images. The storm caught up on me while I was on a hike. Even though I got caught in it, I ended up with some good images. 

Another storm happened on August 21, and I hiked to the cinder cone volcanoes behind my place. Dramatic storm clouds lingered in the sky and created amazing scenes.

Dramatic Mammatus Clouds

Just when I thought the storm would die out after sunset, it picked up steam and created one of the best lightning shows I've seen in a long time. Bolt after bolt came down, and I didn't need to do much to capture some of them. 

First, I set the camera up on my lanai and captured some excellent shots of my apartment complex during the electrical storm.

Then, I went into an open field behind my place and kept shooting. The storm cell was pretty stationery and made it easy to capture some good lightning shots. 

This month definitely had a lot of good storm potential and luckily I could capture some of them while exploring the area. 

Exploring along Kolob Terrace Road, Zion National Park

Summertime is a really busy time in Zion National Park and I usually try to avoid visiting the main canyon during this time. A wonderful alternative and less visited is the Kolob Terrace section of the park with many wonderful hikes and options for exploration.
I decided to hang out for an entire day along Kolob Terrace Road and see what treasures I could find.
I started right after sunrise and first went to Cave Valley, a beautiful hidden gem with rock art.
The panels are inside a rock cave within the Navajo Sandstone outcroppings that cover a good portion of the area.

It was pretty cool to see. After the little exploration of the rock art, I scrambled up on the plateau above Cave Valley and was welcomed by a wonderland of Slickrock and Navajo Sandstone. It was absolutely beautiful. The early morning light also helped to enhance the scenery a lot.

The Three Amigoes

I walked around in awe and enjoyed the scenery. Some of the sandstone teepees and hoodoos reminded me of the Vermillion Cliffs area.

Sandstone Teepees

Some recent rains had left some water puddles and the reflections were gorgeous. I walked around every corner and explored the beautiful landscape while looking around the entire section of the area.

Puddle Reflections

I'm admiring the view

Scrambling down was a bit sketchy in some spots as I chose to take a different route. But it totally doable with careful foot placement. I liked this exploration hike a lot. Because we were in the middle of monsoon season, clouds started to build up pretty soon again. Nice, big fluffy clouds. 

I really love to have some clouds.

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Cave Valley Sandstone from below

I stopped at my favorite pullout further up Kolob Terrace Road and visited my favorite Ponderosa Pine tree in the middle of a meadow. From here you'll also have a great view of the Zion Canyon cliffs but just from the backside.

Pine Valley Peak and the lone Ponderosa Pine

My next stop was at a pullout just before the big S-curve and I walked around the Slickrock and explored. The colors and light were just perfect.

At Wildcat trailhead I decided to hike a bit to the surrounding areas. This high plateau area was absolutely beautiful and hikes included from here were the Subway Top Down, Northgate Peaks, Lava Point and the connector trail to Hop Valley. You see, there are many hiking options here in this part of Zion. Some of them require permits but a few can be done as a nice afternoon stroll.

While I was admiring the scenery, a thunderstorm was developing. Huge towering clouds had built and were growing in size. I had to hurry so I could go back to my car before the storm started to explode and I made it just in time. It started to hail, rain and thunder rumbled closeby. I decided to call it a day but made one more stop at my favorite pullout where I shot some nice images while sitting in my car.

Downpour

I loved the localized heavy downpour with the virga and rain shaft coming down. What a great grand finale of a wonderful day. Exploring Kolob Terrace Road is absolutely worth the trip.

A weekend in the High Uintas, June 2018

One of my best friends was getting married in the Uintas end of June and invited me to attend her wedding. So I decided to add a few extra days and do some day hikes while I was up there. It's been a while since I have hiked in the Uintas and I was pretty excited to be back again.
From Southern Utah, it is quite the drive to get there but I was in no hurry and enjoyed the drive up north.

I decided to do the hike up to Bald Mountain since it was still early in the afternoon. This would be a nice leg burner and I was excited about the views from the top. The trailhead parking was not super busy and I got my pack ready. The trail started at about 10,700ft and immediately started to climb upwards. After a while, I reached a plateau and views were great up from there.

Bald Mountain Pass and Murdock Mountain

There were a few wildflowers and I also saw a pika collecting them for food. Past the plateau, the trail started to climb up again. 

Reids Peak

There was a bit of boulder hopping involved at the very last part but it wasn't too bad. I soon reached the summit and enjoyed the views from more than 11,800ft. It was pretty windy and very hazy due to some wildfires but it was still a great view from top.

The hike back to the trailhead didn't last too long and I reached my reserved campsite at Stillwater campground before sunset where I set up camp. 

The next morning I decided to do the Lofty Lakes Loop. It was about 8 miles and had some nice elevation changes along the loop. I started pretty early and was the first car at the trailhead. The first part of the hike went through a forest of fir trees and spruces before the trail went to a meadow.

The meadow offered amazing views to Bald Mountain and Reads Peak with reflections in some small tarns. 

There were also a lot of wildflowers everywhere. I loved the view while I continued the trail. After about a quarter of a while the trail split and I took the detour to Cuberant Lake.  There was some elevation gain before the trail dropped down again and the views were really great.

Elephant Head

I reached the lake and enjoyed the solitude. 

Cuberant Lake

Back at the main trail, I continued to Kamas Lake where I had a little snack break.

After I left the lake, the trail gained elevation again. On top of the plateau, there were amazing views towards the Hayden Fork drainage and Bear River with all its lakes. Definitely worth the hike.

The trail continued from here to Lofty Lake.

Lofty Lake

I passed the lake and continued to descend down the rocky path towards Scout Lake and further to Picturesque Lake. I had to stop several times to delve into the mountain scenery. It was gorgeous. A lot of wildflowers everywhere and great spots for little breaks. This was definitely an enjoyable hike for sure.

From Picturesque Lake it was only about a mile back to the trailhead. 

Since it was still early in the day I decided to do the short hike to Ruth Lake, one of the most popular lakes. 

The little hike to the lake didn't take too long but the views along the way were so gorgeous I had to stop all the time.

I reached the lake and walked along its shore with meadows of wildflowers and beautiful views. This was a really great little hike and I enjoyed it a lot. 

This was definitely a great trip to the mountains and I was pretty sure that I wanted to go back very soon again.