Terrell Brothers Road Trip - Day 6: Showers, Reefs and Plateaus
The pressing question from the night before was, “What was our campsite like?” Morning answered that question. Not bad for a campsite found in dark.
Today was a business day. One of those days you have to plan for whenever you take a long trip - a day to do laundry and, hopefully shower. I’d timed it right because the day before Len had asked (with a bit of concern in his voice) when we were planning on doing laundry. He added, “I’m about to run out of clean underwear.” I should have played him on and said, “Laundry? Not for another three days!” Instead I said, “Tomorrow. I am too.” “Good.” I’m such a nice brother.
Our morning took us down to Hanksville where we ate at Duke’s Slickrock Grill; named Duke’s because the Duke himself favored the restaurant. At least that’s what all the John Wayne (John Ford and other “western” actors) paraphernalia would lead one to believe. At least in the case of the Slickrock Grill, it’s true.
There, we met one of the sassiest, most wonderful waitresses you’d ever care to meet. Given her age, we weren’t even offended when she called us “kiddies.” She was good for a laugh and the tip on where to do laundry and get a shower (hint: it’s affiliated with Duke’s Slickrock Grill, we barely had to move the rig to get to the shower house).
After a fantastic breakfast, we had our showers and did laundry! After gassing up in Hanksville, we were back on the road again, smelling sweet as roses.
Next stop was Capitol Reef National Park. It’s an odd park with no real “entrance.” The opportunities there spear out in a number of directions along several different roads. We weren’t planning on checking them all out, there wasn’t nearly enough time. Still, we were going to drive around a bit and see what we could do with a short visit.
We first stopped at a pull out where you can see petroglyphs and pictographs. On previous trips the lot had been full, so I was happy to stop when it was evident there were spots to park Baby Beast. I carried along my point and shoot on the short hike. The camera was woefully inadequate to photograph the relatively far away rock carvings/drawings. However, it was just the thing to photograph some trees located on the other side of the narrow canyon opening.
The contrast between the stark white trees with their early spring buds and the background red walls was too great to pass up.
After stopping off at the welcome center (and buying Desert Solitaire), we drove down the main road that runs north-south on the west side of a prominent “reef”. We drove down to the south end, scouting locations on the way down, and then turned northward, stopping at locations as we made our way back northward on the in-out road. That’s an old photographer’s trick - keep the sun at your back so that you’re not always looking into the sun as you’re scouting out images. You’ll get a better feel of the photographic possibilities of the location that way.
We passed up the opportunity to take a canyon hike (we were feeling our legs by this point in the trip and time, as it was throughout the trip, was scarce), but there were plenty of opportunities that offered images along the main drive.
I largely stuck to my point-and-shoot, knowing that the reds and wet-spring greens would render beautifully on this lens and sensor combination. Face it, a camera is a camera so long as it’s got quality components.
At one point we clambered down into a wash, which rewarded our exploration.
The partly cloudy skies also gave us lovely lighting opportunities. As if the landscape itself wasn’t beautiful enough.
We made our way eastward a bit towards Torrey to photograph from a location that shows the north-south reef itself.
As well as the east-west reef that fronts the main through-road, Highway 24.
It’s a landscape that can impress you with its immensity,
… as well as its intimacy.
And one does not have to travel far beyond the beaten path to be afforded a fascinatingly different view than from the road or trail.
Of course, for all these desert locations, the beauty lies not only in the grander landscape.
Sometimes, you just need to take a bit of time to appreciate and see the landscape around you. The photographs that capture the emotional impact of that landscape may not be easy to make, but the main reward is in being there and experiencing it.
Yeah, Capitol Reef may not seem to be much as you fly by on the highway, but there are gifts aplenty for those who take the time to experience it.
Alas, we’d done what we could without spending several hours on a hike. So we headed out towards our final destination for the day. We drove out past Factory Butte to the plateau Ann and I had photographed on our last trip out this way.
When we arrived, the conditions were mixed. On the one hand, the cloudy skies offered interesting patterns on the landscape. On the other hand, the sun was still too high, rendering relatively undifferentiated landscape formations below. The colors though, hinted at possibilities.
So Len and I scouted around a bit, becoming familiar with the differing views from the rim of the plateau to be ready for when the light show began. In the meantime, several different groups of people came and mostly went as the sun worked its way westward.
Eventually, the sun started to do its thing with the landscape and Len and I got to serious work.
As before, the interesting clouds mixed things up a bit as we chased the ever-changing light that worked its magic on the landscape.
What had previously seemed like a relatively flat landscape in the mid-afternoon sun revealed itself to be quite the opposite, both in the foreground and the distance.
It became a race to see how many different ways one could photograph the landscape as it changed with the ever-lengthening shadows.
At such times, one (read: I) constantly has a voice in the back of my head asking, “Are you missing anything?” Thus, I’m constantly changing my lenses to see what a change in focal length has to offer.
I returned again and again to the view to the east that I’ve come to love exploring. The growing shadows made it a constantly changing landscape with new opportunities to explore every few minutes.
And then the golden hour hit. Not only did the shadows deepen, often no longer revealing the diversity in the landscape that was previously accentuated, but the color of the light changed, which fundamentally alters the mood of the image and, at times, seemingly makes everything more “clear.”
So back it was to working my way around the plateau peninsula rim, roughly re-framing images I’d explored previously, but with new visual effect.
There’s just a different feel to the light as the sun sets.
I eventually completed my western arc and headed back towards my favored eastern view, stopping to make an image of Baby Beast and the surrounding landscape. This is why we rented a rig like this - not only to be able to photograph from these locations, but to then spend the night here.
The sun finally dropped behind some clouds on the eastern horizon and offered no more than a glow on the plateau’s upper edge. The dimmed light allowed for a better view of the floor below, so time for another image. The clouds above the mountains (just north of Natural Bridges NM), didn’t hurt either.
As the sun continued its path below the horizon, the earth’s shadow began creeping its way upward through the atmosphere, blessing the landscape with a totally different character.
And then night started setting, the landscape teasing us with possibilities for the morning.
Len and I called it a day. It was going to be an early morning and we wanted to be ready for it!