UTAH 2010
This is another one of our trips west to photograph in Utah. We left home on December 11, 2010 and returned January 9, 2011. We traveled 3,900 miles, and based our efforts pretty much evenly between Springdale and Moab, which gave us access to Zion National Park, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park, plus the surrounding areas.
When we arrived in Springdale December 13th, it was sunny and a little warm, temperatures running from the mid 40’s to mid 50’s. We scouted the park and prepared to photograph the next day. We were up early, but the skies were overcast and there was a mist falling. We worked in light rain the next two days and then it began to really rain. We had eight days of rain. The area had over 7” of rain, and that is a year’s worth. Flooding was next, with evacuations and the eventual closing of the park. All we could do was drive around and watch the event. We made videos. . . there was water everywhere and some of the most spectacular waterfalls in Zion Valley. Finally the rain stopped and we got in some shooting time. It was unusually warm with very mild temperatures our entire stay. We did cancel Bryce Canyon National Park again this year, the roads were iffy at best up there with ice and snow.
Next stop was Moab. We left Springdale a day early to get ahead of a major winter storm heading into the area. They were predicting extremely cold weather and snow across the entire state. Our first day in Moab it began to snow and snowed heavily for two days. Arches NP had 10” and Canyonlands NP 18” on the ground by the time it stopped. The temperatures our entire stay in Moab ran from a minimum low of -9 to a maximum high of 19. We worked most days in 6-12” of snow with highs struggling to reach 15. It was great!!!
Though we didn’t get to photograph as many days as we would have liked, we experienced and saw things that were amazing. Here is our Utah 2010/2011 trip album.
Enjoy!