PART 2 of the INDIAN CANYONS PHOTO TOUR with Christian Heeb

So we saw the Grand Canyon, did a photo shoot with a native Indian model, we photographed Antilope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Rimrock Hoodoos, Monument Valley and Canyonlands N.P, and that was only the first week. We were afraid it couldn’t get better…. but it did !

DAY 7: around Moab

It is rather hard getting up at 05:15 but we don’t want to be sissies, besides, I saw a photo of the Dead Horse Outlook and it looked real good. Christian drove much too fast so we get there in the pitch dark and decide to do some stars and light up a little tree in the foreground. The whole thing proceded a little messy, everybody pressed their shutter at a different time, and so one gets a lot of light, others little, it’s just practise ! As we get too much light for the stars to really show we proceed to the canyons rim. This is probably the best outlook I’ve seen so far, this is really special, I just love the scenery here.

My favourite time is 5-10min before sunrise, that’s when you get the best colours and the rocks really glow. Back in town by 08:00 and straight to Starbucks, we are in desperate need of a coffee ! We have some time off to relax and shop, have a great pizza for lunch, then leave for the Arches National Park at 4 pm.

Now this is a great park, so much to photograph, and we don’t even have time to see it all. Stops at the Balancing Rock , the Garden of Eden Viewpoint and then on to the Windows section. We get cool shots of North and South Window and the Turret Arch before we move on to the Delicate Arch. Well, to the parking lot that is. From there it is about a one hour hike uphill to get to the arch. You walk on a narrow track, on your left a deep drop, on your right a cliff, turn the corner and your jaw drops once again… wow ! Such amazing scenery, and the arch is so big ! As expected we are not alone, loads of Chinese are already positioned somewhere, guarding their spot with every means… we’re getting used to that. We spread out and every one of us finds a good spot to wait for the sunset. Guess where Juerg and Christian are… of course climbing like mountain goats, and up on a rock across from where everybody else is, in search of a new creative angle !

We move down in the dark, glad we have our headlights. Back home so late we don’t go for dinner, have a few beers at the poolside and off to bed.

DAY 8: Moab to Hanksville

The weather forecast is correct, it rains as we wake up, goody, time to sleep late ! Because of the weather we get photoshop lessons from Christian (the only day it rained on this trip, so our only chance for that, normally we are far too busy). We only have to leave at 11 am for the drive to Hanksville. Because of the never ending rain and grey clouds we don’t really see much of the countryside we pass, it doesn’t look too interesting anyway, rather flat and empty. As we get closer to Hanksville the rock formations finally show up again, it is a little lighter on the horizon, we are hoping for some sunlight in the afternoon. After lunch the sun does come out so we head for the Gobelins.

Once again we stand in awe at the rim of a rather wide and not very deep canyon. On the opposite side the top layer is green and this lights up in the rays of the sun which are now peeping through the clouds more and more. At the floor of the canyon there are dozens and dozens of rocks shaped like gobelins, or mushrooms, whatever you want to call it. The one problem is the rain, it is not raining anymore but now we know why they call this slick-rock, shit, it is slippery as hell ! So we all slip and slide down the pathway and soon all are an inch taller from the mud sticking to the soles of our shoes. Never mind, it is awesome anyway and we do all make it back up to the van.

Back in Hanksville the rain has started again and adds to the gloomy scenery, you could shoot the next Hitchcock horror movie here. Dark, deserted, light from the flashing neon advertisement screens reflecting in the puddles of water on the road, the only thing missing is a chainsaw murderer on the loose……

We had a nice dinner anyway, but only after we got our blue hour photos !

DAY 9 : Hanksville to Boulder

Two of our group didn’t come for the morning shoot, how wise they were, it was a disaster ! Christian tried to tell us it was sóóó cool, but honest, it was just a lousy, crappy road with no back or foreground (the original site we had planned to visit was closed because of the rains) and there was nothing nice about it, a true waste of good pixels ! I honestly considered not taking out the camera at all, but that would have been even more boring…. The only good thing all morning was the conversation between Christian and me, him trying to make the most of it, me trying to make it even worse than it was. This definitely was the funniest shoot of the tour !

At 9 am we left for Boulder, the drive through Capitol Reef National Park being another highlight. We stop at the visitor centre and do a coffee stop at Torrey where we turn on Hwy 12, a mega scenic drive to an altitude of 10’000ft trough Aspen forest in amazing fall colours. This is so beautiful !

After lunch at the Burr Trail Grill in Boulder we drive along and start our descent. There are canyons on both sides of the road, and I mean deep canyons and right beside the road, we are driving on a ledge with gaping drops on both sides. Now I know why they call it Staircase Escalante, it is like going down a giant staircase. At the bottom we park and hike to the lower Calf Creek Falls on a mostly even, sandy trail. It takes even the fittest of us 1hr20min but it was worth it, great scenery and once again we are almost alone here.

DAY 10: around Boulder

Damn, another shitty sunrise shoot ! The supposed waterfall on the lodge grounds is not there anymore… there is a beaver dam now and the dam filled up the creek and the fall has vanished. It was ice cold ( I believe even below freezing point), nothing to photograph, not even a crappy road and it was cold, wet and slippery as hell, which led to an unavoidable shoe cleaning session after the hike… well only if you ever want to use your shoes again !

Breakfast was great and the breakfast room was heated, look on the positive side ! We left for the Burr trail after breakfast, this was a great trip once again. Viewpoints, hoodoos, a slot canyon and a red wall which looked like a Swiss cheese, full of holes. The holes, if photographed from the right position, seemed to glow from inside, reflecting the light from the rock face opposite. Guess who got us in the right position… Christian. You think you have a good photo, he comes, moves 2m away from you, usually climbs on something and takes a very similar image which is just 10 x better…aaahhhhh !!!! But I am learning from him !

The afternoon we visit Devils Playground in Grand Staircase Escalante N.P., another very scenic spot with white and beige rock formations and arches. The funny thing is there is, also a film crew there shooting some roadtrip movie. Every now and then one guy, sounding rather distressed, shouts “quiet”. Is that ment for us ? We’ve never been so quiet as during this shoot…. We stay so long that we have to rush to make it to Escalante town in time for dinner after our sunset shoot. Once we start there’s no stopping us, and we only leave when the last light is gone. Unfortunately the road is the worst we’ve had on this trip, but we do make it in time. I fall asleep on the drive back home. But once we get there we have to do some night photography again, simply because it is so nice and dark here, there are thousands of stars shining just for us. We get to bed somewhere around midnight. Must sleep now.

DAY 11: Boulder to Bryce

After the waterfall mistake yesterday everybody gets to sleep late today. After a good breakfast of yummy blueberry pancakes we leave for Bryce Canyon. Glad we ordered one portion for the two of us, you can easily live on one portion here in the USA, wherever you go, whatever you eat, the portions are huge ! We stop at the Kodachrome Basin State Park, another lot of scenic red rocks. We are spoiled by now and only find them mildly interesting. Another stop near Bryce where we hike to a small waterfall, this is nice. The rocks around us already look like what we expect to see in Bryce Canyon, red and white towering spirals, trees dotted all around, a small river running through. The waterfall is cute and at least we get to do a little hiking and climbing again.

After lunch we do a short outing to Red Rock Canyon, which is okay but not sensational enough for us, so we finish there rather quickly and we finally get to check into our rooms. At 4 pm we leave for Bryce Canyon, one of the many highlights of this trip. It is good ! First we visit Inspiration Point, as if we would need inspiration, this canyon is once again amazing, awesome, jaw droppingly beautiful ! From there to sunset point, where else would you go at sunset….

 

DAY 12: Bryce to Las Vegas

Sunrise at Sunset Point, yes correct, not at Sunrise Point. I think it doesn’t really matter where you are, this canyon is gorgeous from whatever angle you pick ! We are all dressed up like in winter, it is only 3 C, you do need the gloves and multiple layers of clothing ! We spread out, everybody has a different favourite spot. As soon as the sun comes out the red and especially the whites really glow. When the sun is out we hike down between the rock formations on the Navajo Trail ( 1,3 miles). Its deep, its steep and going down all I could think was, shit, how am I going to get back up? We did get up, just do enough photo stops and enjoy the views….

At 11:00 we leave for Las Vegas, lots of driving and the scenery is not very interesting so everyone, at some point, doses off, we all need some extra sleep after all the long hours of photographing. After lunch we drive some more and by 4 pm reach the Valley of Fire State Park, we are now only about 50miles east of Las Vegas. We stop at the Elephant Rock, which, with a lot of imagination, does look a little bit like an elephant. We put Frank on top of it as an elephant driver and now we do get the picture…. sort of.

We move on, are very lucky to see six mountain sheep move right across the road, only about 10m in front of us. Finally we get to the Fire Wave, our very last photo destination. It was a worthy last destination ! Okay, you really have to forget the Chinese photo group which was already there, pointing expensive Hasselblad cameras on the Wave Rock for 2 hours without moving position.

Boy, they will have 100 pictures looking exactly the same, just changing light situations (to make the selecting simpler). When the one guy dropped 2 rolls of very expensive film we honestly did hope they would roll over the edge but unfortunately they didn’t, so he stayed and stayed. We got shots from all other positions around the Fire Wave being our creative selves, and in the end they let us shoot from the “as in the book” spot for exactly 2 minutes, which was enough for us.

A sensational sunset with colourful skies in just about any direction ended off our last photo shoot. A great Italian Dinner in Las Vegas ended the tour.

Thank you Christian and Regula !

We’ll gladly join you again on another trip, this was fun, educational and inspiring !

 

For our best photos :     go to gallery

copyright text by Astrid Bluemel and photos by Astrid & Juerg Bluemel for bluemelphoto.ch