After packing up the test at the camp site, I headed out of Death Valley to Las Vegas and then on to Hurricane. Zion National Park is a few miles east of Hurricane, so I managed to spend a couple of hours in the late afternoon. The Watchman is one feature at the entrance to the park, and was still lit by the setting sun. So I headed up to a location where there is a decent foreground to make this location.
Zion had also received that same weather system from the west coast, as evidenced by the snow above. By the time I arrived, the snow had melted, so when I got back to the truck… time to clean boots again!
The next morning, I headed towards Moab along state roads 12 and 24 through Utah. Near Henrieville, I pulled off near the mesa to make this image of the cliffs against the clear blue sky.
The route back to Moab passes through the Capitol Reef National Park near Torrey. So I spent a couple of hours there. In this image the sandstone cliffs stood out against a blue sky. By this time, there were a couple of thin wispy clouds above the cliffs that I included in the image.
At the entrance to the park, I stopped by the Fremont River. After walking down to the river, a couple of deer crossed in front of me. This deer stopped to see what I was up to!
As the sun moved lower through the sky, the cliff and canyon walls reflected in the river, creating these spectacular orange/brown reflections in the water.
The road leaving the park passes through Cathedral Valley near the town of Caineville. I stopped to make this image of the valley cliffs, lit by the last rays of the setting sun.
A few miles later, the full moon rose above the road, but I continued on to Moab for the last night before returning home.