Zion. In my opinion, it's the most beautiful, exciting desert landscape in the American Southwest. I had a week off for my birthday last fall and decided to spend it Zion National Park, Utah. It would be my 5th visit to the park. It would also mark the end of my longest absence, and i planned on making it my longest visit since living there.
I had been debating what to do when i got there. I've done most of the trails already, and the ones i haven't done i still wouldn't be able to do due to being alone and without rope. It was Glacier Park that first got me into the habit of taking pictures of my little trips, but it was Zion where i first got seriously involved in photography. One option was to go back and re-visualize some photos i have since lost to....bile.
Two views of what is probably the most photographed hoodoo in the park.
That's right, bile will take emulsion right of film like hot water cuts through dried milk. This side story will certainly ruin the mood of these pictures, but several years ago Fisher decided, for reasons i'll never understand, to go into my closet, specifically select an open box of sleeved slides i had in there and often used for submissions, and vomit all over them. I won't go into the details of what happened next, but three hours later it was clear to me that i had permanent damage to many of my favorite slides, those being on the top of the pile. Fisher never went into my closet again, and to this day he trembles in fear at the utterance of certain words by me. It's a little sad because i often use those same words when i'm performing poorly in a game.
The West Temple as viewed from a cool new area for me.
Of course, arriving in Springdale after so many years was shocking, just as i expected it would be. There are tons of new hotels and a ridiculous scatter of insulting cookie cutter houses between nearby Hurricane and Virgin, in an area that was previously open desert range bound by impressive mesas in the distance. The home owners spend a great deal of time and water keeping their silly grassy lawns green and free of sand and tumbleweeds.
Another disappointment was an old, historic cemetery that used to be bounded by an old desert rancher fence and had cool tombstones made from nearby rocks, with roughly carved inscriptions dating back to the 1800's. Many inscriptions mentioned bizzare deaths by means of plagues and drowning. It had recently been "renovated" with a brand new chain link fence, cleared grounds and new modern tombstones made out of precision cut, shiny marble imported from somewhere far from any sandstone. But the biggest change since i lived there is that you can no longer drive into the main canyon of the park. You must take a shuttle, even if you area guest at the hotel inside the park. I really don't like having to do that, and in fact, for the five days i was down there i never once took that shuttle into the main canyon. I suppose that goes to show how much there is to do in the area.
A wind carved Moki Cave.
The other side of the cave has a shallow corkscrew.
When i got down to Zion, it was later in the afternoon but still early enough to go to a little known place with a waterfall and a swimming hole that i used to enjoy as a local. I had once taken a picture of the pool with a large cottonwood hanging over it, but the film processor sliced it down the middle when cutting and mounting the slides. It was otherwise a great picture, but not printable.
Between Zion and the Escalante area are many dirt roads. This one is called Cock's Comb Road.
I'd been away from the desert for so long that it took me some serious re-adjusting to get used to moving over slickrock and boulders, and to remember just how much sand is needed to enable a little sliding. When i eventually made it back to the pool i was shocked. The place was completely different than when i had been there years ago. One of the trees was dead, the largest was not doing well itself, and incredibly, even some of the rocks and small boulders had moved or were no longer present. Flash floods had also seriously eroded the sandy banks on one side, leaving a large tree's roots dangerously exposed. It was no longer the perfect place it had been when i recorded it on film over a decade ago.
Although seeing the place in that condition was distressing, it made my next decision very easy. There was no point wasting time on the past. Zion has too much to offer for that, and life is too short. I was going to do all new places for the next 4 days. It was going to be sweet.
An impressive hoodoo at the edge of Escalante National Monument.
The hoodoo was about 20 feet high.
Between Zion and the Escalante area are many dirt roads. This one is called Cock's Comb Road.
I'd been away from the desert for so long that it took me some serious re-adjusting to get used to moving over slickrock and boulders, and to remember just how much sand is needed to enable a little sliding. When i eventually made it back to the pool i was shocked. The place was completely different than when i had been there years ago. One of the trees was dead, the largest was not doing well itself, and incredibly, even some of the rocks and small boulders had moved or were no longer present. Flash floods had also seriously eroded the sandy banks on one side, leaving a large tree's roots dangerously exposed. It was no longer the perfect place it had been when i recorded it on film over a decade ago.
Although seeing the place in that condition was distressing, it made my next decision very easy. There was no point wasting time on the past. Zion has too much to offer for that, and life is too short. I was going to do all new places for the next 4 days. It was going to be sweet.
An impressive hoodoo at the edge of Escalante National Monument.
The hoodoo was about 20 feet high.
