WaterholeCanyonTumbleweed  

     Earlier this month, I attended the Page Photo Summit in the town of Page, which is in far northern Arizona. There are many geological wonders in this area of southern Utah and northern Arizona, and it is among some of the most remote areas in the lower 48. 

     First, I did a couple of hikes in the southern part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Here, I started a hike in the dark up a desert wash so that I could reach the Wahweap Hoodoos at first light. 

WahweapHoodoosVert

     On the way back to my car, I would come up to a hoodoo that lined up with a setting moon in the morning sky. 

WahweapHoodoosMoon

     I would also come across some interesting mud cracks and formations along the dry wash.  

WahweapMudcracks

     Next, it was on to Lee's Ferry, Arizona. This is where a lot of the rafters begin their trip to enter The Grand Canyon. However, I came here to hike...and hike UPHILL I did. I climbed the trail from the Colorado River about 1500 feet in less than 2 miles.  It was a slow climb through all the switchbacks and then some off trail navigation.  The reward was to see a view of a bend in the Colorado River that view people get to see. This view is almost as good as the now world famous Horseshoe Bend near Page. It is not quite a horseshoe, but it is a nice bend in the river with a lot of solitude.  I do love that feeling of photographing some subjects that rarely get photographed, unlike Horseshoe Bend that is photographed hundreds of times in a day. This image was taken by a drone to safely photograph from the edge of the cliff.  

ColoradoRiverDrone-2

     Another great to fly a drone is the colrful Paria badlands in southern Utah. 

PariaBadlandsDrone

A trip to Page, Arizona would not be complete with a visit to a couple of slot canyons. I visted the world famous Upper Antelope Canyon... 

UpperAntelopeGlow

and the lesser known Waterhole Canyon, both are just outside of the town of Page, Arizona. 

WaterholeCanyonGlow

WaterholeCanyonVertical

The Southwest is a great place to see the brilliant sunrises and sunsets. 

NavajoMountainDawn NavajoMountainGlow