High Plains Drifter

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Colorado Nat’l Monument to Arches Nat’l Park

I’m very tired after a long day, so I’ll make this brief.  I arrived in Moab around 11:30 or so after leaving Fruita, CO during the mid-morning hours.  I photographed sunrise scenes at Colorado Nat’l Monument up until shortly after sunrise with some success.  I drove along Hwy 128, which is highly scenic red canyon terrain along the Colorado River, on the way to Moab/Arches.  At Arches, did an initial drive through the park, stopping at a few of the pullovers and overlooks, including some arches.  About 2 hours prior to sunset, I started my way towards Delicate Arch, the iconic arch of Utah and the Southwest.  There is a 3-mile round trip hike which is fairly strenuous, especially carrying my heavy photography pack.  The trail goes over large slickrock, fairly steep in some spots.  Leading up to the arch itself, the trail is in shadow, and was very icy and slick.  This wasn’t fun to walk over for sure… especially being fairly elevated.  Nevertheless, I got to the final destination, and it was worth the hassle on the ice.  Just prior to sunset, Delicate Arch glows a reddish hue against a polarized blue sky and the La Sal Mountains to the southeast.  By the time I got back to the car, it was getting dark.  I wasn’t finished though!  The moon is near-full right now, and I stayed in the park until about 8:30pm photographing some awesome scenes around the "Windows" section of Arches.  North and South Window in the bright moonlight was just awesome.  I was able to pull off some memorable long-exposures.  This little shoot itself in the moonlight after dark made the trip!  Attached to this blog is one of those images showing both North and South Window against the full moonlight.  I am in Moab now for the next 3 nights.  Tomorrow’s plan is much the same, spent photographing around Arches.  More tomorrow night!