Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Just a few miles north and east of Arches National Park is a place called Canyonlands National Park. The park is very large, so there's no way to see the whole thing in just one day. As the name suggests, there are a lot of canyons here! A lot of natural beauty in the way the Colorado River has carved this place over time. Here are a few shots:



The Monitor and the Merimac




A butte in the distance




One of the highlights of the park




A tall spire




A nice scenic shot

Arches Nation Park (revisited)

Well, Arches was so beautiful, I had to go back. Plus, I really wanted to see the centerpiece of this place, Delicate Arch, pictured above. If you go to my photosite (www.tomsphotosonline.com), you'll see that there was actually a wedding going on at Delicate Arch. It's a bit of a hike to get there, too!

Anyway, I got to see some of the places I missed my previous visit. If you go to my photosite, you'll see the link as "Arches National Park (1) (2)". Just hit the "(2) to see the pictures.

A beautiful shot of the surrounding scenery

Panoramic of Park Avenue...one of my favorites in the park

A shot of what I call "Spire City"

A close-up of Spire City

Balanced Rock (right)

How's that for a balanced rock?

One of the "windows" in the "Windows" area of the park

Double Arch...really spectacular (and huge!)

Arches National Park, Utah

How beautiful is this?

After visiting Monument Valley, Cathy, Mom, and I traveled north to Arches National Park, just north of Moab, Utah. It was a beautiful sight as we neared Moab, with high, rugged cliffs on our left illuminated from behind by the waning sun. We arrived at Arches a little late in the day and saw as much as we could in about 2 hrs time.

The entrace to the park was spectacular, with incredibly high, sheer rock walls all around. Our favorite place, I think, was an area called Park Avenue, which was a little valley surrounded by tall, sheer rocks all around. I really encourage you to take a look at both of my Arches photo pages, accessed by going to: www.tomsphotosonline.com. Unfortunately, even those photos don't do this place justice. It was really very beautiful.

We drove though the park and saw as much as we could. We didn't have time to see the most famous Arch, called Delicate Arch (although on a second trip through for me, I did see it).

Here is a rock formation called Balanced Rock (oddly enough):

This thing was huge!




This area is known as The Garden of Eden. I thought that the mountains provided quite a nice backdrop.

The following picture is looking south from an area that contains Double Arch:

This formation is called Three Gossips:




A final shot looking at one of the nearby mountains:




I didn't get any good shots of any arches in the park because I was time constrained. However, I did make it back to Arches a few days later after dropping Mom and Cathy off in Salt Lake City, Utah. More to come...

Monument Valley, Utah

Monument Valley is a place I've always wanted to see. It's an area that you've probably seen in a western movie at one time or another. It's located on Navajo Indian land on the border between Utah and Arizona, off of Highway 163.

I was with Mom and Cathy still, and we drove through a little town called Mexican Hat, getting it's name from this rock formation nearby:





After that, we were very close to Monument Valley. The scenery on the way was really incredible...lots of colors and buttes and rock formations that boggled the mind.





Below is a good look at Monument Valley from a distance:





We drove up to the visitor's center, passing many beautiful rock formations. A couple more pics here:




Looks like a pair of hands praying




View from the Visitor's Center showing Left Mitt and Right Mitt

Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

My next stop, still along with Mom and Cathy, was a place called Natural Bridges National Monument, located near Lake Powell, in Utah. We had camped overnight in a small campground and headed south to the park. There is a 9 mile road that forms a loop that allows viewing of the 3 main natural sandstone bridges in the area. It was pretty cool seeing the last, largest bridge (Owachomo) after hiking down just a little ways to view it looking up. We spent only a few hours here, and then were on our way to Arches National Park.




The boys enjoying the ride




A very beautiful butte in the distance




First bridge along the road...Sipapu Bridge




Last bridge...Owachomo Bridge...2nd largest in the world

Canyon de Chelley, Arizona

After leaving Petrified Forest, we traveled northward still, onto a place called Canyon de Chelley National Monument, pronounced Canyon de "Shay". What a beautiful place this was! I had never heard of it before, so we were very lucky to have stumbled across it. We arrived late in the day, and it was a little overcase, so the pictures weren't great. But it was a spectacular sight. Really beautiful. Words can't describe it. Navajo indians currently live in the area, but there are many ruins down in the canyons belonging to the Anasazi people who abandoned this place in about 1300 AD. They had lived in the area for nearly 2,000 years.





A first glimpse of the canyon...really big and beautiful.





Another huge expanse...





The wedge-shaped rock is called "The Rock that Lightening Struck" by the Navajo.





Here are some ruins built right into a crack in this sheer rock face (very small).





The ruins up close.





Here's another set of ruins built into the canyon wall.





An overlook on the North fork showing ruins in the shade.





A closer look at the ruins





Closer still...





Finally, a look at Spider Rock...really impressive!

Petrified Forest, Arizona

After leaving Carlsbad Caverns, I headed north to pick up my Mom and sister Cathy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We took a tram ride up to Sandia Peak on what was billed as the world's longest tram ride. Great views from the top (photos on my photosite, www.tomsphotosonline.com under Petrified Forest).

We headed west after a brief stay in Albuquerque, towards Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. We saw some really beautiful scenery on our way over, arriving at the park right around sunset. We saw the Painted Desert on the north side of the park...really beautiful.

The next day, we got up and saw the south side of the park, which contained much petrified wood. The stuff was amazing. Many broken logs strewn all about, looking exactly like, well, giant logs, but being completely crystalized and feeling just like stone. Very cool.

The colors were amazingly varied...lots of purples and reds. A nice little visit!

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

After the long, desolate drive across west Texas, I crossed the border into New Mexico and, a short time later, arrived at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The cave(s) was beautiful! I highly recommend this to anyone. It took me about 3 hrs to walk (and photograph) the caves. In the late springtime, thousands of bats leave the cave each evening to search for food. They have an "ampitheater" set up just outside the cave entrance, and people sit and watch this spectacle. I was a little early in the season for that, but the tradeoff was that there were hardly any people inside the cave. I don't think the experience would have been so great if there had been many, many people inside. Here are some picutres; more at www.tomsphotosonline.com.

Sunset at Carsbad Caverns campsite

Think this is my best moon shot ever.

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns

Just one of many beautiful sights inside the cave

The colors were amazing

A cave "chandelier"