Utah Images

We had arrived late afternoon in Moab and after getting a hotel room, we decided to head over to Arches NP to see what we could find. It was cloudy, so I didn't expect to get any good pictures. But just as twilight approached, the sun emerged and I got a wonderful shot of the La Sal mountains framed by the red rocks.

On the same evening, we also got some good picutres of a small arch, with the moon perched just over the rocks. On a previous trip I got a good shot of a skyscape framed by an arch.

The next day we headed to the Needles district of the Canyonlands NP with its rock formations and buttes.. A state park site on the way in is Newspaper Rock, one of the best petroglyph panels in Utah (which served as the 1995 cover on a science supply catalogue [Promega]; the wheel at the center of the picture here is the area that the front cover of the catalogue is taken from). On the way back to SLC we had to stop by Island in the Sky and it was a beautiful day. Carol got a wonderful shot of the White Rim with the La Sal mountains in the background.

On an early spring trip to Capital Reef NP, it rained all night long. But in the morning the clouds broke and the desert looked alive with flowers framing Capital Reef. The next night we stayed just outside the park, along Pleasant Creek. While gathering wood, I saw a small deer. I wanted to go back to the truck to get my camera, but instead, he followed me back. He stayed in camp all night, sleeping next to our tent. We named him Maynard.

A hiking and bicycling trip to the Escalante region was one of our first exposures to Southern Utah terrain and it was beautiful country. On our way back to SLC we passed through a lesser known area; a wonderful little state park outside of Bryce Canyon called Red Rocks SP. The rocks definitely are red.

A great way to see the canyons of Utah is by boat. This was a shot taken on the Green River while kayaking on a beginer's trip sponsored by the University and headed up by Utah kayaking icon Gary Nichols.

Being outdoor people, Carol and I bucked the trend and headed out to Wendover, NV; not to gamble, but to hike. It proved a rather blustery day and we didn't get to hike much. But I did get some great shots of the storm clouds over the salt flats.

One of the lesser known wonders of the state is a mountain range in the West Desert called the Deep Creek range. With 12,000 foot peaks and wonderful mountain streams, it is truely an oasis in the desert. I got this shot while coming down the jeep trail when I spied a small window in a rock framing the desert below.

One of the first things that I did after I purchased my camera was to climb up the hill behind the Medical Center and shoot a time lapse picture of the entire Salt Lake Valley at sunset. This is a composite of four separate pictures.

Of course, no picture gallery of Utah is complete without the glacially carved peaks around Salt Lake. I have far too many pictures to fit on my alloted disk space but for a peek try Lake Blanche, up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Then I've got of view of the West side of the Uintas. And I would be remiss if I did not include a shot of Mount Timpanogos. This is the back of the mountain shot on my second date with Carol.

Another desert range away from the Wasatch is the Stansbury range. Carol and I have had several interesting trips out to the range including a summit trip in a thunderstorm and a spring backpacking trip in which we had 50 mph wind gusts. This particular shot was taken on that backpacking trip. It is a view looking south along the range (notice the snow; were startled awake throughout the night from ice falling off the mountain).

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Brian K. Martin