Capitol Reef National Park, July 2018: Hickman Bridge Trail

Getting up to shoot sunrise is rarely easy, especially in the summer when it's so darn early. Add a night of fitful sleep to the mix thanks to being in an otherwise empty (and therefore creepy) campground, and it's a serious challenge. Nonetheless, I packed up my tent in the dark and headed to the Hickman Bridge Trail to try and capture a little color in the morning sky.

And as usual, it was totally worth it.  The formation itself is less than a mile from the trailhead, and the trail itself was easy to follow in the low predawn light.  Finding a spot west of the bridge to set up so I could shoot back to the east was no trouble.  And as sunrise approached, there were just enough clouds in just the right spot to capture some glow from the rising sun without obscuring it completely.

I was able to capture a three-image panoramic as the colors intensified.

I had fun moving around a bit and changing up the composition.  The sun was taking its sweet time to come up, and providing a nice show while it did.

I found a spot that even let me get the crescent moon in the scene as well.

I had hoped to get a starburst effect from the sun peeking out from behind some rock, but after waiting for a while that didn't seem to be in the cards given its path.  So I hiked back, and enjoyed nice views like this one of Pectols Pyramid.

Thoughts of other hikes were tempting, but I had a seven-hour drive to Death Valley still ahead of me and needed to get on the road.

The Fremont River weaving through the park provides some welcome visual variety with its water and vegetation.

There's something very satisfying about getting in a two-mile hike and capturing beautiful images like these all before 8 a.m.  It makes it feel like anything else you accomplish that day will be gravy!

Related Links:

• Capitol Reef National Park: July 2018
• Cassidy Arch Trail

Capitol Reef National Park, July 2018: Cassidy Arch Trail

I didn't plan on doing many long hikes on my whirlwind NPS road trip. The heat made the idea unappealing. And being alone made it risky. My first evening at Capitol Reef the temperatures weren't too high, though -- especially with the overcast conditions. And there were a couple of hikes that led to some interesting destinations, including the Cassidy Arch Trail. So with what seemed like ample time before sunset, I decided to give that one a shot.

I had a hiking guide from the visitor center that clearly said the Cassidy Arch Trail was 1.7 miles one way and rated strenuous.  And this sign in the parking area specifies that it's a quarter of a mile walk just to get to the trailhead.  But for some reason I thought I'd be out and back in about an hour.  Lapses in judgment like this are why I didn't plan a lot of hikes.

I hoped to be at Sunset Point for, you know, sunset.  But the clouds to the west made the prospect of breathtaking sunset photo opportunities seem slim.

The portion of the Grand Wash Trail which leads to the Cassidy Arch Trail has some solid scenery itself.  And it's nice and flat and smooth.

Seeing this sign made me finally realize I was in for more of a trek than I'd expected.  Nearly a thousand feet of elevation gain was not what I'd had in mind.  But in for a penny, in for a pound.  I picked up my pace, though.

The arch comes into view with about half a mile to go, then disappears again as you get closer.  The cairns also get a bit inconsistent, so I found myself wandering around a fair amount trying to find the arch.  I doubled back a couple of times as the sun kept descending.

Then all of a sudden, the arch just appears.  I actually howled in triumph when I found it and set up to take some shots.

The lighting turned out to be fairly decent, and the clouds to the east had enough holes in them to allow the blue sky to peek through to also be interesting.

I had similar difficulties staying with the trail on my return, having to retrace my steps more than once.  So I probably ended up covering nearly four miles, which took me closer to two hours than one.  But that was fine -- you can see a sunset every day, but not a cool feature like Cassidy Arch.

Capitol Reef National Park, July 2018

Following a great week ago in Colorado that saw me make two visits to Mount Evans and another to Brainard Lake, the time came for the second leg of my summer road trip. This was to be an epic drive of more than 2,500 miles through seven states in six days, hitting four National Parks and one National Monument while also camping four nights. It would be by far my longest drive by myself, and also my first time camping alone.

I don't think most people seek out as many "firsts" later in life as they should, preferring instead the comfort of the familiar and routine. And while I don't claim to be Teddy Roosevelt by any stretch, seeking the source of uncharted Amazonian rivers at the age of 55, I do still like to discover and experience new things.  So I was eager for this expedition, but also a bit anxious. What if my car broke down? What if I got lost on a hike?  What if my campsite was attacked by a bear, or aliens, or a chupacabra? Valid questions -- well, mostly valid. But Danelle had my itinerary, and I expected to have cell phone service often enough to check in regularly. So I vowed not to make any foolish decisions, and after dropping Zak and Taryn off at the airport for their flight home (slightly disappointingly but not all that surprisingly, this adventure didn't appeal to either of them) I was on the road headed to my first destination: Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.

I was unfortunately greeted by mostly overcast skies, in which conditions I often struggle to shoot landscapes.  Nonetheless, I managed to get a solid seven-image panoramic of Capitol Gorge at the end of the park's helpfully named Scenic Drive.

This rock feature was named Egyptian Temple, quite possibly by someone who had never been to Egypt nor seen a temple.

Some sunlight shone through for this shot of the Slickrock Divide.

The best place to go for sunset seemed to be a spot called Sunset Point.  Like Scenic Drive, I love that folks kept the names of places here simple and straightforward.  The clouds were thick to the west, but a bit less so to the east.

Twilight didn't offer up a lot in the way of color in the sky, but the terrain itself took on some interesting hues.

Following an uneventful night of camping (the best kind, in my opinion) and a hike to Hickman Bridge to catch the sunrise the next morning, it was time to head to my next stop: Death Valley National Park.  But on the way out of Capitol Reef I pulled over several times to take advantage of the early morning light for more shots, like this one of the sun just beginning to rise above the rock formations.

Six images stitched together from Panorama Point.  Yet another helpful name!

This tree was obviously no longer growing.  But even in death, it seemed like it intended to stick around for a while.

Twin Rocks, shown in context with their surroundings...

...and a bit more isolated.

The scenery at Capitol Reef was similar to the other National Parks in Utah, and therefore beautiful.  But it seemed to lack that signature feature of its brethren -- the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, The Narrows of Zion, and the namesake elements of Canyonlands and Arches.  But still in all a solid start to my journey, in no small part because nothing ate me in my sleep.