The Other Side of Zion
Zion National Park, Utah
Best seen in Lightbox, i.e., press "L" on keyboard or click on the expand arrows at upper right.
The Northwestern portion of Zion, i.e., Kolob Canyon--is a far less visited part of the park. I noticed it on the map on my last visit but didn't have time to check it out. I didn't have a LOT of time this trip (in part due to what I describe below) and so made a fairly hurried traverse of the park Road, which is only five miles long here. As one would expect of any portion of Zion NP, it was spectacularly beautiful, as can be gleaned from the above. Thank goodness for the snow!
It took me a LOT longer to arrive here this day than I expected. It was one of those days where most everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I'd spent the night in St. George, Utah and after grabbing an early lunch, hopped on I-15 heading north toward the park--about a 40 mile trip. Ten or 15 miles later, my phone stopped working, so I drove back to town to a Metro PCS and had them look at it. It turned out to be a minor thing so I was back up and running in a few minutes. I made it all the way to the park this time. At the first scenic vista, I pulled into a turnout to snap a photo . . . only when I pushed the button halfway, the scene remained out-of-focus. I figured I had absentmindedly left it on manual focus, but a quick check found it not to be the case. And suddenly, I knew what was wrong. No battery. It was back in my former motel room plugged into the wall. ARRRRGH! Speaking of absent minded!! I figured my battery was probably fried which would make it about the fifth battery over the years that I had cooked. So, I looked for the nearest camera store that might carry the particular battery I needed. There was no service at that scenic spot, so I drove back to the visitor's center. There I located three camera stores within 90 miles or so. Two of them didn't carry what I needed, one did--but it was closed. Las Vegas turned out to be the closest relevant location--160 miles away. This is my life. This kind of thing isn't all that unusual for me. Would anyone like to volunteer as my keeper? Anyway, the fastest way to Vegas was through St. George, so I decided to go back to my motel to retrieve my charger and Battery even though I was certain the Bat would be useless. Forty miles later I did just that and--A MIRACLE!--my battery wasn't fried after all. I cannot account for that as every time I had left a battery in the charger for most of a day, it had been either completely useless, or a shadow of its former self, at best providing maybe 50 shots. In this case, it seemed to have suffered no significant damage, so fortunately, my 320-mile round trip to Vegas turned into a much tidier 80 miles. Forty minutes later, I was back at that same turnout--considerably later than planned. I was just grateful that I still had three hours of daylight--something that a Vegas side trip would have made impossible.
This was taken perhaps a half mile from the end of the park road. It's a Pano combining 12 photos using my 50mm lens.
The Other Side of Zion
Zion National Park, Utah
Best seen in Lightbox, i.e., press "L" on keyboard or click on the expand arrows at upper right.
The Northwestern portion of Zion, i.e., Kolob Canyon--is a far less visited part of the park. I noticed it on the map on my last visit but didn't have time to check it out. I didn't have a LOT of time this trip (in part due to what I describe below) and so made a fairly hurried traverse of the park Road, which is only five miles long here. As one would expect of any portion of Zion NP, it was spectacularly beautiful, as can be gleaned from the above. Thank goodness for the snow!
It took me a LOT longer to arrive here this day than I expected. It was one of those days where most everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I'd spent the night in St. George, Utah and after grabbing an early lunch, hopped on I-15 heading north toward the park--about a 40 mile trip. Ten or 15 miles later, my phone stopped working, so I drove back to town to a Metro PCS and had them look at it. It turned out to be a minor thing so I was back up and running in a few minutes. I made it all the way to the park this time. At the first scenic vista, I pulled into a turnout to snap a photo . . . only when I pushed the button halfway, the scene remained out-of-focus. I figured I had absentmindedly left it on manual focus, but a quick check found it not to be the case. And suddenly, I knew what was wrong. No battery. It was back in my former motel room plugged into the wall. ARRRRGH! Speaking of absent minded!! I figured my battery was probably fried which would make it about the fifth battery over the years that I had cooked. So, I looked for the nearest camera store that might carry the particular battery I needed. There was no service at that scenic spot, so I drove back to the visitor's center. There I located three camera stores within 90 miles or so. Two of them didn't carry what I needed, one did--but it was closed. Las Vegas turned out to be the closest relevant location--160 miles away. This is my life. This kind of thing isn't all that unusual for me. Would anyone like to volunteer as my keeper? Anyway, the fastest way to Vegas was through St. George, so I decided to go back to my motel to retrieve my charger and Battery even though I was certain the Bat would be useless. Forty miles later I did just that and--A MIRACLE!--my battery wasn't fried after all. I cannot account for that as every time I had left a battery in the charger for most of a day, it had been either completely useless, or a shadow of its former self, at best providing maybe 50 shots. In this case, it seemed to have suffered no significant damage, so fortunately, my 320-mile round trip to Vegas turned into a much tidier 80 miles. Forty minutes later, I was back at that same turnout--considerably later than planned. I was just grateful that I still had three hours of daylight--something that a Vegas side trip would have made impossible.
This was taken perhaps a half mile from the end of the park road. It's a Pano combining 12 photos using my 50mm lens.