IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Monday, December 26, 2011

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year I was off from work on Monday. What better way to spend the day than searching for more rock art near Moab? However, this was no ordinary Moab rock art trip; this time Marty had received permission from a friend of his so that we could access some petroglyphs from his private property.

After finding a way down the snow covered slickrock to this point, we started the climb back up the other side. If this ladder weren’t here, we never would have had a chance. Even with the ladder, there were still a few other sections that were kind of tricky to climb up for us.

Keep Out by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Marty took this photo of me climbing up from the ladder. It was still tricky to climb up the crack from this point.

Climbing by Marty, on Flickr

Marty admires the first large panel of petroglyphs we visited. There were a ton of them here!

Admiring the Big Panel by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

We have finally reached December, which is the last month for my 2011-Twelve Photo Project. It was another great month and I had a hard time choosing my favorite photo, but in the end I had to go with this one of Turret Arch.

Turret Arch & Mountains

As we drove over to the Windows Section of Arches National Park to catch the sunset, the sun peeked through a small opening in the clouds and lit up Turret Arch and many other sandstone formations near it. I pulled the Jeep over and took a few photos before the sun hid behind the clouds again. These formations were only lit up for a matter of minutes. Once the sun was hidden again, it never made another appearance so I was glad I stopped for this photo.

Here here are the runners up…

Fisher Towers Sunset

Eclipse Over the Book Cliffs

Jared takes a photo under the fast-moving dark clouds as we explored The White Pocket for the first time. The wind was blowing and the clouds in the sky and lighting conditions were constantly moving and changing throughout the afternoon. It was a great day to be there.

The 'Reprocess' series features photos that I have gone back to and spent some more time processing. Since I take so many photos on my adventures, I'm usually in a hurry to get them uploaded for the trip reports and not all of the photos are processed to their full potential. Plus, I am continually working on improving my Photoshop skills and techniques.

After all of the clouds and storms passing through the area today, I knew there was a great chance for a colorful sunset. I viewed the maps of the area and settled on a large reservoir at the base of the Grand Mesa that I had not been to before, hoping for some nice scenery. After work I stopped home and grabbed my camera before rushing to the reservoir. There was a muddy 3/4 mile hike in my work clothes involved to reach this area, but I think it was worth it!

Arches National Park
Sunday, December 18, 2011

For the past few years Amanda and I have kind of made it a tradition to head over to Arches National Park near the Christmas holiday. This year we were able to get down there the Sunday before. The first thing we do when we get to the park is drive over to Devils Garden and hike over to Landscape Arch, just to make sure it’s still there…it is! 😉

After hiking to Landscape Arch we also visited Pine Tree Arch, Tunnel Arch, Sand Dune Arch, Broken Arch and the Windows section of the park. We love visiting Arches in the middle of the winter since there are so few people there. Usually the trails are covered with snow and ice which can make things slippery, but because of our warmer winter there wasn’t much snow or ice around this year.

I decided to process most of the images from the day in black and white. It’s something a little different for me, and also something I need more practice doing. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below.

Fins in the Devils Garden area as we hiked to Landscape Arch.

Fins by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The view through Pine Tree Arch.

Pine Tree Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

In the warmer months, Sand Dune Arch is usually crawling with people. We had it all to ourselves today.

Sand Dune Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr