Zion National Park

Not a statue as I initially thought.

I spent 5 days photographing Zion, just at or after the peak color.  I took the DP1M, DP2M, and SD1M.  Nine batteries for the compacts, with three chargers, a very good choice on my part.  Given the number of canyons, cliffs and peaks, Zion is very well suited for a little longer-than-usual focal-length for landscape.  Of the images I added to my Zion database, the counts were about equal between the three cameras.  On the web I have posted 26 images.  I was fortunate to have a light snowfall which was very noticeable at the higher elevations.  The park was very crowded, in part due to the 3-day weekend and in part due to the spectacular color.  Having avoided Zion the first 15 years or so that I started photographing the desert, I have to admit that it has really grown on me.  There are a lot more photo ops than just the gorgeous cottonwoods, ash, and maple. I drove up to Kolob Terrace, which is on the left side of the park.  It has separate access about 15 miles before the Valley and is higher in elevation. If you don't mind hiking and scrambling up slick rock, there are some spectacular vistas both on the Terrace, in the Valley and up in the Checkerboard Mesa are. Many are off the beaten path.

In some ways, the  highlight of the trip was driving through Checkerboard Mesa,  a higher-elevation area, and seeing a group of people standing around talking and photographing what appeared to be a Bighorn Sheep (they look like goats).  The pose was so perfect that for a moment I actually thought they may have put a statue up on the hill.  There were a half-dozen or so sheep just munching away in the area and it was a real treat to watch them.

Here is the gallery link:

http://www.pbase.com/rickdecker/zion_2012

Enjoy and comments appreciated.

Rick

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