On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Wow, these places feel like they belong on Doctor Who! I’ve never seen anything like this in person. Amazing. ~WaterGirl
Wag
In May of this year, COVID threw us for a loop. We had plans to take our twins on a trip to Peru for a trek to Machu Picchu. Needless to say, those plans got tossed out the window. We still had 2 weeks off from work, so we decided to do something a little closer to home that would allow some socially distant adventure. We looked around for a few options, and decided on a camping/AirBnB trip to Utah and northern Arizona. With a lot of care, we were able to do a great trip with minimal interaction outside of the family bubble. We visited Gooseneck State Park and Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, along with Glen Canyon National Recreation area in AZ/UT. All in all a great trip.
Gooseneck State Park packs an incredible view in a tiny park. the park is really small, just 10 acres, perched on the edge of a canyon that drops hundreds of feet down to the San Juan River. The ting that is so amazing about the park is the course of the river, which has carved an amazing canyon of incised meanders over millions of years. On previous visits I have done a brief drive by, stopping at the height of the day to see the view, then moving on. On this trip, we decided to camp on the canyon’s edge. It is a very primitive park, with no water, and only picnic tables on the bare rock mesa top. Despite this, the views in the evening rewarded the stay. As the light lengthened and then when the stars came out, it was magic. I need to learn how to shoot stars like Bill does, because the Milky Way was stunning.
Here is a late evening view of the goosenecks. The river continues to carve the canyon, and there is no escape for the river until it erodes through the canyon wall and is able to isolate one of the meanders as a an abandoned meander. I don’t see that happening in our lifetime, but elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau there are numerous examples of this phenomenon.
Natural Bridges is Monument that was incorporated into Bears Ear National Monument the the larger monument was declared but President Obama. Under our current administration, the larger monument has been degraded, but al least he left the original boundaries of NB intact.
Natural bridges are a really interesting and rare natural phenomena, an arch that forms over a stream bed. Natural Bridges has the highest concentration of this formation anywhere in the world, with 3 bridges in the small monument, including Sipapu Bridge, pictured here, which is the third largest bridge in the world, with a length of 225 feet
From Natural Bridges we drove to the small town of Page, AZ, where we had rented an AirBnB. It was easy to socially distance ourselves in Page, as there were no restaurants worth going to, and we had a decent kitchen and brought all the food we would need. The first evening there we went for a walk to the edge of town, and I took this photo looking across the desert to the Lake Powell National Recreation area, out destination for exploration the next few days.
Our first day on Lake Powell, we drove to the Lake and spent the day on our stand-up paddleboards (SUP’s).
no great pictures from that day, but the next couple of days we rented a pontoon boat and were able to explore the lake.
Our first day on the boat our goal was to go the Rainbow Bridge NM. It was about 49 miles by bot to the entrance to the canyon that hosts the bridge. The views on the trip back were continually amazing, with cliffs hundreds of feet tall dropping into the water. Rainbow Bridge is usually accessed via the lake, as it is a long and difficult overland hike requiring a guide is you don’t access through the lake. Rainbow Bridge is the second ranges natural bridge in the world, and is a sacred place to the Navajo and Hopi tribes. When we arrived, there was one other boat at the dock, and we passed the other party on their way back to their boat, so we were lucky to have the entire monument to ourselves. A peaceful and beautiful place.
The next day we were again out on the lake, and went to Little Cataract Canyon. We drove the pontoon back in the canyon as far as we could, then put in SUPs into the water and paddled back another mile or tow to reach an amazing slot canyon. This photo is a view from the SUPS as we paddled back to the slot
Slot canyons are magic. Slots are canyons that are 2-4 feet wide and one to two hundred feet deep. It is like exploring a cave with the ceiling removed, and the sky open above. this slot went on for about 2 miles. We didn’t have time to follow it all the way to the end, but traversed most of the length.
Another view of the slot.
More slots. You don’t want to be in a slot canyon when it rains, as there can be flash floods that fill them 20 feet deep with churning flood waters.
My wife and daughter on the SUPs heading into another canyon. Antelope Canyon is the most famous slot canyon in AZ. It is on the Navajo reservation and the main slot is accessible only with a tribal guide. While we were in Page Antelope Canyon was closed due to COVID. We were able to explore the lower reaches of the canyon via access from the lake, but what we were able to access was nothing compared to our previous slot. The SUPing in Antelope canyon was excellent.
Mary G
Wow, these are phenomenal; I especially like Little Cataract Canyon, for the shapes and colors. I was halfway to Lake Powell on a vacation in 2003 or so, but had an RA flare up and had to come home.
Lapassionara
These are wonderful! We drove through southern Utah once, and it was stunning. These photographs are fantastic. Thank you for posting.
Lapassionara
Did you go to Capitol Reef National Monument? Truly stunning, and not one that many people get to see.
Kattails
Wow stunning and also took me from vertigo to claustrophobia in two minutes. 8-)
Princess Leia
Wow- so beautiful and aas you say, peaceful. Sacred ground, for sure.
Falling Diphthong
The Southern Utah-Northern Arizona region is just breathtaking. Thanks for sharing.
CaseyL
Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!
I love those colors, those shapes; the contrasts.
Hope you get another chance to go to Machu Picchu!
StringOnAStick
I didn’t know there’s a Gooseneck park; I kayaked this section with a bunch of retired raft guides in 1990. It was all so gorgeous and your photos are such a wonderful reminder, thank you!
HumboldtBlue
The first photo is utterly breathtaking.
Wag
@Lapassionara: We didn’t go to Capitol Reef on this trip, bu I have been there on past trips. The prime time to visit might be late August. Early settlers planted extensive orchards in one area, and if you time your trip, there’s all you can pick apricots and apples. Best apricots I’ve ever eaten.
and Capitol Reef has been upgraded to a National Park, which provides significantly greater protection.
Wag
@StringOnAStick: Not much to the park. A few roadside picnic table/campsites, a couple of pit toilets, and stunning views. Worth a visit
Lapassionara
@Wag: thanks. We were there years ago, and it was breathtaking.
SiubhanDuinne
Those photos and scenery are simply amazing. What a phenomenally varied and beautiful world we inhabit.
JanieM
Unbelievable colors and land formations, and choice of great vantage points to convey the uniqueness and variety.
Wag
@CaseyL: Thanks, we hope so too
randy khan
Ooooh, those slot canyon photos!! Fantastic.
Martin
Did you see Aron Ralston arm? I’m assuming it’s still out there.
Yutsano
@Martin: Too soon man…too soon. :P
I was today years old when I learned the actual name of those formations. You see slot canyons in A LOT of movies and pictures. They really have a great æsthetic.
Wag
@Martin: Did not get to the slots of the Maze District of Canyonlands. Maybe next trip?
Auntie Anne
Those pictures are amazing. Thank you for a few minutes of grace in an awful time.
frosty
Wow!! Amazing pictures! Utah is on our itinerary for the spring; planning to see Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, and camp at Kodachrome and Dead Horse Point state parks – if we can get reservations. I never heard of Gooseneck, it’s not in any “Best State Park” lists. I hope it’s close to where we’re traveling; I’d love to see it.
Dmbeaster
Luv Red Rock Country. Have done a number of trips. Zion is the king, followed by Capital Reef, but there are countless great back country drives and destinations everywhere, whether in a park or not. There are dozens of spectacular slot canyons to hike in. I have hundreds of pictures – its just stunning. Houseboated on Lake Powell eons ago, and would repeat.
Luv that slot – have not been to that one.
Benw
Those are just amazing.
Thanks for sharing, I feel like I got a transcendent experience right through my laptop
BigJimSlade
Great pictures! I love the scenery, but slot canyons freak me out!
MazeDancer
Wonderful pictures!
Cowgirl in the Sandi
These pictures are wonderful. We’ve explored the Utah parks several times and continue to be amazed. Thanks for turning us on to more parks to visit next time. BTW, the Lake Powell pics remind me of what Edward Abbey says about Lake Powell: “a beautiful abomination”. So true.
Wag
Thanks for the thoughtful responses and interesting observations.
@Cowgirl in the Sandi: Edward Abbey was right.
Miss Bianca
Wow, I’ve lived in CO for 20+ years and I can’t believe that I haven’t really explored Utah since before I moved here. Northern AZ a bit, but I *need* to get back to Utah, evidently.
J R in WV
Amazing pics of unbelievable terrain, of which there’s a ton in AZ and UT. We haven’t done slot canyons nor paddleboards, but have seen the rivers snaking like that in Dinosaur National Monument from the mesas above the river… there it was the Green River.
Rainbow Bridge in Navajo Nation, I’ve read that there’s some kind of controversy there, can’t recall exactly, competing religious beliefs maybe?
Thanks for sharing! Great photography, all of them. Esp the panorama pic of the stone arch from underneath, at first I couldn’t tell what I was looking at… great creative idea!
Wag
@J R in WV: Thanks. I really like taking panos in portrait mode. It works especially nicely for cathedral ceilings.
At Rainbow Bridge there are signs asking that you maintain a respectful distance. Going directly under the bridge would be disrespectful, in exactly the same way as stepping over the barriers and walking on to the altar at any cathedral. Easy to respect.
Polly Syllabic
N1328 Silver Creek Cascade Rd
Dennis
Yeah, be very sure of the weather forecast if you go into a slot canyon. There were 7 people killed by flash flood in a Zion slot about a month after I was there in 2015