Postcard from Zion

This photo shows the reason why my friend Dave and I chose to go to Zion National Park in November….color, color, color…Autumn colors mixed in with the range of colors of the Zion mountains.

This was one of the early photos I took along the Virgin River at a rock formation named “The Organ.” In a future photo you will see why it got its name. The other rock formation in the upper left part of the photo is the lower portion of “The Great White Throne.”

Here is something you can stick in your future file if you ever plan to visit Zion in Autumn: the best colors are located at the north end of the canyon where the road ends at the beginning of “The Narrows” trail. From the parking lot all the way up the narrows, the colors are absolutely amazing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, all of Zion Canyon is beautiful in November…and there are special places of intense color everywhere…some more hidden than others. But the highest concentration of red, orange, yellow and green are at the end of the canyon.

When we arrived on Zion on November 11, we came through Carmel Junction, which means we arrived in the high country of Zion, then descended into the canyon. By this date, most of the color in the high country was pretty well played out. So keep that in your file also.

Now, if you remember the last blog I did, the photo of Bryce Canyon in the snow, you may wonder why there is snow  in Bryce, but not in Zion. The answer is simple: even though the two National Parks are less the 100 miles apart, Bryce is at 8,000 feet while Zion sits at 3,500 feet.

I took lots and lots of photos on this trip, so I will be showing more of them here as time goes by. When you see color as amazing as this, you can’t stop shooting. So, I have lots of work ahead of me in the digital darkroom. So stay tuned…