It's no secret Southern Utah contains some of the most incredible geological landscapes found in North America. A spectacular park known as Snow Canyon on the south eastern edge of the state near the City of St. George may not see as many visitors as some of the more popular parks like Zion or Grand Staircase-Escalante, but the views are stunning with plenty of worthwhile hikes through lava tubes, canyons, or to some epic lookouts. If you are ever travelling through Southern Utah, I highly recommend checking this park out. You won’t be disappointed.
Originally setting out to look for great gray owls with my daughter, I began to notice the signs of a crimson sunrise on the horizon. I decided to abandon the owl concept and scramble to find a spot to compose a landscape shot that would work well with the rising sun. In the Rockies that is not the easiest task especially when you only have fifteen minutes or so to make it happen. I could have gone to some of the more popular spots near Canmore but the idea of standing shoulder to shoulder with other photographers is rather unappealing to me. Instead I chose to chance it and go along a section of the Bow River that I was unfamiliar with that overlooks Pigeon Mountain. The result of that decision produced a far greater image than I ever would have had I gone to the congested popular spot. Best of all, we had it all to ourselves.
This was my first experience in the remote regions of the Kofa Wilderness Refuge in Arizona. During my visit, I was the only person in the park. You could see for miles in all directions. As my first day drew to an end, an eerie calm resonated through the desert as night approached. I have never been anywhere so quiet in my life. Alone, and lost in my thoughts I remember sitting in the back of my car with the hatch wide open, just looking at the vast landscape and enjoying watching the remaining sunlight slowly disappear behind the horizon. Of the few times I have visited the deserts of the American Southwest, it is the silence that I enjoy the most.
