Zion National Park

Liz and I spent 5 days camping in Zion National Park starting the day after Thanksgiving. What a spectacular place! Interestingly, it is hard to photograph because of the shear faces and deep canyons. Together these elements make for mixed lighting in almost all areas. To truly photograph Zion, you definitely need to shoot at sun-up and sun-down to capture the horizontal rays (which I can tell you, sun-up wasn't happening on this trip since overnight lows dipped into the low 20's). Because of the reasons mentioned above, there are many crappy pictures of Zion in the matrix. Since I didn't want to add to them, I chose not to post 'vistas' but rather more snap-shotty pics from our hike up to Angel's Landing.

This is the modest beginning of the trail skirting by a placid field of cottonwoods with Angel's Landing being the peak in the background to the left.


Here is Liz taking a little break along the way.


This is part of the mellow climb up the first 1,000' up to Angel's Landing. The last 500' feet is a completely different story with shear drops, lots of exposure, and even chains to assist with the final ascent.


And finally, the obligatory self-portrait at the top as evidence I made it. ; - )