Blog 1.5

I was hesitant about going to Mesa Arch for sunrise as its a huge destination for photographers and really draws a big crowd, even at 5 a.m, but it was my 35th birthday and the view alone seemed like a good way to bring in another year of life.

Because neither myself or Chantelle are morning people I made sure to prep all my camera gear the night before, unfortunately even at my most prepared it turns out I do not function very well this early in the morning. After making the hike in to Mesa Arch I realized that I had made the bone head mistake of forgetting my camera back at the van. Before we hiked in I wanted to double check that I had a memory card in the camera and then proceeded to leave the whole damn thing behind. The hike was short (maybe 10 minutes) but it was pitch black when we came in, so in my haste, trying not to miss sunrise, I got myself semi lost in the desert trying to get back to the van. 45 stressful minutes later, I finally made it back to my poor wife who thought I fell off a cliff, but I did catch the last few minutes of sunrise 😅

The sunrise crowd slowly dispersing 📸 (Chantelle)

After the small “getting lost” debacle and dealing with the large Mesa Arch crowd we decided we were going to move on from Canyonlands. We stopped at a few of the views on the way out of the park and then drove back in to Moab for some breakfast.

Jamie looking at the view of Shafer Canyon 📸 (Chantelle)

Chantelle usually sends a postcard to family and friends when we travel, so after a quick breakfast burrito we walked the main strip in Moab and picked out a few cards from the local shops. Once we finished our quick shopping excursion we found a place to have a shower and then it was back on the road towards Monument Valley.

One of the fun parts of traveling with a van is it allows you to stop and see random things on the side of the road, there’s no rush to check in at a hotel giving you have a little more freedom to explore. One of those stops was this place called “Hole N’ the Rock” which had an entire home built in to the side of the hill and all sorts of random knick knacks and collectibles out in the yard.

After we left “Hole N’ the Rock” it wasn’t long before we came across “Wilson Arch”. It was located right beside the highway and was very accessible. I thought it would be cool to fly my drone through the opening so we made a quick hike up to check out the view and take some photos.

Jamie standing near Wilson Arch 📸 (Chantelle)

We left Wilson Arch heading towards newspaper rock, which is the location of some ancient petroglyphs. The weather quickly changed from sun, to clouds and rain, and unfortunately the quick route to newspaper rock was closed for construction when we got there. After a bit of a rough morning we didn’t want to let the weather or construction deter us from making it to newspaper rock, so we looked up another route that was slightly longer but would still get us there. Fortunately this little detour actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because even though we lost a lot of time going the long way, we were treated to some beautiful views and saw a ton of deer and wild turkeys along the way.

Storm clouds starting to roll in 📸 (Chantelle)

As the rain subsided we finally made it to Newspaper rock, which was definitely one of the highlights of the day, hell it was one of the highlights of the whole trip. The rock wall the petroglyphs were carved in to has a slight rock ledge that jets out over top of it, helping preserve these ancient symbols. Because of the detour on the main road we actually ended up with the entire site to ourselves. We took our time to really admire this piece of history while also trying to imagine what the people might have been communicating thousands of years ago.

With Newspaper Rock behind us and the rain coming and going, we set out with the hopes we would make it to Mexican hat as our last destination before the sun went down. We briefly stopped in Bluff, Utah to stretch our legs and check out the beautiful “twin rocks” that tower over the trading post before continuing on our way.

We made it to the rock structure known as Mexican Hat just before the sun went down. Mexican Hat gets its name because of its similarity to an upside down sombrero. We took a minute to take in the view, had a few snacks and then pushed forward through the dark towards Monument Valley. As soon as the sun set we were treated to an insane lightning storm for the remainder of the drive. I unfortunately didn’t bring a tripod on this trip or I would have tried to capture a shot of it. After about an hour drive we found a spot to pull over for the night and tried to get some rest before our next days adventure through Monument Valley.

Blog 1.6

Blog 1.4