An autumn view of "the crack", a geologically rare but photographically famous location where almost the entire flow of the Left Fork of North Creek is channeled into a narrow crack in the red sandstone canyon floor (leaving just a tiny amount of sheet flow to wet the surrounding rock), just downstream of the Subway, in Zion National Park, Utah.

The hike to the Subway in Zion is fairly strenuous to be sure--especially from an east coast flatlander's perspective--but the photographic payoff here at the crack, and even more so at nearby Archangel Falls and the Subway, quickly makes one forget all the climbing over boulders and such that it took to get here (of course, I had yet to begin thinking about the hike back at this point!). When thinking of a title for this image, many puns came to mind such "Photographic Crack" or "On Crack in the Subway", but I thought the title I chose to be a bit more dignified and descriptive of the somewhat amazing fact that the river really does run almost entirely through this crack for a stretch even though there is actually quite a wide riverbed on the canyon floor in this area. Given that the whole canyon seems full of boulders, rocks, fallen trees, sand and other debris in many areas just downstream, it seems like this crack would get filled up and the water diverted, but yet it persists, perhaps just the beginning of the next great slot canyon of the American Southwest.

This is another image is from a great hiking and photography trip to southern Utah and northern Arizona recently taken with good friend Josh Krasner.

Explored on 11/14/2015. Thanks for all the visits, comments and faves!

Tags:   Zion National Park Utah Subway Left Fork North Creek HIke Nikon Landscape photobenedict Autumn Fall River Creek Red Rocks Sandstone Canyon Travel Southwest The Crack The Chute Long Exposure Leaves

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Caroming its way down towering sandstone walls, light finds it way to the softly flowing Virgin River which has worked for millennia, and often with much greater vigor, to carve and sculpt this wonderous landscape, in the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah.

With walls often rising more than a thousand feet above the winding river course well less than one hundred feet wide in most places, simple geometry explains why sunlight struggles so to light the depths of the Narrows. But the moments are so very sweet, though fleeting, when it does set the red sandstone ablaze. Time and again, hiking in the Narrows reveals new wonders, even in familiar places, thanks to the ever changing light conditions. A darkened passage, almost ominous in mood, can erupt with color around any bend, and then fade as quickly as it arose--almost before you can compose your shot if you dawdle in wonder for almost any time at all.

The smoke from a forest fire somewhere in the distant vicinity had snuck into the canyon when Josh Krasner and Sky Matthews were there last fall, and it was quite noticeable looking higher up the canyon walls. While that smoke, and the light it scattered, did create some interesting visuals at times, the smoke was only particularly visible just out of the top of the frame here, as this image captures only a small portion of the canyon walls' great height.

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Tags:   Zion National Park Narrows Springdale Utah Slot Canyon Nikon Nikkor photobenedict Beautiful Light Autumn Fall Virgin River Stream River Gorge Cliff Color Rocks Sandstone Eroded Erosion Texture Colorful Hike Water Travel Southwest Landscape

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Among the many wonders great and small within the towering confines of this great meandering sandstone canyon, a number of interestingly-shaped rocks (or perhaps protrusions) appear from time to time as compositional highlights within the rushing, scouring waters of the Virgin River--in the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah.

We were surprised to have this section of the Narrows to ourselves that afternoon since this rock is not at all an obscure feature in the place. Its striated and interesting form is enticing enough positioned centrally among the currents, but it became somehow irresistible to our photographic interest when we saw the smaller, rounded creek stones lodged within the larger rock's structures.

I could ruminate on why photographers often find such things compelling, or on why people who find such things compelling are more likely to become interested in photography, but that's a bit too convoluted for my current mood, so maybe its just as simple as the title suggests: We photographers sure do seem to love rocks.

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Tags:   Zion National Park Narrows Springdale Utah Slot Canyon Nikon Nikkor photobenedict Beautiful Light Autumn Fall Virgin River Stream River Gorge Cliff Color Rocks Sandstone Eroded Erosion Texture Colorful Hike Water Travel Southwest Landscape Rock

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The first in a series of photographic treasures as one approaches the Subway, these shallow cascades over stepped red rock layers appear particularly stunning sprinkled and framed with autumn leaves, Archangel Falls, in the Left Fork of North Creek, Zion National Park, Utah.

On the somewhat arduous hike to the Subway, the moment these falls come into view after clearing the last large boulder-strewn section of the canyon is the moment fatigue starts turning to elation. All I can say is that I found this place more beautiful than any photograph can fully communicate. And the amazing thing is this scene is just an appetizer on the Subway hike!

This is another image is from a great hiking and photography trip to southern Utah and northern Arizona taken this past fall with good friend Josh Krasner.


Thanks for visiting.

Tags:   Zion National Park Utah Archangel Falls Subway Left Fork North Creek HIke Nikon Landscape photobenedict Autumn Fall River Creek Red Rocks Sandstone Canyon Travel Southwest Long Exposure Leaves Falls Waterfall

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Thin sheens of water flow downstream through emerald pools and shadowed bends toward golden light streaming into the tubular lower reaches of the slot canyon known as the "Subway", in Zion National Park, Utah.

It seems like the light casts a certain magic by the time it bounces its way down the walls of every slot canyon, and that is particularly true with the Subway--simply one of the most uniquely beautiful places I have every visited. Josh Krasner and I hiked into the Subway last week to see this marvel--shaped over the millennia by the waters of North Creek--and the soreness from the hike was nothing compared to the experience of encountering this grand place. I'll let my photo, and the many other images most have seen, provide the more literal description of the Subway, but if I were to try to explain the atmosphere of the place I might say It would well be at home as the setting for an old Jules Verne novel.

Thanks for visiting!

Tags:   Zion National Park Utah Subway Left Fork North Creek HIke Nikon Landscape photobenedict Autumn Fall River Creek Red Rocks Sandstone Canyon Travel Southwest Long Exposure Leaves Slot Canyon Bottom Up

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