Five Minutes of Fire
On New Year's Day 2020, while we were staying on the edge of Zion National Park, we decided to trek up to Bryce Canyon National Park to get some pictures of the snow covered hoodoos.
Because the trails were heavily snow covered, and we didn't have crampons for our boots, we departed after two hours and headed to visit one of my favorite little-known locations - Grosvenor Arch in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument - before the sunset. It was a "mostly cloudy" day that quickly became heavily overcast as our Jeep left the paved road in Cannonville, Utah for the unpaved and deep snow covered Cottonwood Canyon Road. I hoped that a nice cover of snow on the arch would still make the additional excursion worthwhile, but as we approached, I was disappointed to find the arch completely bare, and the junipers nearly all devoid of snow, as well. despite air temperatures in the low 30°s.
Then, as if to thank me for my efforts to capture something different, Mother Nature allowed the sun to peek through the clouds and distant ridges. The effect was to light this lone sandstone formation ablaze against the deep blue-grey of the clouds above for a brief four minute window of brilliance.
Five Minutes of Fire
On New Year's Day 2020, while we were staying on the edge of Zion National Park, we decided to trek up to Bryce Canyon National Park to get some pictures of the snow covered hoodoos.
Because the trails were heavily snow covered, and we didn't have crampons for our boots, we departed after two hours and headed to visit one of my favorite little-known locations - Grosvenor Arch in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument - before the sunset. It was a "mostly cloudy" day that quickly became heavily overcast as our Jeep left the paved road in Cannonville, Utah for the unpaved and deep snow covered Cottonwood Canyon Road. I hoped that a nice cover of snow on the arch would still make the additional excursion worthwhile, but as we approached, I was disappointed to find the arch completely bare, and the junipers nearly all devoid of snow, as well. despite air temperatures in the low 30°s.
Then, as if to thank me for my efforts to capture something different, Mother Nature allowed the sun to peek through the clouds and distant ridges. The effect was to light this lone sandstone formation ablaze against the deep blue-grey of the clouds above for a brief four minute window of brilliance.