Red-Rimmed New Year's Morning
For some that phrase would describe their eyes after a late night of partying and ringing in the New Year. For me on this first morning of the 20s, it meant first-light reaching Towers of the Virgin in Zion National Park.
Being a native East-Coaster, who has transplanted to life on the West Coast, I still feel that the New Year occurs when the crystal ball drops in New York, and that's the end. So, with the aide of staid Springdale, Utah, it was easy to get an early bedtime on New Years Eve so we could begin the trek to the Canyon Overlook Trail at 6:00 AM to catch first-light and sunrise from this vantage.
The trail is a relatively flat mile hike with a few tricky spots where the ice and slickrock conspire to give even the most sure-footed concern in the dark. Once we reached the overlook, I was a little concerned that our cold trek may have been for naught, due to the heavy cloud cover. Though they were thick overhead, there still was some clearing to the East, along the sun on the horizon to light a narrow band, reflecting off the cloud bottoms and warming the sheer rocks faces of the Temple of the Virgin ahead. This image was captured about 10-15 minutes before the local sunrise time, and is considerably brighter than what we saw with our eyes, due to the 20-second exposure.
Once the actual sun rays reached the Temple directly, the light only lit the areas seen here in red for less than 5 minutes before disappearing above the clouds for the remainder of the day.
Recognition:
Merit, Nature/Landscape category - JAN 24 PPSDC Image Competition, San Diego
Selected for Display, Color Scenic Landscape: Winter - JUN-JUL 2023, International Exhibition of Photography, San Diego County Fair, Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds, CA
Red-Rimmed New Year's Morning
For some that phrase would describe their eyes after a late night of partying and ringing in the New Year. For me on this first morning of the 20s, it meant first-light reaching Towers of the Virgin in Zion National Park.
Being a native East-Coaster, who has transplanted to life on the West Coast, I still feel that the New Year occurs when the crystal ball drops in New York, and that's the end. So, with the aide of staid Springdale, Utah, it was easy to get an early bedtime on New Years Eve so we could begin the trek to the Canyon Overlook Trail at 6:00 AM to catch first-light and sunrise from this vantage.
The trail is a relatively flat mile hike with a few tricky spots where the ice and slickrock conspire to give even the most sure-footed concern in the dark. Once we reached the overlook, I was a little concerned that our cold trek may have been for naught, due to the heavy cloud cover. Though they were thick overhead, there still was some clearing to the East, along the sun on the horizon to light a narrow band, reflecting off the cloud bottoms and warming the sheer rocks faces of the Temple of the Virgin ahead. This image was captured about 10-15 minutes before the local sunrise time, and is considerably brighter than what we saw with our eyes, due to the 20-second exposure.
Once the actual sun rays reached the Temple directly, the light only lit the areas seen here in red for less than 5 minutes before disappearing above the clouds for the remainder of the day.
Recognition:
Merit, Nature/Landscape category - JAN 24 PPSDC Image Competition, San Diego
Selected for Display, Color Scenic Landscape: Winter - JUN-JUL 2023, International Exhibition of Photography, San Diego County Fair, Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds, CA