I was off this week in between my most recent short volunteer stint and my 6-month job which is starting tomorrow. Several months ago I scheduled a photo workshop here in the Bryce area and that is what I did during my time off. The photo at right is actually from the final morning and the clouds, as you can see, were just spectacular just before the sun peeked up over the plateaus east of the park. Bryce is a great place to shoot in the mornings as the light is often quite magical as it plays off of the hoodoos and the plateau's edge, but clouds like this in the a.m. are pretty rare (clear much of the time or socked in when a front is over the region).

Our little group also ventured out into Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument a couple of times. On the first afternoon of the workshop we visited the Willis Creek Slot Canyon and, for then sunset, Grosvenor Arch. Day 2 started very early with a pretty long drive to the Canyons of the Escalante section of the monument and Devil's Garden to shoot the "goblins" sculpted from Entrada Sandstone. I am going to have to plan an afternoon trip back to Devil's Garden to get some different perspectives on the place; it really is quite interesting . . .

On the third day we drove down to Zion National Park in search of some fall color. The oaks were pretty well spent and rather drab, but the same couldn't be said for the Cottonwoods - many glowing a vibrant yellow - and the maples were on fire. We also paid a visit to a section of the park known as Kolob Canyons on Saturday but clouds (and smoke from California) spoiled that planned afternoon shoot on the last day. The Kolob area features towering red sandstone cliffs carved on the edge of the Markugaunt Plateau and is high on my list of places to revisit soon.

This last photo is obviously not one of great scenic beauty but comes from the second day of the workshop. A couple of miles down Hole-In-The-Rock Road from Devil's Garden is another road which bears off to the west that leads to another outcropping of Entrada Sandstone. "Goblins" haven't been sculpted from the rocks but, quite possibly, something more fearsome once walked here. it is the footprint of a theropod: a carnivorous dinosaur that was walking through the dunes that existed here some 160 million years ago (middle Jurassic). The print is about 10 to 12 inches wide and maybe 14 to 16 inches long and is one of several hundred prints that can be found by simply looking around. While not T-Rex it is still pretty damned cool!