Winding down in Moab

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All good things must come to an end and so does my time here in Moab, UT. The workshop ended this morning and after a late breakfast I checked out the Slick Rock Bike Trail and drove south of Moab about 40 miles to check out some formations and arches.

I feel like I have only begun to scratch the surface in regards to things to see and do in this area. Good Lord Willing and the creek don’t rise; I’ll return and spend significant time here.

This is DEFINITELY one of our National Parks I’d suggest you put on your “bucket list”!

Here are a few images from our last night of star trails and few from today as well.

Tomorrow Chessy and I head south to Holbrook, AZ where we’ll meet up with my cousin and his wife on Saturday. I get to hang out with them all next week as we do some sightseeing in AZ and NV.

Thanks for all the comments you’ve been sending. I hope to respond via email to many folks in the next few days.

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Photos

Balanced Rock 2nd round
We went back to Balanced Rock last night to take another round. It's one of the formations in the park where you can include the North Star in the sky to have the nice circular star trails.

Delicate Arch Viewpoint star trail
To reach Delicate Arch for the traditional close up is a 45 minute or so hike. Since doing star trails requires being out well after dark, we chose not to walk back along a challenging trail in the dark. So we went to this location where there was an easier 20 minute hike back to the car. Unfortunately we were about 3/4 mile from the arch and therefore this isn't as strong as the ones where we were close to the formation.

Big Dipper star inside arch
It may be hard to see in this image sized for the web, but I noticed one of the stars from the bowl of the Big Dipper was inside Delicate Arch. So I quickly recomposed my composition and captured this shot of the Big Dipper over Delicate Arch.

Sun starburst
Another thing we worked on was creating sun star bursts. Here's one attempt with Balanced Rock.

Turtle Rock and Church Rock
These formations are 40 miles south of Moab right across from the turnoff to the Needles section of Canyonlands NP. I didn't have time to take in that part of the park.
I found it interesting that Church Rock is listed on the Utah State Map, but Turtle Rock isn't. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it. At the time of day I was there (not the best time to photograph them), I found Turtle Rock to be more intriguing.

Hemi Rock
Ok I have no idea what the REAL name of this formation is - if it even has a name. But I've named it Hemi Rock. Those of you who are car buffs I think will see what I did and why I stopped to photograph it and gave it the name Hemi.
To me it looks like the air scoop of a 60s or 70s muscle car. I could almost hear the rumble of the engine underground!

Wilson Arch from a different perspective
Wilson Arch is about 25 miles south of Moab and another of the features listed on the state highway map. Since I wasn't there with the "golden" light, I decided to experiment with the sun starburst technique I worked on in the workshop.