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Exlporing Blue Canyon - Hopi Indian Reservation Land

My last trip to the southwest had Blue Canyon as the number one must see destination above all other places. The locations I went to this past trip I had been to many times, but not to Blue Canyon. When headed out from Dallas Texas at 6:30 pm and finally arrived here around 10 am the next day. I usually never take pictures during the hard light but it was still nice enough with great skies and cloud formations. I pretty much shot all day long and explored Blue Canyon extensively looking for the best spots to come back to during the late afternoon and sunset light.

The name of Blue Canyon is a bit of a misnomer, there are no blue rock formations here at all. In fact the area is full of red and white colored sandstone. The area resembles Goblin Valley in Utah with fantastic hoodoo rock formations scattered all over the place. You could really spend a couple of days here exploring. Even though I felt like I covered a lot of ground, I by no means saw it all. Besides Blue Canyon, you have Coal Mine Canyon to the west of this location that deserves its own dedicated time as well.

Even though I was pleased with my sunset and dusk shots, I had planned on doing a lot of night time photography here. Unfortunately, a huge snow storm was bearing down on us. As we made our way back to the highway, we were caught in the worst sand storm I had ever experienced. By the time we made it to Tuba City, we were ingulfed in a snow storm that stayed with us all the way to Page Arizona and snowed all the way into the next morning.

Need to mention that Blue canyon is on Hopi reservation land. And while you do not need a permit, please show your respect to the land and the people here. The rock formations are fragile and the more people that come here, the more the area is in danger to either vandalism or carelessness. So tread lightly. Out of respect for the Hopi Indians and the land, I will not post GPS coordinates to Blue Canyon. but as many people have found out already, I am quick to answer emails and help you find the location with good directions. So feel free to email me for your own travels to Blue Canyon or any other place you see that I have been.

Now go see the Blue canyon photo Gallery on my site…click here

The new photo gallery of waterfalls in the Arkansas area is now live. Check back often because the gallery is still in its infancy. With just a few waterfalls from this last trip explored, my plan is to travel to Arkansas at least once a month on my waterfall hunt.

Click here to view the gallery…

The hike in to see False Kiva was planned for some time before hand. I had gathered information about the hike. Had GPS coordinates to False Kiva and knew where to park. Google Earth also shows where this is located and the locations on where you will need to park to start your hike. I meet up with two other fellow photographers on this day I knew from a photo forum we hang out on. They had purchased a book and also had good directions on how to get here along with the trail descriptions. Before we started off we also checked into the rangers station at Island in the Sky District of the Canyonlands. False Kiva is considered a “Class 2” archaeological site and they are required to give you information on how to find it. They were more than helpful on giving us more pointers to the place. I had read on some websites you almost had to insist on getting the directions from them. This was not the case at all.

Once you get the parking spots nailed down, it is pretty easy to find the trail that leads you to False Kiva. The trail is pretty easy in the beginning until you get to the canyon rim. From here you need to have come to grips with any fear of heights you might have. The actual decent into the canyon is tricky and strenuous and coming back out is even worse. Take plenty of breaks and make sure of your footing. As you climb down, up to your right you can make out the cove in the canyon wall where you will need to get to. You actually hike under False Kiva on a small two foot wide ledge that’s is a pathway to a small group of trees. From there the trail head up a pretty steep incline of loose dirt and rocks. Be careful here. One of my friends called it quits here and did not go that last bit to actually see False Kiva due to his fear of heights.

You do not have much room up in the alcove where False Kiva sits. Make sure to have a really wide angle lens with you for the shot. I carried a 15mm fisheye and a 16 – 35mm Canon lens for my shots. I also took a few shots with my camera that was converted to infrared.

There is not real official trail head to False Kiva. You will not find it on a map and the trail is not marked with any cairns. But anyone can easily follow the pathway that will lead you all the way to the canyon drop off. Even from there, the footprints of many other people before you can easily guide you all the way in to see it. In the spirit of preserving the ancient ruins, I will not post GPS coordinates to False Kiva either. But will gladly help you find it if you want to email me. I have no problem emailing individuals my GPS coordinates and waypoints from along the trail we took. Visit my contact page for my email and I will reply pretty quickly.

Images are from the latest trip to the Southwest in March. these are mainly from the Arches National Park and the Island in the Sky District of the canyonlands. Finally got to hike and find False Kiva which made it into Superstocks collection. Images from the Escalante area were just sent in so  should have an update on that submission soon.

To see more images from the Winter and Spring trip to Utah, Nevada and Arizona, click here…

To see more images from the Winter and Spring trip to Utah, Nevada and Arizona, click here…

The original São Paulo Cathedral started in 1589 and was finished in 1616. A new one was built in its place in the Barogue style and finished in 1764. It was in turn also demolished and the present day cathedral was started in 1913 and was finished in 1954.

The architect for the modern day cathedral was Maximilian Emil Hehl and the new design was a Neo-Gothic style of architecture.The cathedral is the largest church in Brazil and has a capacity for 8,000 people.

See more Urban images from Brazil here…

The Mayo Hotel in Tulsa Oklahoma.

In the early 1900’s, two brothers created an icon for the Tulsa skyline. Cass A. Mayo and John D. Mayo created their vision for a first class hotel in downtown Tulsa. It represents a classic era of Art Deco Architecture which can be found in numerous areas around Tulsa.

In 1980, the Mayo Hotel was listed in the register of historic places after it was abandoned for over 20 years. The Snyder family purchased the building and brought it back to life in 2001.

Click here to see more images of Seal Rock

What had originally been marked as a back up location for my photo shoots, Seal Rock turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip along the Oregon Coast. I meet up with two other local photography friends in Yachats Oregon just south of Seal Rock. It was fairly centrally located between areas we wanted to reach from Florence to Cape Kiwanda.

Our first sunset shot at Seal Rock turned out great. We had some interesting clouds to work with and ended up coming back a second night after getting kicked out of Yaquina Head Lighthouse which closes at 7pm. The will ruin a sunset planned shoot for anyone not knowing about this. We drove very quickly back to Seal Rock after this let down and made it just in time for the last bit of light.

Seal Rock State Wayside has large off-shore rock formations which are the habitat of seals, sea lions, sea birds and other marine life. The wayside includes interesting tide pools as well as excellent ocean views and a sandy beach. Seal Rock is a small seaside village encompassing a five mile stretch along Oregon’s scenic Pacific Coast Highway. It sits between Newport and Waldron Oregon.  It’s not as crowded as other tourist spots, which makes it ideal for photographers to enjoy the solitude and not have to worry too much about people getting in the way of their shots.

Click here to see more images of Seal Rock

To see all the images from Devils Fire, click here.

The place is known by three different names. The correct name is Devils Fire. Some call it Hobgoblins, and some have called it Little Finland. I will not get into why it has so many names. Just know that the correct name for this location is called Devils Fire.

The location is south of Mesquite Nevada and will take you about two hours to get to the spot for you to start hiking. The ridge faces the west, but that does not mean it has to be a sunset shot, early morning light hitting the clouds behind the formations would really interest me more.

I happen to get here just in front of the winter storm that hit across the country around Christmas. My intent was to stay here over night and shoot not only sunset but sun rise and do some night time photography. It started clouding up pretty bad and I got a few peaks between the clouds. But my gut was telling me to move on and get out. I really had no idea of the impending snow storm that was coming up on me. I actually left here and went on to Bryce Canyon and got stuck there a few days. But better there than here.

There is quiet a bit of off roading for you to be able to get here. Nothing too extreme, but you will need high clearance and 4WD to get through some deep sand in some spots. I have included GPS coordinates on the photo gallery page of y website. Click here to view them.

The area is very fragile. And I can understand why a lot of people do not want this location getting out. But if everyone kept there locations a secret, then most of them would stay unknown. Plus I think it helps the photography community as a whole when more people can go and see these remote areas. So if you decide to venture out this way, please do not touch the rock formations. You can already see a lot of damage to the area, be it from other people or just natural erosion.

New image gallery of Olympic National Park is now posted.

Read the individual stories of one of America’s most beautiful National Parks.

http://www.kapplemultimedia.com/olympic_national_park.html

Olympic Beaches Gallery

Olympic Rainforest Gallery

Olympic Infrared Photo Gallery

 Read the story and see the Grand Tetons National Park photo gallery.

Visit the Grand Tetons National Park Photo Gallery.