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See them all on the photo galleries.

The Ah-shi-sle-pah Badlands gallery

New Mexico Landscapes

You can see the waterfall gallery from Arkansas on my website.
Click here to view the gallery.

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…

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.

A high quality print would look great hanging on one of your walls.

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