Playing Texas Dodgem with the Cloud gods...

I awakened this morning to--surprise!-clouds. Looking for any break in the overcast, I went out to Gold Bar on the Potash Road. Took some videos of the flying lawnmower drivers. They were in from Salt Lake City, and left after a quick flight. They call what they do Powered Parachuting or Flying Gocarts. Whatever.
That image of the river bend at Gold Bar above is taken from the trail I hiked to Corona Arch. It is a mile and a half hike to reach the arch formation, and there is a 440 foot climb--each way.  Just kidding. I think.

As we approach the formation we see a Halo Arch in that big hole, and the huge Corona Arch over to the right:

The Halo Arch is a horizontal opening to the sky:

Then you walk through the Corona Arch to shoot the Sun side. Note how tiny the people look.:

Then I saw what looked like blue sky out route 128 to the East. So, I took off to take some pictures of the colossal canyons cut by the relentless Colorado. This is near Big Bend::

This shot above is from just a mile further East from Big Bend. A couple of miles past that there is a turn where we see the enormous Butte known as The Castle near Castle Valley. That is it, directly behind the river.

If you look back through the last few posts, you see that despite the weather's effect, Moab is one of the most scenic places in the country.

Since the weather looks bad tomorrow as well, I'm expecting to drive home. Another adventure!

Sigh. Take what the mountain gives you...

The weather was pretty horrible yesterday, but this morning there were beginning to be patches of blue sky.

I headed for one out the Potash Road--and look what I found! Flying lawnmowers!

did you catch the TWO in the air behind the one taking off? It wasn't a bad spot for flying:

As it got clearer, I went to the Eastern leg of the Colorado on Rt. 128. How do you make a Grand canyon? With a BIG river It was raining again, of course. I left the shadow thrown by the umbrella in the shot, just for fun....

When I got my courage up, I drove up into the Manti-LaSals.

Oh--did I mention the snow? Up here it was all snow and slush--and nobody to rescue you if you got stuck. Still, it gives you a remarkable view.

Brrrrrr!  And me in shorts!

All worth it, though. the sky cleared just enough to see the summit:

Oh--did I mention the bear cub playing in the road? It scrambled away when it saw me come around a corner, and scampered up an embankment into the trees.
There is a high overlook above the valley where I took all those yellow birches and aspens in the rain yesterday. That is the road down there. The deep grove to the right is the birches, and the yellow trees in the center are the ones dropping all their leaves on the road. What a view! Even the snow on the summit peeks through!

All in all, a wonderful day. The Cloud God kept throwing big wet ones my way, but I dodged and weaved as best I could.

Singin' in the Rain...

This is the kind of day that requires invoking my idol Winston Churchill: Never give in....Never give in...Never give in...

I can't remember the last time I had to shoot pictures from under an umbrella. The subject matter has to be pretty interesting. 

This is a magic week, despite the rain. the aspens and birches are in full Fall change. These are East of Moab near the Dewey Bridge. Notice in several of these pictures that some leaves are still green, while others have begun their color change cycle.
This next image is from the same spot, but turning to look across the river:

Since the leaves as shwn here are early in their cycle, I'm going to pull a Churchill and stay here 'til the Sun comes out. After all, how many times do you see this?

 Of course, this is a game the trees don't win. In the end, those lovely leaves will lie everywhere:

And don't think there aren't other colors!

The trees are changing everywhere, not just in the Manti-LaSal mountains. This is the small town of Castle Valley. Makes one understand why the Mormons ended their westward trek in Utah. Even the low clouds and rain can't diminish the beauty of this valley.

  So--like Churchill, I shall persevere here in Moab until the Sun lights all of this scenery.

It was a tough game, Mom, but we lost...

Think of me as General George Custer. I'm standing here with the bodies of my guardian angels all around, and the hostiles are closing in.

There was brief sunshine this morning

However--it was a delusion and a snare. The blue sky began to fill in with white: I quickly drove over to Potash to drive the deep valley before the clouds got there.

What I really wanted was to drive the Manti-La Sal Mountain drive, whose peaks rise 12,000 feet above the desert ten miles South of Moab.
Unfortunately, I met the Rain God up there. I would have killed for sunshine, as you will see:

The birch trees were in full color, as some began dropping their leaves.

Despite the heavy cloud cover, there was color everywhere.

Sun! Sun! My kingdom for a Sun!...

 The forecast is for two days of rain! I may never see this scene with a clear sky!

General Custer, signing off...

Propitiating the rain gods...

So far, the guardian Angels are ahead, 2-0. I'm not bragging, I know better,

Geri Murphy called to tell me it was pouring in Vegas this evening. Please--keep it there; they can have my share.

I was up on top of these immense overlooks this morning:

The views were so wide that it will take a half-dozen pictures stitched together to express it. This is just a small segment from the point known as the Anticline Overlook until I get home and do my panoramas:

Here's another small sample from the point known as the Needles Overlook. In the far distance is The Island in the sky portion of Canyonlands National Park--I shot some satisfying images from those cliffs two years ago.

The Fall foliage is still a riot of color wherever there is water nearby:

Another amazing feature of this entire part of Utah is arches made of sandstone chipped and cracked by freezing and thawing water.Arches National Park is just north of town.

So--when you are near Moab, arches seem to be everywhere!
  This is Wilson's arch:

And on the way back to town, I saw a little side road and followed it to the Hole in the glass:

Forecast for tomorrow is--rain. Sigh...

Day 1 in Moab, Utah...

The weather forecast when I left home was ugly, and when I came up into the mountains of Utah it was into thick clouds. Uh-oh.
Fortunately, by the time I hit the road to leads to the wedge, also known as Utah's Grand Canyon, the Sun came out.
It isn't as big or colorful as the Grand Canyon, but it is huge in its own right. The panoramas and videos I'll process when I get home may do it justice.

 A bonus is the Fall foliage. the yellow in the first picture above isn't shrubs,--far down in those deep valleys there are large aspen trees in gorgeous yellow. With the buttes behind them at sunset as in this second picture, it is gorgeous.

 Below is the Colorado River carving Red Canyon along Route 128; that road runs along the river for 25 fabulously scenic miles:

 Any road you travel has immense, towering red sandstone formations, some topped with castles or towers.

 This is the  Fisher towers as the Sun is going down. I took a lot of shots of free-standing towers here that are magnificently scenic.

All in all, a helluva first day when I was expecting a disaster.

Forecast for tomorrow is rain. Guardian angels, get to work!!

Shooting Championships Day 3--Sometimes Cowboys Cry...

The third day of the USPSA shooting championsips allowed me to watch a solid squad take on a state in which knocking down a steel Pepper Popper started a pair of targets swinging.

By the way, you can watch full-screen by clicking the little symbol below the lower right-hand corner of the video image.

This is still a sport that is much more fun to do than to watch...