Above Photo: Barrier Canyon Culture Pictographs in Sego Canyon

Photographing Utah

(Including Page, AZ)

By Richard Jones

 Utah is a great destination for the nature photographer.  In fact you could probably spend a lifetime and not photograph it all.  Here are some of my favorite areas in southern Utah. 

There are several National Parks and Monuments including Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Zion and Bryce National Parks plus Cedar Breaks and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. All of them are great for photographers but my favorite is Capitol Reef. 

Capitol Reef: 

Capitol Reef is less visited than most of the other parks. Capitol Reef offers fantastic landscapes but also some wildlife photography. It is also a historical park that offers a look at the lives of early Mormon pioneers.  The town of Fruita, now inside the national park, was a Mormon village where they planted many fruit groves.  There is a blacksmith shop, school, church, barns, cabins, etc. The park service bought out the land and there are no longer any residents. Due to the irrigation ditches constructed by the Mormons, Fruita, inside the park and Torrey, to the park?s west, are green oases in the middle of the desert. 

Most of the visitors to the park spend their time on the basic park road. Some of these roads are paved and others well maintained gravel roads. These roads will take you into some impressive canyons. The canyons are narrow with extremely high walls. During spring and summer they are filled with wildflowers.  You may spot Bighorn Sheep and Chukar along the park roads. You will find inscriptions from the pioneers and from the Fremont Culture Indians. 

If you have a four-wheel drive vehicle, you can photograph some of the less known areas of the park.  One of these is Cathedral Valley. This is a real gem for the landscape photographer. You can access Cathedral Valley by crossing the Freemont River at a location marked "river crossing" on Utah 24 east of the park. Before crossing the river, be sure to check at the visitor center to make sure the river isn?t too swift or deep and that the roads are passable. A rainstorm many miles away can result in rapidly rising water levels on the river and flash floods that may wash out the road. 

The Cathedral Valley trip will take a full day.  You may want to camp at the campground near the midpoint of the road so that you can get the morning light on some of the monoliths. Permits are required for camping.  Take water and food with you on the trip. Carry a first aid kit. Make sure you have a full tank of gas. Cell phones do not work in this area so you can?t call for help and the rangers do not make daily patrols.  On our visits to Cathedral Valley we have never seen more than four other vehicles. 

After crossing the Fremont River, you will enter the Bentonite Hills. This is a beautiful area of painted desert badlands. As you go further you will find several overlooks that allow you to see the lower Cathedral Valley.  At approximately the halfway point of the drive, you will find a campground with restrooms.  Along the way you will pass the Mule Ears peaks, several monoliths and eventually enter lower Cathedral Valley.  Here you will find interesting and colorful green capped cliffs and the monoliths known as the Temples of the Sun and Moon. Near the Temples of the Sun and Moon is a large outcropping of crystalline gypsum. This is a great place for macro photography. 

At several areas of the drive you may encounter deep sand that will require you to engage the four-wheel drive. You should have no trouble negotiating the sand if you keep moving. 

Eventually the road returns you to the Utah 24 at the Caineville Wash.  You will not have to ford the Fremont River at this exit.  While it is possible to access the entire road from Caineville, it is better to cross the river at the beginning of the trip rather than at the end.  If there has been any rain upstream, you may find the river is too high or swift to cross and must retrace your way back to Caineville.  It would take about 5-6 hours of hard driving back tracking to Caineville. 

Along highway 24, there are a number of rock formations that can be photographed at sundown with great effect.  There are numerous pull-outs for this purpose.  There is also a pull-out on the south side of the highway with a short trail that leads to the goosenecks of the Fremont River.  A 20mm lens will not be wide enough. Probably your best bet is a 10.5mm digital fish eye or a 17 mm on 35mm film. On the north side of Utah 24 is a pull out near Fruita where you can see a number of Fremont petroglyphs. In the last few years there have been showing a great deal of deterioration. Many are located high on the cliff, but there is  a boardwalk where you can see others at a closer distance. 

There is no lodge inside the park, but there are several motels in the nearby town of Torrey, Utah. We recommend Austin?s Chuckwagon in the center of Town.  It is very modern motel, has a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, laundromat, delicatessen, bakery and convenience store. There are several restaurants nearby and in Bicknell to the West of Torrey on Utah 24. 

Torrey is also one of the jumping off spots to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. (See notes on this new park below).  

If you are leaving Capitol Reef and heading east to Moab or I-70 via Utah 24 be sure to stop at Valley of the Goblins State Park.  This little visited park is a wealth of photo opportunities. Part of this area was used as a set in the movie City Slickers II the Search for Curly?s Gold. The valley is full of goblin like formations.  (The frozen people in the movie). There are no trails through the Goblins. You can just wander around wherever you like. 

If you visit Goblin Valley, take a few extra minutes to visit some barrier canyon style pictographs. Take the road that you used to get to the park. At the first intersection, turn left. Turning right would take you back to Utah 24. After a short distance you will come to the pictographs on the cliff along the right side of he road. 

 Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument: 

The Grand Staircase - Escalante National monument was formed by presidential executive order during the Clinton administration and has been quite controversial in Utah since neither the people nor the governor of Utah were consulted. Under the monument there are vast reserves of coal that Utah wanted to develop. The aptly named Smokey Mountain Road goes through an area where there has been an underground coal fire for years.  The fire was caused by a lightning strike. 

This is a vast area of near wilderness. You won?t see a lot of visitors here. Miners looking for uranium created most of these roads. There is a fear that with the new monument status these roads may be closed. 

Unlike most national parks and monuments, this one is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Many of the roads through the monument are rough unmaintained 4-wheel drive roads, but there are some scenic ones that are accessible by most ordinary passenger cars. 

One suggested path is to take the Notom Road from Utah 24 on the eastern edge of in Capitol Reef N. P. south until it reaches the Burr Trail. Along the Notom road you follow the Waterpocket Fold, an upheaval of rock that creates the "reef" in Capitol Reef.  Many early wagon train masters were ex-sea captains and to them any obstacle to the wagon train?s progress was a reef. 

At the junction, turn onto the Burr Trail. It will lead you across the Waterpocket Fold. At this point the road becomes a winding road with lots of switchbacks.  When you reach the top, stop for photographs of the switchbacks as they climb the mountain. 

The Burr Trail is not paved inside the national park. There are a number of side roads most of which are suitable for ordinary passenger cars. Check at either the Capitol Reef Visitor Center or one of the monument?s visitor centers. These roads lead to great scenic views and to large areas of petrified wood.  As the road leaves Capitol Reef N. P. it is again paved.  It will take you to Utah 12 at Boulder, Utah. The Anasazi Indian Village State Park at Boulder may be of interest to those who want to learn more about the Anasazi culture. There is a gas station in Boulder. 

From here you can turn (right) back to Torrey and travel though the Dixie National Forest. If traveling back to Torrey, you will drive over a "hogback," a hair raising narrow spit of land that seemingly drops off for hundreds of feet on both sides of the road. 

Turn Left to get to Escalante, Utah. As you travel to Escalante you will pass through the Calf Creek Recreation Area.  Here are some spectacular waterfalls, although you will have to hike quite a bit to photograph them.  There is also a campground. 

A few miles before get to Escalante, lies the Hole in the Rock Road that takes off toward Lake Powell. The last few miles of the road are extremely rough and require a high clearance 4-wheel drive and driver skill.  

The first part of the road leads to the Devil?s Garden.  The road to this point is often wash boarded but doesn?t require 4-wheel drive. The Devil?s Garden is a collection of giant sandstone boulders and natural arches. It is worth spending some time photographing. The biggest arch is Metate Arch. There are restrooms at the Devil?s Garden. 

After passing the 25 mile wash you will find Coyote Gulch which has a number of spectacular slot canyons.  We suggest that you hire a guide in the nearby town of Escalante prior to visiting these canyons as they can be deadly during flash floods. Some of the slot canyons are also difficult to access so having a local guide is smart.  

At the end of the long road, in the Glen Canyon NRA, is the "hole in the rock" where pioneers raised their wagons and mules on ropes to get to the plateau upon which the road is built.   At this point you have traveled about 60 miles.  To travel the entire road and return to Utah 12 will take the whole day. Unless you will be visiting the slot canyons, you may find that your best use of time will be to travel only as far as the Devil?s Garden before returning to Utah 12. 

Once you reach Escalante there is a visitor center and several motels and restaurants. There are also guide services if you want to do more exploring. To the west of town there is the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park as well as several fantastic viewpoints. Be sure to fill your gas tank if you will be driving to Page, AZ via the Smokey Mountain Road. 

Just west of town is the Smokey Mountain Road. Numerous 4-wheel drive roads intersect with this road. There are no services along the road.

The Smokey Mountain Road links highway 12 at Cannonville with US 89 near Page, AZ. There are numerous side roads that can link you to some of the many less photographed canyons.  Smokey Mountain Road is the roughest road in the monument and is recommended only for high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles. Check at the visitor center prior to using this road.  

The Smokey Mountain Road eventually intersects with US 89 at Big Water, Utah. Turning east (left) will take you to the Glen Canyon NRA and the Town of Page, AZ. At Page are the Glen Canyon Dam, the Gooseneck and Upper and Lower Antelope Slot Canyons. Page is a bustling town with fuel, motels and restaurants, even a WalMart. For more information on the Page area, see the information below on the Cottonwood Canyon Road. 

Cannonville, Utah, Bryce Canyon NP, and the Cottonwood Canyon Road:

Assuming you didn?t opt to go to Page, AZ via the Smoky Mountain Road, or return to Torrey to the east, continue traveling west on Highway 12. Eventually you will reach the tiny town of Cannonville, Utah. From Cannonvillle it is only about a half hour drive up to Bryce Canyon N.P.  Bryce is actually a series of canyons and is part of the stair steps in the Grand Staircase. This is a often photographed area but you will probably find some new points of view.   

At some locations, people violate the park?s prohibition and feed the birds.  You might find that these people attract Stellar?s Jay and Clark?s Nutcracker. With a 200mm+ lens you should be able to get some good photographs.  

Just past the toll booth inside the park is a small colony of the endangered Utah white tailed prairie dogs, which can be photographed from your car window.  Deer and pronghorns are abundant.  Just outside the park entrance is Ruby?s Inn, a large motel with a dining room and fast food restaurant. There is a rodeo across the street during the summer months. Fuel is available. 

There is a small motel at Cannonville from which you can make a base to explore the Grand Staircase, but we would suggest staying at the Bryce Valley Inn about 15 minutes west.  They have an excellent restaurant next door and a grocery store. 

At Cannonville the Cottonwood Canyon Road cuts south.  The road is paved to the entrance to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Beyond this it becomes an unpaved road that follows the Cottonwood Creek.   This road was built to provide a fast connection between Page and Bryce Canyon.  Normally this road is good enough for low clearance passenger vehicles, but check at the Cannonville Visitor Center or the Paria Visitor Center on US 89 if you are traveling north on the road. 

Along this road are some easy to enter slot canyons. One of our favorites is Willis Creek slot canyon that is on a side road that cuts off the paved road before you come to the Kodachrome Basin SP. Ask at the visitor centers for precise directions and to learn if weather could become an issue.  Terrible flash floods can occur in these slot canyons if there is rain 50 miles away.  You may not even be able to see the clouds.  Getting caught by a flash flood is often fatal. As you explore the canyons look up. You may see whole trees twenty feet above you that were washed down stream and caught in the rocks. When you come to the end of the Willis Creek Slot Canyon, there is another one about a city block length downstream. This one is even better but can be extremely dangerous to get into due to height and the slippery sandstone. 

Kodachrome Basin State Park offers many photographic options such as petrified geysers and a natural arch. It is located just off the Cottonwood Road where it changes from paved to dirt. 

Also along Cotton Wood road is a short side trip to Grosvenor?s Arch named after the former president of the National Geographical Society.  The arch is actually a double arch and worth the few minutes needed to visit it.  There are a picnic area and restrooms here. Another easy slot canyon lies right along side the main road. This one has no signs to mark it but you will find the road goes over a small hill and drops off to a flat road between a set of cliffs running on both sides of the road. Stop on the pull out north side, where the road becomes flat and follow the path on the western side of the road 50 ? 60 feet. Here you can walk into the slot canyon.  The best section is to the right (north). If you have the time explore the area to the left of the entrance as well. The right or north side is the narrowest part of the canyon. The total length of the canyon is about a mile. 

You can often find the tracks of the mountain lion in the dust.  An early morning trip down this road will reveal many snakes including the prairie rattlesnake. That?s a good reminder to watch where you step and where you put your hands. 

All along this road you will find all sorts of photo opportunities.  Be sure to look back from time to time, as some of the views are only visible after you have passed them. A few miles from the junction with US 89, the road becomes paved. 

Assuming you take this road to US 89 or if you start there be sure to visit the site of Paria town. The short road off US 89 to the west of the Cottonwood Canyon Road, passes through some beautiful badlands with lots of wildflowers in Summer.  The original town is long gone, but there is a reconstructed movie set that looks very authentic. 

A short distance down US 89 is the town of Page, AZ.  Here you will find the very photogenic Glen Canyon Dam.  Other big attractions here are Upper and Lower Antelope Slot Canyons. Just south of town along US 89 is a well marked half -mile trail that will lead you to an overlook of the Goose neck of the Colorado River.  A very wide angle is needed.  This is one place you will want to photograph mid day to avoid massive shadows on the river. 

Also south of Page is one of the entrances to Glen Canyon Recreation Area.

Drive south on US 89 until you come to the intersection of Alternate 89. Turn northwest on Alt US 89. You can make photographs of Marble Canyon from the Navajo Bridge. Continue into the GCNRA to find balanced rocks.  The road ends at Lee?s Ferry on the Colorado River where you can photograph the river runners as they start their journey into the Grand Canyon. 

Moab: 

Moab, Utah is the home of two national parks ? Arches and Canyonlands.  These are both popular parks and you will find a plethora of photo opportunities. Here are some less noted spots that are my favorites. 

First is Moonflower Canyon.  You can get a good map at the visitor center in downtown Moab. Moonflower Canyon Road is unpaved but you can usually drive it in an ordinary passenger car. Don?t drive beyond the area where a small stream crosses the road unless you have a 4-wheel drive. There are a number of good Indian inscriptions along this road.  The "Birthing Stone" is the most famous. It depicts the birth of a Fremont Culture Indian. Scenic views of the cliffs along this canyon are spectacular. 

Next is the Potash Road. Just as you cross over the Colorado River on the north edge of town take the first left (Utah 279).  The paved road here will take you past some great Indian inscriptions. Most of the bigger petroglyphs are marked with signs. Watch for the large Jug Handle Arch right along side the right side of the road. In summer, you may need insect repellant if you get out of your vehicle at any of the spots along the Colorado River. 

The road follows the Colorado River until you get to the mining town of Potash. The pavement ends as you get close to the town of Potash. The road continues through the desert all the way to Canyonlands N. P. The road is good and you should have no problems with an ordinary passenger car, although most people you meet will be in 4-wheel drive SUVs.  You may find big horn sheep right along the road.  The views as you drive this road are among the best in the west. The road follows a ledge high on the cliff overlooking the Colorado River. 

The road ends in a "T" intersection. If you go to the left you will be on the White Rim Trail which is a challenging 4-wheel drive road that circles the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands N.P. Normally you can take a short trip on the White Rim Trail to Musselman Arch without a 4-wheel drive.  Musselman Arch is right along the road and actually hard to see as you are actually at the top of it. Look down. 

Back at the "T", if you go right you will be on the Schaeffer Trail, which will take you up a series of switchbacks to the top of the Island in the Sky area of Canyondlands. There is a great photographic viewpoint at the top that overlooks the switchbacks.

Yet another place for photography is along US 191 leading from I-70 to Moab watch for Pronghorn and Big Horn Sheep.  They are commonly seen in the area. The sheep sometimes graze right next to the highway.  They can blend in well so you have to watch carefully for them.

Another not to miss photo area is along Highway 128 that leads east along the Colorado River to I-70.  There are great views of the river and the high cliffs that line it.  There are a lot of river rafters here in summer and you can make some great pictures of them as they head downstream. After passing the Fisher Towers, you will go around a curve. Find a pull out and make a photograph down the river including the Fisher Towers and the Manti-La Sal Mountains. As you near I-70, you will come to the near ghost town of Cisco.  Much of this town is posted. Do not trespass. 

Between Moab and the Fisher Towers, there is a road that is marked "Castle Valley".  This road will eventually take you up into the Manti-La Sal Mountains. There are several areas of wildflowers that are a must stop and photograph.  This road is a loop and will eventually lead you out to the highway on the south side of Moab. 

Another great spot with magnificent views of the Canyonlands is Dead Horse Point State Park.  This park is accessed by going north from Moab on US 91 until you get to the cutoff on the left (west) that goes to the Island in the Sky section of Canyondlands NP (Utah 313). Before getting to the national park there is a turn off that goes to Dead Horse Point.  From Dead Horse Point there is a spectacular view of the Potash Road, the Colorado River and the White Rim Trail. 

Driving south from Moab will eventually bring you to Mexican Hat and then Monument Valley.  See our Arizona notes for information on this area.

If you are going back to I-70 and then East be sure to stop at the semi-ghost town of Thompson Springs. Follow the paved road north until the road is barricaded. This area is Sego Canyon. To the right of the barricade is a panel of pictographs. These are painted in red on the side of the rock rather than pecked into the "varnish" of the rock. These are among the earliest known type of Indian inscriptions ? the "Barrier Canyon" culture. This site is one of the few areas where you can just drive up to them. 

On the left side of the road is a little park with picnic tables and restrooms. There is an easy trail that has good examples of Barrier Canyon, Anaszi, Freemont and Modern Ute rock art.  As you explore this area you will note the remains of a narrow gauge railroad that once carried ore from the old mining town of Sego. Unfortunately you can no longer reach the town of Sego as it is behind the barricade.  A few years before the barricade was erected we were able to photograph the town as well as a large barrier canyon panel a couple of hundred feet past the location of the barricade. Allow about 30 ?40 minutes for this side trip. 

Some safety tips for the Utah:

Slot Canyons:

Don't enter slot canyons if rain seems eminent, water is rising, or if there have been recent rains up stream. Check with local sources about weather hazards. 12 people were killed in a flash flood that raced through Antelope Canyon a few years back. 

Watch for rattlesnakes in slot canyons.  Often they are washed into them and can?t get out.  Rattlesnakes, while seldom seen, are fairly common in all areas of Utah.  We often see Mountain Lion tracks in slot canyons. While Mountain Lions are generally not dangerous to man, it is best not to confront them. 

General Desert:

Always carry water, make sure you have a good spare, and have a full tank of gas when going on any 4-wheel drive road. Even on major roads, gas stations are sometimes miles away. As an example, if you travel west of Green River, Utah on I-70 there is a stretch of more than 80 miles without a gas station. 

Carry Maps.  If you will be driving on any of the 4?wheel drive roads be sure to take along the book ? Utah?s 4-wheel drive roads.  This is an indispensable guidebook that not only gives detailed directions and GPS coordinates for your travels, but also describes the difficulty levels of the roads. If your vehicle isn?t equipped with a GPS, buy a hand held one.  

If you should break down, don?t try to hike out. The desert is unforgiving. In summer the temperatures often exceed 100^o F and heatstroke or dehydration are serious risks. In the winter much of Utah gets heavy snowfalls. People have died on some of the 4-wheel drive roads when they became stuck during snowstorms. 

Cell phones are inoperative over most of Utah, so they will be of little or no help unless you happen to have one of the very expensive satellite phones. 

Utah has many rattlesnakes, even though they are seldom seen. All are venomous and should be treated with great respect. They are most often seen on roads at night or in the early morning. Watch where you put your hands and feet! Scorpions although seldom fatal, can give you nasty stings. Check your clothes and shoes carefully before putting them on and watch where you put your hands. 

Don't go off the main roads alone or if you must, tell someone where you are going and when you will return.