Today was another mellow day. We slept in, made breakfast, and then realized that we had gained an extra hour because of the end of daylight savings time. Our plan was to check out the Watchman Campground after the weekenders left to make sure the campground would be open tomorrow and to start looking for a campsite.
Since we still had lots of time before the campers had to check out, Carol read her book and I worked on images from the New England trip. The weather was warm and sunny, so it was a very relaxing morning.
We drove in to Zion about noon and got a huge shock when we saw the campground. It wasn't empty; it had already re-filled since the weekenders left. I couldn't believe it! So much for our plan of staying in the park next week...
We had seen a small RV park on the way in, so we circled back and checked it out. It wasn't nearly as nice as the Zion River Resort, but it was nicer than the Watchman campground in the park. It also has WiFi It looks like we'll be moving there tomorrow morning.
With our work for the day done, we were ready to take pictures. We drove to the Kolob Reservoir Road where we had shot many years ago. There are some interesting sandstone formations, and you can see the back sides of some of the more famous formations in the park. It was still a little early for golden light photos, so we played sightseers and drove up the road toward Lava Point. We drove as far as Wild Cat Canyon trailhead before we started back.
We shot a couple of interesting
places in the upper reaches of the road before we dropped down
to the strange sandstone hoodoos near a ranch.
The formations were lit with the final light of the day, which turned them gold.
We had just finished shooting and were starting to put our gear
away when the full moon peaked over the edge of the hoodoos.
Perfect timing. We changed to our long lenses and got serious
about trying to get some good shots. We didn't want a repeat
of last night.
After a few minutes, we decided to drive down the road a little ways to try to get the moon over some more interesting formations. We only drove about a mile, but it was a much better shot from the new location. We shot as long as the formations were lit, but that ended pretty quickly. The sun dropped behind a ridge behind us, and that was the end of our shooting.
It only took a few minutes to get back to camp, but it was still 7:00 before we started making
our grilled chicken and au gratin potatoes. One advantage of
shooting in November is that sunrise and sunset are much earlier.
Most years, we aren't eating dinner until at least 9:00. We feel
like we have part of our evening left after we eat and clean up.
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