We played tourist today and visited the Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal. For a small community, it is an excellent museum; especially relating to the geology and fossils of the area. Vernal calls itself Utah's Dinosaur Land, but the museum also had excellent fossils dating all the way back to the Cambrian era.
Fantasy Canyon
We returned to camp for lunch and then drove to Fantasy Canyon. Michael Fatali made Fantasy Canyon famous with his Teapot image.
Although he refused to disclose the location of the image, eventually people discovered its origin and Fantasy Canyon became
a "must-see" location around Vernal. Sadly, the Teapot was destroyed in 2006. It's still unclear if it was destroyed
in a storm or by people.
We had no problem finding Fantasy Canyon, but that was more about the good signage from the BLM than the expertise of our GPS. I had read stories of people who got lost in the oil fields surrounding Fantasy Canyon, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Fantasy Canyon turned out to be a much smaller area than I anticipated. I planned for a couple of hours to find the best formations and then we would shoot them at sunset. We finished our loop hike around the formations by 4:00, shooting with our long lenses to isolate the formations. Sunset wasn't for another 2 1/2 hours. I decided to go back with my wide-angle lens so I could get up closer and take more intimate images. Carol was content to hang out in the Explorer.
The light kept improving while I made my second round through the canyon, and the 24-105 lens was much better for this situation. I could get up closer and shoot the formations against the sky for better contrast.
As
I was finishing shooting the area with my wide angle lens, more and more of the formations were partially shaded as the sun neared the horizon. The best lighting was gone, so we decided to see if we could reach Island Park Overlook or Split Mountain for sunset. We couldn't reach either in time for sunset, so we stopped at the Vernal dinosaur sign and then got KFC for dinner. What's a vacation without KFC at least once?
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